Likened to the UK series Seven Up!, the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Life Chances shines a light on inequality in Melbourne
Isabel, Nick and Alan have very little in common. But before they were born, their parents made a decision that would follow them for more than three decades.
These early experiences set Isabel up for a life of travel, including teaching English in China for three years after she finished school. It was the travel that first opened her eyes to her family’s circumstances.“I think my mum did a really good job at not showing me that we didn’t have much money,” Isabel tells Guardian Australia.”
– and this would substantially shape the job market and support systems the participants entered into as adults. Youth unemployment grew as the relationship between education and stable employment disintegrated, as did the link between having a job and being financially secure. The cost of housing increased while investment in public housing fell. While opportunities for women have opened up, gender inequity persists.
Just four years into Life Chances, differences had started to emerge between children whose parents were born in Australia and those who were migrants. About 63% of the non-English speaking families were living on incomes below the poverty line.Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian Alan is now married, with a three-year-old and another baby on the way. He is a qualified occupational therapist and manages a large team of practitioners. He owns a small unit, but a few months ago, the little family moved in with his in-laws so they could rent it out and save money. They’re all things he wouldn’t have, he says, without family support and access to Centrelink payments at what he calls the “sliding doors moments” in his life.
of the trajectory of Nick’s life with that of another participant, James, who had grown up in public housing and lost his mother when he was a child, moving into state care. For Nick, it was illuminating.
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