Walking around various local suburbs going about my normal day, it’s fair to say that things have deteriorated.

~ Rubbish is in the streets everywhere

~ Pot holes on our roads that go unrepaired (this annoys me because it destroys my car wheels)

~ Police cars with graffiti on them (signs of protest made by the police themselves against the government for not having a pay rise in years)

~ Waiting on average up to 4 hours to have an ambulance come out to emergency calls (a couple of people I know who work in the hospital system ave told me that Victoria has run out of money. Literally nothing left which explains the health system collapse and the dire situation with our police)

~ Police, nurses, teachers all striking (if your front line workers strike, what’s that saying about the state of affairs?!)

~ Found out that if you want to join the police force, its user pays (you don’t get accommodated at the academy and you pay for your own uniforms and health checks)

~ Lack of retail staff to serve customers (I’ve had to walk out of some shops because of long queues at the one and only teller)

~ Amount of homeless people IN OUR SUBURB! (You’d never see this in the past but now it’s a common sight. Sunday mornings go out early and see some going through rubbish bins or rifling through second hand clothes bins)

~ $15 block of normal Cadbury milk chocolate so I don’t buy chocolate anymore

~ Coles and Woolworths our two largest supermarket duopoly chains raking billions in profits while advertising they’re making food cheaper for the cost of living crisis

~ The gas companies telling us that Australia will need to IMPORT gas because we’ve run out?! WTF?! They think we’re going to believe that?! Lies.

~ Everything is wrapped in bloody plastic at the supermarket and then they have the audacity to tell us that we should be caring for the environment and go bag less or use less plastic wrapping

~ Our Labor government just gave the green light for three enormous coal plants to be expanded. What climate change?

~ Security guards everywhere in shops and supermarkets (Uber Eats drivers and security guards seem to have increased in numbers)

~ lots of For Lease signs on shops

~ General grunginess and tired looking shops and people. People are ANGRY. Or you get accosted by people for money.

~ Second hand shops making booming sales as people can’t afford many things

~ Shops and shopping centres very quiet – people aren’t buying.

It’s quite depressing to see all this but methinks this is the same state of affairs elsewhere too. We aren’t alone here and not only is it demoralising and depressing to look around at how “tired” everything is – but you feel that hopefully, we haven’t lost all hope.

I’m beginning to question further now how I used to vote in the past and how I’ll vote in the future. Both the major parties now (for the federal election) seem to me, to be exactly the same. That is, as worse as each other. Unfortunately at a state level, pardon my French, but we’re fucked either way.

Australia seems to be siding up to America more and more and following what they want so I can’t help but feel that we are being misguided in some way. I also believe that Australia gave away its sovereign agency to the USA over the AUKUS submarine deal.

I’m sure I am not the only one who feels this way with the state of affairs as they are. Maybe the major parties now need to worry about themselves and how people will vote for the minor parties next time.

I think people have had a gutful. I certainly have.