While, for some politicians, the discussion about low wages, the rights of migrants, benefit levels, having enough water to drink, climate change, and public housing is abstract stuff to be debated in the House, for some of us, it's clear that we are not solely theoretical when we talk about why having livable incomes is so urgent. We talk about increasing incomes and public housing for all because we know what it is like to count your dollars before the next pay cheque. We fight for overhauling the welfare system because we know what it is like to be sitting for hours at Work and Income, having every single receipt scrutinised in order to get a measly food grant, while corporates easily accessed millions of dollars of subsidies during the pandemic in a high-trust model. It's not abstract because it is a fight for the survival of the communities we serve and we belong to. 