August 31st, 2025Just sayin’…

I find Cate Graceson’s story (page 6) quite upsetting. Talking to her, you realise she is an intelligent woman, who for some reason two years ago found herself homeless.
As she says, if she was a victim of domestic violence there is help around. But if you are just a victim of the system where women get paid less (still), lose superannuation when they stop working to raise children, and put others’ needs in front of their own, there is little help. Or maybe your mental health has taken a hit – like during the pandemic for me. And while you may think it would not happen to you, I honestly believe being homeless is just a step or two away for many.
In 2011 Kyle and I rented our house out and moved to Karratha where Kyle had been offered a great job. I worked for the local paper over there and we stayed for a year. If you have ever lived in Karratha you will realise a year is enough.
Then came the effort to move back to the eastern side of Australia. Hard work at our ages then – mid 40s. But I managed to find a job on a newspaper in south-east Queensland and Kyle worked as captain on the ferries out of Cleveland.
Kyle popped back to Victoria for a course and stayed with mum. She had been saying she was not well but when he arrived he was shocked. She had lost about 30 kilos in a few weeks and was dying. Within a week we were driving south to try to find someone to help mum. It was touch and go but the story ended well with some life-saving surgery.
But we were still paying rent in Queensland and when we moved back into our home in Glenlyon we had no work, so no income. The red letters from the bank started arriving and we found out that while Centrelink will help pay the rent if you are unemployed, there is no help for people with a mortgage.
So we were facing having to sell our home and rent something so we could get rental assistance. Go figure. We finally got out of our Queensland rental agreement, after a fight in QCAT, and found part-time jobs before starting The Local in 2013.
The moral of the story is that homelessness is just a step away. So when you find somewhere to call your own, like Cate did through the Daylesford Ladies Benevolent Society, it must be like landing on a soft pillow. You can catch your breath, relax, know you are safe…become part of the community again.
But Cate is no longer breathing easy because the rent has gone up to the point where she cannot afford it, and she is seriously looking at living in her car again. At 70-plus. I don’t know what is happening there because the Society chose to ignore my queries and give them a chance to have their say. Cate says she thinks it is a plan to get rid of her because she is a problem tenant. Raises too many concerns about what she believes are sub-standard living conditions.
But surely as the Premier Jacinta Allan said in the article, tenants have a right to have things fixed and brought up to code. Even in housing that is run by charities. A person I ran this story past said they thought Cate would do well to shut up. Some might agree. I don’t, because I would be just like Cate querying why things aren’t working. Because it’s 2025 and we have the right to live in safety.
But in reality, for some people like Cate, we don’t. We often hear about the housing crisis but when you are living in your own home, with all your nice things around you, all paid for, it seems a long way off. I always thought Australia was the lucky country and yes, we pay a lot of taxes but that is meant to provide a safety net for those who have fallen through the cracks. It seems the safety net has holes in it.
I don’t know the answer for Cate but I hope the Society sees that she is in need, and as a charity, takes on the responsibility to look after its tenants. Whether they complain or not. Or talk to the media or not. Just sayin’…