2026-06-25
Better is possible – if we’re willing to fight for it
By Senator Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens
Politics should work for people. It’s a simple idea in theory. The people you elect to represent your interests, should in fact do that.
But right now it doesn’t work that way.
96% of Australian rentals aren’t affordable for essential workers.
Just last week I was listening to a story about a couple on the Sunny Coast, a nurse and an electrician, who’ve had so much trouble finding a rental that they’ve started their own community organisation to help other young people find housing.
We need to be better than this.
In fact, we need to demand better than this, or we’ll end up like the US where inequality is rife, services are underfunded or nonexistent, and billionaires run politics.
We’re not there yet, but as long as the 1% are allowed to keep accumulating wealth and buying political power in Australia, we’re on the same path.
Since I became parliamentary leader of the Greens, it’s been a real journey to navigate just how much we can and should work with Labor.
At the time I said I wanted to get shit done, unfortunately, Labor simply isn’t interested.
They will never take the bold action that would actually fix the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, the climate crisis.
And it is this unwillingness by Labor to act for people that has created the conditions for One Nation to rise.
Two years is a long time in politics.
With Labor in structural decline. The Greens have to be ready to replace them.
When I focus on all the good things we will be able to do if we achieve that, the overwhelming emotion that I feel is HOPE.
That is what gets me out of bed everyday and makes me want to fight for a better, fairer world.
In the short term, yes, we have power to build pressure on the Labor party to drag them to get outcomes in the Senate, and we’re using that power to make change.
But we’re not a pressure group, we’re a political party. And the aim of a political party is to win government.
The Greens don’t accept that tinkering around the edges is the best we can hope for, and neither should any of us.
Better is possible, but change isn’t something we can just wait for, to land in our laps.
It’s something we have to make together.
As a people-powered movement that doesn’t take the big corporate donations the other parties do, we know that better than anyone.
Because even though the system is stacked in the favour of the 1% now, we are not powerless.
The billionaires and big corporations out-lobby and out-donate, buying out politicians like yet another asset in their portfolio.
They fund fake grassroots campaigns, to make it look like their support is bigger than it is, and set up industry groups that use their megaphone to argue their interests should come first.
By ourselves, it feels like there’s little we can do; but we are not by ourselves.
We have each other.
And that solidarity is how we challenge the divisive politics of the 1%.
It’s how we build a movement that welcomes everyone, and a community that is safe for everyone.
The 1% want us to blame one another, so that we don’t come together and realise it’s the big corporations and billionaires making life harder for everyone to boost their own profits.
But around the world we are seeing people powered, progressive movements for change are growing and winning.
We can make sure that happens here too, because the majority of Australians agree on the basics.
They agree that a nurse’s wage shouldn’t be taxed more heavily than a big gas corporation’s exports.
That democracy should mean that billionaires and big corporations can’t buy off politicians.
That our climate and environment are worth more than corporate profits.
That the top 1% should pay their fair share so the 99% can live a better life.
And the Greens do too.
With the major party system on the decline, we have an opportunity for real change.
People are angry, and they are looking to blame the establishment.
They are looking to One Nation because the major parties have failed.
Labor and the Liberals have stopped representing people and just represent the vested interests of the corporations and their ultra wealthy donors.
While Pauline Hanson wants us angry, divided and scared of our neighbours, the Greens are fighting for the things that make Australia such a great place to live.
Because blaming our neighbours, workmates and friends won’t bring down rents, it won’t make housing more affordable. It won’t make life any easier for anyone.
But it does stop people pointing the finger at the big corporations and billionaires who are actually causing these problems.
We can fight back against Pauline’s incoherent hatred and her efforts to destroy the things we love; public education, public hospitals, decent wages and working conditions, our incredible environment and climate.
And the things we deserve; affordable housing, dental and mental in Medicare, making Tafe and uni free like it used to be.
All those things Labor could do, but won’t.
If you’re feeling fired up, if you’re angry, if you’re nervous about the direction of Australian politics, the solution is to come together and fight for the change you want to see.
Join the Greens. Sign up to volunteer. Get out on a campaign and talk to people.
Because better things are possible, if we’re willing to fight for it.
We can make Australia a better place to live for all of us, and we need that if we’re going to take on the 1% and win.
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