I’m a teacher with years of experience working in schools in the outer north. From here, it’s hard not to see the massive inequality that exists in Australian society. You simply can’t compare the elite private schools, with their heated pools and high-tech computer labs, to the public system, where working-class kids get crammed into overcrowded classrooms and decrepit facilities.
But schools are just the tip of the iceberg. We have some of the richest people in the world living in Melbourne, while so many of us struggle to pay the bills and keep a roof over our heads. I believe that the cost of living crisis is the most urgent issue facing our community, and that the government should be doing much, much more to look after us. We need caps on rent and everyday goods and services, and we need a massive increase to welfare payments, pensions and the minimum wage, because everyone deserves to live with dignity.
I have spent many years campaigning for more funding for hospitals, schools, public transport and public housing, which have been deliberately neglected by both Liberal and Labor governments. I know that we could afford all these essentials if our corrupt politicians decided to tax the super-rich for a change.
It's important to stand up for the rights of people who’ve been done over by the system. So I’ve been active in campaigns against racism, war and Islamophobia, for refugees and Palestine, and to save the planet. There’s nothing more powerful than the power of the people, when we march, strike and fight together for justice.