Hemi Edwards and his family have copped three rent increases since their family home in Warrnambool in south-west Victoria was purchased by a new landlord in 2020.
Key points:
- Cost of living pressures are pronounced in regional areas, where public transport, social housing and other services are less available
- Young people from south-west Victoria have taken their concerns to parliament
- Hemi Edwards' family has seen a rent increase of more than 50 per cent in three years
Seventeen-year-old Hemi lives with his uncle and his nan, and the jump from $300 to $460 per week has caused financial strain for the family, exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
"My nan works full-time," Hemi said.
"She used to do fine about a year ago, but now she's struggling and only has $50 left over for a week."
While Hemi hopes to find a place of his own, high costs and competition in the housing market make it difficult for him to envision, especially as many people he knows are struggling to do the same.
"I can't find any place that is a good budget, or that works with the youth allowance or my pay from Maccas," he said.
"All of the houses are $400 a week plus.
"It's just difficult."
Taking their concerns to Spring St
Hemi has taken his concerns to the Victorian parliament with Moyne NextGen, a youth engagement program run by Moyne Shire Council for young south-west Victorians.
Hemi joined Ella Sheldon,18, Mijika Lus, 21, Timothy Reesnik, 21, Ashton Maher, 16 and Sam Hall, 16 at the 37th Victoria Youth Parliament, a program empowering young people to draft and debate bills of importance to their communities.
The team presented a bill calling for improvements in public transport scheduling, connections and ticketing, increased availability of social housing and education options, and investment in food pantries and local charities.
Ella Sheldon said the bill was about fairness, and increasing the livability of regional Victoria to make it on par with metro areas.
"It's not fair that we have to suffer just because of where we live," she said.
Ella said there were limited tertiary education options in her hometown of Hamilton in western Victoria, which meant she would have "no choice" but to move when she graduated from high school later this year.
"I love Hamilton, I love my friends, I love my community," she said.
"If I could stay there, I absolutely would, but I can't."
The shock of regional life
Mijika Lus, a 21-year-old from Papua New Guinea, settled in Warrnambool with her family as part of a visa requirement.
She said the realities of regional Australia came as quite a shock to her.
"From the Pacific, we saw Australia as this really great society, where everything is fair, everything is great," Mijika said.
"When we moved and settled in, we saw the inequalities and gap — we didn't know how tough a lot of the families had it.
"There are only a few options for transportation, and the cost of living [creates] a lot of strain as well."
The 'miracle' of opportunities
The Dropping Off The Edge 2021 report, published by Jesuit Social Services, found 25 of the 40 most disadvantaged areas in Victoria were located outside of Melbourne.
Jesuit Social Services general manager Andrew Yule said it was important to approach disadvantage in a way that allowed communities to take control over their own challenges and solutions.
"I think it is absolutely critical that young people are telling decision-makers about their lived experience," he said.
Moyne NextGen team's bill passed unanimously in youth parliament, and will now go to Victoria's Minister for Youth Natalie Seleyman for consideration.
More than 20 youth parliament bills have been implemented by the government, including a bill mandating the wearing of bicycle helmets.
And the opportunity to make real-world change is not lost on the youth parliamentarians.
Ella described her participation in the program as a "miracle".
"To be able to talk and speak for the people who can't be here and … are severely overlooked, it means everything."