Sydney’s rents are way, way too high.
I notice with all the unprecedented generosity the Australian government has displayed, the one group they don’t want to upset are the landlords. Despite half a million people petitioning for a ‘rent freeze’ on change.org, Australia’s conservative prime minister Scott Morrison looked sheepish whenever the subject of tenants being in distress was raised
Eventually he smoothly palmed the subject off to the Australian states, whereupon the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian proceeded to come up with a strategy that had no teeth whatsoever. It was a toothless tiger.
Meanwhile, people who had lost their jobs, businesses and income have been told by the politicians they must pay rent at the current rate unless the landlord has been willing to give them a reduction. So far, two thirds of landlords have refused.
Clearly, this sacred social fabric of Australian life, the right for property owners to exploit their tenants to the max, is held sacrosanct above almost all other things. Schools are emptied, businesses shut down, people get a thousand dollar fines for eating a kebab in a park, yet there is no directive upheld by law for landlords to show empathy towards their tenants.
The below poem’s intended audience is other tenants, to harness their anger into a street protest and outright rent strike.
As far as symbolism goes, the tenant mentioned in the poem is much like the forgotten soldier, the every man, or every woman, the everyday person who is a victim of fate and social power.
The structural features of the poem are that it has been kept simple, so parts of it can be utilised in a rap song, read out in a social media video clip, or performed on TV. Some of the rhymes are deliberately quirky in an attempt to be mildly humorous, but the overall structure of the poem lends itself to gradually enraging fellow Sydney tenants.
A slow build-up to the conclusion that only a rent strike or social unrest, such as a revolution, will help Australian tenants end the exploitation.
So here’s my poem:
Exploited Sydney Tenants Need a Revolution
The exploited Sydney tenant
Who pays too much rent
In the age of Coronavirus
More than ever, time to vent.
You live in a shoebox
You can barely afford
No front yard or backyard
You’re depressed and you’re bored.
Already up to your neck
In urban rental stress
Paying a third of your salary
Your mind was a mess.
Then Covid-19 hit
Your income wiped out
Negotiate with your landlord
Was Scott Morrison’s shout.
Your landlord refused
They only love greed
She rejected your offer
Based on human need.
Stuck in self-isolation
At home with your fears
You obsess about your future
As homelessness nears.
Two classes of society
Is what Australia’s become
Property owners vs tenants
One comfortable, one numb.
Millions cry for a #rentfreeze
Change.org in the air
But the politicians do nothing
It’s a cross we must bear.
They help with Jobkeeper
Jobseeker for the broken
A moratorium on evictions
Gesture merely token.
With no rent reduction
In stone for Struggle Street
Tenants have but one option
Apart from admitting defeat.
Stuff #socialisolation
Get out of your house
Time to protest together
Not be quiet as a mouse.
Take to the streets
Only #rentstrike will do it
It’s revolution time now
Tell the landlord to screw it.
Zero rent for them all
A hundred thousand on the street
Australia’s tenants unite
Believe in this feat.
The social fabric of Australia
Has been exploitation of the poor
A home is a human right
Tenants rights to the fore.
