“There is a general sense – it sounds melodramatic – of, well, the world is ending, we have no way to deal with that, so we are just going to get on with life,” Axel says.
The 25-year-old is describing a feeling shared by his friends in their mid-20s.
“I know that I need to prepare for the future but also it doesn’t feel like there is much of a point … when we don’t know what the impact of climate change is going to be in five years’ time, let alone 10; we don’t know if the wealth gap is going to keep getting deeper, if I am ever going to be anything more than very stressed working class.
“Why wouldn’t I just spend my time doing things I love with people I love?”
Axel is one of more than 900 young Australians who responded to a Guardian callout asking voters aged between 18 and 39 how they are feeling in the lead-up to the federal election. (You can read a selection of their responses here.)
Uncertainty about the future is a common theme among callout responses. A number of economic and social stressors stand out: the cost of living, housing and healthcare, as well as concern about social cohesion and the rise of the far right, and dissatisfaction with government action on the climate crisis and foreign affairs are all weighing on young people’s minds.
‘It’s a weird stage of life to still be living at home’
The cost of living and housing (including the cost of rent and mortgage repayments) are the top stressors. Both are mentioned more than 520 times each. One respondent describes renting as a “lottery”.
Many indicate they live paycheck to paycheck. Groceries, fuel, utilities, insurance and transport are among the daily expenses that have become a burden.
For Axel, a PhD graduate tutoring at the University of New South Wales, renting three hours away from his workplace with family in the Blue Mountains is the only way his income is livable.
More than half his income goes to rent. After paying bills, he has spent close to 80% of his income. What is left is not enough to build up savings that would help him “feel safe in daily life”.
“I think about money every time I tap on to the Opal system, and every time I get a script filled out, and every time I have a doctor’s appointment,” he says.
“It’s a weird stage of life to still be living at home.”
The only way Coby, 33, and her husband could buy a home in Darwin was for her parents to live with them. She is a frontline worker in the domestic and family violence sector. The couple earn a good wage, she says, but childcare costs take a “good chunk” of that, even after subsidies.
“Then just trying to feed the family is insane,” Coby says. The couple used to spend $150 on food for three in a fortnight. Now that grocery bill is closer to $350.
“We’ve stopped eating meat just so we can afford to feed ourselves.”
Buying a house isn’t an option for Lila Pierce, 33, who is eight months pregnant.
She and her partner are working professionals living in the prime minister’s Sydney electorate of Grayndler, where their weekly rent costs 40% of their combined wages. They are dreading another increase expected in August, when their lease is due to end. The “obscene” cost of groceries, transport, utilities and healthcare are also stressors – as is her $65,000 Hecs debt.
The prospect of expenses forcing her to move away from her community is difficult to consider. And, as parenthood looms, Pierce is concerned she won’t be able to afford childcare, education and healthcare costs.
While her parents are homeowners – an asset she and her sibling will presumably inherit – it’s a “depressing” thought to “wait on your parent’s carcasses to have housing stability”, she says.
Living and saving at same time ‘unimaginable’
Many respondents say they struggle coming to terms with not being able to afford “typical” life milestones, such as travel, a wedding, children and a home. Some doubt they will be able to retire.
The idea of being able to rent alone while building up savings – as his parents’ generation were able to do, Axel says – is “unimaginable for people my age”.
Alec, 33, agrees. Social mobility seemed more accessible to his parents’ generation. “My parents were financially and career-wise more successful than their parents,” he says, indicating that he is pessimistic about that pattern continuing for him.
Without financial support from his parents, Alec says he would probably be homeless. He lost his job working in mental health last year due to Victorian government funding cuts; at the same time his rent increased by almost $200 a month.
“I feel like I’m not going to be ever able to own a house, I’ll be renting all my life, it’ll be hard to retire,” he says.
Alec’s bipolar disorder requires regular appointments with a psychiatrist and psychologist for management – but accessing those on jobseeker “is kind of near impossible”, he says. “You have to give up a lot of your healthcare just to try and scrape by.”
Healthcare is mentioned almost 200 times by respondents, saying they can’t afford private health cover and that out-of-pocket costs for GPs, dentists, specialists, NDIS and mental health services are increasing. Regionally based respondents highlight declining healthcare, with one saying: “Country hospitals are understaffed and under-resourced.”
‘I am terrified about the world he is growing up in’
Axel is grateful for the social progress made since his parents’ generation. But perceiving a rise in rightwing politics spreading globally, that progress “suddenly feels really, really tenuous”, he says. He cites threats to abortion care in Queensland and South Australia, and Queensland banning gender-affirming care for under-18-year-olds, as local examples.
Concern about a rise of the far right or fascist governments is mentioned by more than 200 respondents, with reference to political developments in the United States and Europe. Many point to Donald Trump’s re-election and fear “regression” into conservative values and the privatisation of public services.
For Coby, thinking about the rise of the far right “absolutely terrifies the hell” out of her.
“I have this three-year-old little boy that I’m trying to [raise], and I’m terrified about this world that he is growing up in,” she says.
Concerns about social cohesion are raised by more than 240 respondents – particularly a perceived rise in hatred, division and polarised politics. Racism, misogyny, anti-LGBTQI rhetoric, Indigenous rights, disability inclusion, mistreatment of asylum seekers, mis- and disinformation, algorithm echo chambers, culture wars, Muslim and Jewish community safety, hate crimes and increasing class division are all frequently raised.
Some days Coby feels immense guilt for having a child. “The world is not a very nice place,” she says. “If I had seen what future I was bringing him into, would I have made the same decision? I’m not sure.”
For Alec, it is difficult to avoid succumbing to grief or anxiety when it comes to the state of the climate.
This is the third-most mentioned concern, coming up more than 430 times. A feeling of existential dread is common among these responses. Increasingly severe weather events, global warming and rising emissions, as well as pollution, deforestation, native forest logging and threatened species are common concerns.
“It seems there are more and more frequent, high-level natural disasters and ... [we are] seeing inaction from both major parties, we keep hearing about new gas projects,” Alec says. “I know Labor have the goal of net zero but I am struggling to see how we could achieve that.”
More than 150 respondents raise foreign affairs as a major stressor, including global instability, geopolitical unrest and fear of a third world war. Palestine and Ukraine are both frequently mentioned, with a significant portion of responses raising concerns about human rights violations and accusing Israel of war crimes and genocide in Gaza, coupled with dissatisfaction about the Australian government’s and mainstream media’s treatment of the issue.
Another common theme is concern surrounding Australia’s alliance with the US, including criticism of Aukus and the global implications of Trump’s “erratic” leadership.
Disillusionment with major parties’ ‘personality theatre’
The optimism Alec felt at “getting rid of the Morrison government” last election has been lost to a sense that Labor has “forgotten about working people, especially the younger generations”.
Axel thinks Labor and Coalition politicians are “doing personality theatre rather than advocating for everyday Australians”.
He plans on preferencing the Greens and Labor party over the Coalition. “My hope is that more minor parties will get seats in this upcoming election,” he says.
“It’s the smaller parties that are generally working on a grassroots basis, and it’s the grassroots basis that means they’re getting real insight into what’s impacting people today.”
Coby can’t pinpoint one issue as the most important to her. Women’s issues, homelessness and climate change occupy her mind but are “15 things down the list when I can’t afford to feed my family”.
She plans on voting either independent or for a Green this election, “but that didn’t really teach anyone any lessons four years ago”.
“I just feel so overwhelmed,” she says. “I’m supposed to be voting in an election … and I feel like I’m putting out a massive house fire with a little thimble of water.”
