Over the past three months, Guardian Australia has been speaking to ordinary people about their everyday lives – their families, work, hobbies, stressors and hopes.
These interviews have formed our Anywhere But Canberra series – a portrait of what different people across the country are dealing with in the lead up to the federal election. We wanted to see how people’s lives and perspectives shaped their votes.
And while we spoke to a range of Australians – teachers and students in metropolitan areas, farmers and small business owners in the regions, young and old voters across Labor, Liberal and Green seats in all six states – what they had to say wasn’t as diverse.
In fact, many of their experiences and stressors were very much the same. Cost-of-living pressures were mentioned by every person we spoke to, with an overwhelming feeling of stress about the lack of affordable housing, the price of groceries, the cost of healthcare and Hecs debt among the younger voters.
Here, you can find each person we interviewed and read what they had to say.
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Ali El Kheir
Runs a cafe and manages a wrestling gym in western Sydney, NSW
‘I don’t think any of the politicians truly represent us’ … Ali El Kheir. Composite: Mostafa Rachwani/Guardian Design … mostly, especially in the past 18 months, we’ve been focused on what is happening in Gaza, in Lebanon, where I have family, in Yemen and in Sudan. These things, they weigh heavy on me and the community here.
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Paul Tripodi
Runs a restaurant in Adelaide, South Australia
‘We’re sort of getting by, which is stressful,’ says Paul Tripodi, a small business owner. Composite: Guardian design/Getty Images Right now I’m probably doing 65-70 hours a week, which is a bit excessive. Yeah, I don’t really want to work like that.
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Lilly Wright
Runs a Malaysian and Indonesian cafe in Ballarat, Victoria
‘You never know what’s going to happen in the next six months or year,’ … Lily Wright. Composite: Guardian design I’m always thinking about what the [Ballarat] council can do to help small businesses. A lot of people say the first year is the hardest and then it’s going to get easier but so far that’s not the case.
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Brent Daylight
Runs his own business and works a second job in Perth, Western Australia
‘Do I keep grinding through 12-hour days?’ … Brent Daylight. Composite: Guardian design/The Guardian Indigenous Australians face such harsh stereotypes but there are plenty of successful First Nation businesses and I want to be one of them.
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Todd Boorer
Works six days a week running a mowing business in Lake Macquarie, NSW
‘If everyone puts in and does their bit then everyone benefits from it, but it starts with you doing your bit,’ … Todd Boorer. Composite: Guardian design/Getty Images One of the things that bugs people a lot [is] when politicians try to kind of be one of us, pretend they are just like the man on the street, because they’re not.
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Ed Bryant
Teacher and soccer coach in Melbourne, Victoria
‘For future generations, as an educator, I’m concerned about environmental factors more than anything,’ … Ed Bryant. Composite: Guardian Design/The Guardian Hecs debt, that’s a big problem. It’s indexing more than what I pay off working full-time on a graduate teacher’s salary.
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John Sparrow
Retired farmer in Tailem Bend, South Australia
‘How is this younger generation going to get their own home?’ … John Sparrow. Composite: Guardian Design/The Guardian You used to have prime ministers showing the way and making things work but I think the last good prime minister was before my time, when they were building the Snowy Mountains Scheme …
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Holli Brunckhorst
Nanny and speech therapy assistant in Brisbane, Queensland
‘Everything, even the mainstream media, you can’t 100% trust all the time. Everyone’s got an agenda,’ … Holli Brunkhorst. Composite: Guardian Design/The Guardian … They are upping my rent from the end of the month by $50. It was $260 a week when I moved in four years ago and now it will be $400, which is a lot.
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Federico Canas Velasco
Student and part-time worker in Sydney, NSW
‘ … with housing, it does not seem like it is going to get any better at all,’ says Federico Canas Velasco. Composite: Guardian Design/The Guardian Things like groceries are absolutely ridiculous. The price of eggs! Medicare, too. I recently just hurt my finger and it was so hard to find any GPs that were bulk-billing in my area.
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Chantelle Campbell
Owns a clothing store in Exeter and lives in Bishopsbourne, Tasmania
‘I don’t feel confident when I vote that it’s going to change anything,’ … Chantelle Campbell. Composite: Guardian Design/The Guardian Don’t let the supermarkets get away with what they’re getting away with. A box of tacos are on special this week for $9 when the standard price always used to be $5.
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Will Gromadzki
Landscaper from Adelaide, South Australia
‘There’s not a lot of housing going around. We take what we can get,’ says Will Gromadzki. Composite: Guardian Design/The Guardian We’re not slack, we’re not a lazy generation. We cop a little bit of flak from the older generation, but I work my bum off.
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Irfan Syed
IT worker from Melbourne, Victoria
‘Australia is one of the few countries with such a good support system for children with special needs,’ … Irfan Syed. Composite: Shadi Khan/The Guardian My biggest stress is supporting my special-needs kids as much as I can – that’s a big challenge for us. Thankfully, we have NDIS and government support. Without that, it’s really an impossible task for anybody.
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Ann-Marie Thomas
Nurse in Toomelah, Queensland
‘We struggle to do anything together as a family because of the cost,’ … Ann-Marie Thomas. Composite: Guardian design/The Guardian I’m so angry with all the politicians. Every time you turn the TV on, the first thing you hear are all these things like ‘let’s abolish welcome to country’. Why? I don’t understand what it’s costing. I think it’s beautiful. Is it only me that sees the beauty in it because I’m Aboriginal?
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Amelia Makin
Student and cafe worker in Melbourne, VIC
‘They’re talking about cutting down Hecs. I’m really looking forward to seeing if that happens,’ … Amelia Makin. Composite: Guardian design/The Guardian I don’t trust anyone, but I get all my information from Instagram or YouTube.
