The federal electorate of Blair is home to many ‘aspirational Australians’, but household stress resonates across generations

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Cost of living pressures are shaping up as a key issue for voters ahead of the May 3rd federal election. In Ipswich, residents are grappling with Queensland’s highest rates of mortgages and rental stress.

Transcript

00:00There's someone absent in Paris Busra's life.

00:10It brings its stresses, it brings its loneliness, it brings its struggles.

00:14For half the year, her husband is a fly-in, fly-out worker in far north Queensland.

00:21Got you. High five. High five.

00:25It's a sacrifice the couple have to make to raise their son Sima in the Ipswich suburb of Ripley.

00:31Obviously there isn't a lot of local jobs within the shipping industry,

00:34and if there is, they aren't as high paying, which would probably mean I would have to work full-time.

00:40It would mean Sima would have to go into childcare full-time.

00:43Like many young families, they're counting every dollar.

00:47The biggest cost is our mortgage, and then you add a child onto that.

00:52You know, money flies.

00:55Their home falls in the Federal electorate of Blair, a seat to watch come polling day.

01:04Held by Labor since 2007 on a margin of 5.2%, it's by no means a safe seat.

01:11I understand Labor is spending quite a lot of money on Blair.

01:16It's a seat that I'd call you'd want to see sandbagged, is the term, to protect it.

01:22A recent ABC analysis found the area has the highest rate of household stress in Queensland.

01:29More than 77% of households are feeling some form of financial stress.

01:3466% with mortgages are feeling the pinch, while for renters it's a whopping 91%.

01:40If you map financial stress you'll find it strongest in areas where you find aspirational Australians.

01:46People that have a mortgage.

01:48Four in ten households in Blair have a mortgage.

01:52Margaret Fielder is one of those struggling.

01:56Quite frankly, I cannot afford to pay the prices that's demanded of food in the supermarkets these days.

02:05The former nurse lost more than a million dollars during the global financial crisis.

02:15Went from rags to riches and then back to rags again.

02:18The thought of extra bills coming in fills her with dread.

02:22I just have to be very careful not to get into debt because I don't have any money in the bank.

02:27She's not alone.

02:29Right across Ipswich, housing stress and the cost of living are front of mind.

02:34Rental is too high and the property is also too high.

02:38Within a single yearnings we can't afford any new home.

02:43Just paying rent, food, electricity, everything, yeah.

02:48I sort of just take it day by day, especially when we've got three kids.

02:52It takes every cent to have a home and then, you know, you're eating two minute noodles.

02:58Back in Ripley, Paris Basra hopes to see real action on mortgage stress during the election campaign.

03:05Mortgage payments nearly work out to $900 a week.

03:08You know, no average person can afford that.

03:10You know, like, you add that on, plus other costs of living, people struggle.

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