The thought that a child like Rehan Rahman might go without “nutritious food” was too upsetting to ignore.
After an encouraging chat with his older brother, the 11-year-old wrote to his local MP Daniel Mulino about his concerns on how Australians are coping with a cost of living crisis.
He urged the Labor MP to push to eradicate poverty and homelessness in his electorate of Fraser, highlighting that “over 365,000 children in Victoria lived in severely food-insecure households”.
“The reason why youth homelessness is a really important issue to me is because as one of the youth, it’s just really hard for me to imagine myself in that situation. Not having a roof over my head, maybe not even having a good meal,” he told SBS News.
Sharing his vision of Australia in 10 years time, he hopes politicians can address inequality, telling them that the “countdown starts now”.
Rahman’s letter was read aloud in parliament this week, alongside words from over 500 young Australians as part of the Raise Our Voices Australia (ROVA) campaign.
With just six of the 227 MPs and senators in parliament , young Australians wrote letters to their local politicians in the hope of having their voices heard.
Rehan’s letter to his local MP. Source: Supplied
Starting the initiative at the height of the pandemic in 2021, ROVA founder Ashleigh Streeter-Jones wanted to see young peoples’ voices and experiences “reflected in future planning”.
After reading four years of letters, she said young people “are optimistic, they are worried, they are hopeful”.
This year 96 politicians are reading 370 speeches on issues ranging from voluntary assisted dying, the lack of health care access in remote Australia, and climate change.
Independent senator David Pocock told SBS News young people want to have their concerns taken seriously. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
Independent senator David Pocock told SBS News that young people in his seat want to have their concerns “taken seriously”.
He’s proposed a duty of care bill, which would require new laws to consider children’s wellbeing before they’re passed.
“One of the things I hear from young people is that they’re frustrated that they feel like their voices aren’t heard,” he said.
“The big issues we’re facing that are going to disproportionately impact them in their lifetime aren’t being dealt with in the parliament.
Maahi Verma sent a letter to her local MP asking why there’s not better representation for culturally diverse people in politics. Source: Supplied
Nine-year-old Maahi Vermashe wants to see herself reflected in public life.
“My mummy says that people who come on TV make decisions about my life. They decide what my future is going to be like. So if that’s true I want people who look like me to make decisions about me,” she wrote to former Liberal MP Gladys Liu in 2021.
Three years later, she’s disappointed things haven’t changed much but is proud of her letter. She recalled the feeling as her teacher shared the video with her classroom.
“After the speech, everyone started clapping, made me feel really confident and important,” she told SBS News.
Maahi’s letter. Source: Supplied
Steeter-Jones said speaking with young people after their letters are read, the long-term impact is clear.
“It means the world to be heard and for their representatives and their leaders in the community to say, we hear you. Your ideas are good. We want to hear them,” she said.
“I think young people have been underestimated for generations. We often talk about young people as if they’re the leaders of tomorrow, but the reality is they are here, leading today.”
