Ann-Maree’s Speech To ‘No One Left Behind’ Federal Election Campaign Launch

Speech given by Anti-Poverty Network SA member, Ann-Maree, at our ‘No One Left Behind’ Campaign Launch, on March 1, 2025

I have been asked to speak to you from the position of my lived experiences.
As a neurodiverse person who has endured years of poverty unsafe and unstable housing, while not having adequate access to health care.

And what I would like candidates campaigning for a seat to stand for.

We are at a crisis point. We are seeing a decrease in democracy and the rise of fascism through governments backed by and run by corporate interests. Set against the backdrop of ecological collapse.

How difficult our struggle is will be determined by who is elected.

So, I say to candidates, if you lack the imagination to lift the country out of poverty and provide adequate and affordable housing solutions.

Sit down. You are wasting our time.

If you refuse to acknowledge that 40% of Job Seeker recipients have a diagnosed disability and that there are multiple barriers to accessing health care.
Sit down. You are part of the problem.

If you believe that locking children up for poverty-induced crimes, support the cashless welfare card and Centrelink’s Targeted Compliance Framework and won’t raise the rate by at least $82 a day: then sit down; it is you who is destroying our communities.

If your platform is one of investing in weapons manufacturing over healthy communities while reducing our rights to protest.

Sit down. You, Sir, may be a fascist.

I’ve been asked to share how meaningful changes to government policies could improve my life.

I would eat; I would eat foods I currently only look at.

I would accept invitations from friends to support small businesses.

I would own more than one pair of socks.

I would access healthcare.

I might feel secure and safe in my rental while paying for someone else’s investment.

I would worry less and be capable of more.

More importantly, I would be happy. I would be happy when passing a young person in the street; perhaps I would see joy in their eyes rather than the despair and pain these inadequate systems have forced upon them.

We are at a crossroads of tyranny and revolution, where every act of kindness has a deeper value.

Now is the time to break the back of the two-party system.

It is the time to show Liberal and Labour that they have moved too far away from the values of the people they have been elected to serve.

By voting for the Greens and Independence candidates, we send a clear message that we demand change.

Now is the time to get involved with groups like the Anti-poverty Network, a voice for South Australians, partially on low income. Who believe that welfare is a right and centre the lived experience of students, job seekers, low-income workers, sole parents, age and disability pensioners and more.

Now is the time to build your communities. Not only online but also in the old-school style of real life. Break down the barriers of isolation and individualism. No one need carry alone the burden of what is sold to us as normal and as a cost-of-living crisis that has only benefited a chosen few.

So please, if you like what we are discussing today and want to add your voice to the chorus, consider scanning a QR code on your way out or add your name to the mailing list.

Thank you.