But that message of "don't be bitter! Work hard and you will be fine!" is mostly peddled by people who are advantaged by society as it is.Īnd it is dismissive of the genuine reasons people have to be angry.īut I have met amazing young activists at uni, and I hope that we can shape a fairer Australia. I know that I have to find a way to overcome that anger. The more I learn about wealth inequality and social mobility, the more I lose hope. I hope I can get there, but that dream is a hard sell when you have generations of debt or disadvantage to overcome before a bank will even meet with you. Most low socio-economic status students I meet say the same thing. My dream is to buy my mum a house and not worry about money. Ironically, given my fear of checkouts, I had a job at a retail checkout.Īt the time, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world and I worked five days a week for the rest of high school. Source: the Australia Talks National Survey, fielded to a nationally representative sample of 54,000 Australians Working took the pressure off 82 per cent think social and economic class discrimination exists in Australia.60 per cent don't think poor Australians are getting enough help from the Government.Hard work can bring success no matter your circumstances, say 69 per cent of Australians, but only half agree it can get you out of poverty.It is hard to conceive that anyone could understand or offer concrete help. It's easy to suggest you "speak up" to your counsellor or teachers but I can't imagine scheduling a meeting with a near stranger simply to say "I can't afford an extra shirt". When I could not take part in the shirt-signing in year 12 it didn't occur to me to ask if anyone had a spare shirt I could used so that I could be part of it. Looking back, I don't think I would have even known where to go for help. I hate saying "I went without food" because it seems like a cliché and impossible for most Australians to imagine, but there were nights when our dinner was nothing but a bag of carrots from the supermarket.Īt the time, I didn't think to ask anyone at school if they could help me. Instead, I got detention at school for not having real leather shoes and had to miss out on concerts and schoolies trips. I wanted to own a beach towel and wear Pandora rings. Punished for being poorĪs a teenager, there were times when I just wanted to blend in and disappear. Whenever we had to go through a checkout, my siblings and I would go quiet because it was so tense. I couldn't do anything and it felt terrifying. This was a massive amount of money for us and I watched my mum hold back tears. I remember the total at the checkout was just under $100. One year my siblings and I went to buy the stationery on the list we had been given at school.
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