I'm Natasha, I live on Gadidal Country in Sydney, and I grew up on Dharug Country in Western Sydney. This is my first election as a voter, and I'll be voting for climate justice. 

This upcoming election, the cost of living crisis is at the forefront for young people. I’m a renter, and uni student and for me, the cost of living crisis has hit young people the hardest. Competing in a competitive housing market with constant rent increases, whilst juggling everyday living essentials and working part time has been a struggle, and it’s not just me. Young people across the country are struggling to afford housing, all the while everything seems to be getting more and more expensive. The climate crisis is only going to make this worse. 

Not only is climate change going to disrupt our daily lives through increasing climate disasters and heat waves, but it’s already costing us. In the last federal budget the government footed a bill of $13.5 billion in response to the cyclones that have hit Queensland, yet at the same time subsidise billions of dollars to the fossil fuel industry. Climate disaster recovery is an essential part of the transition, but it’s only a bandaid fix if you keep funding the problem.

And we’re all going to be paying for it. Growing up in Western Sydney, I’ve grown up experiencing the climate crisis, from major storms causing common power outages, to the urban heat island effect, I experienced how daily life could be so commonly disrupted. But this isn’t a normal disruption, and we shouldn’t have to put up with it, OR pay for it. It’s not fair when multi-billion dollar companies are the reason why it’s getting hotter, yet we’re the ones who need to pay to keep cool with air conditioning - if we can even afford it, because I know I can’t. We know that the climate crisis will disproportionately impact multi-cultural and low socioeconomic communities, like those in Western Sydney, and as it gets hotter everyday people will start to be making choices between affording air-conditioning or groceries, for some people climate disasters are entirely unaffordable to recover from.

This is why I’m voting for climate justice, because the climate crisis is going to hit us in all areas of our lives, especially when it comes to the cost of living. We need to stop funding the problem and start funding long term solutions, so that we don’t have to keep paying for it.