The COVID-19 crisis has spurred a young community leader to leap into the race to serve on Maribyrnong council.
Mohamed Semra, 21, said the way the pandemic and lockdown has impacted communities in the western suburbs has highlighted the importance of having representation at a decision-making level.
“The past few months have obviously been hard,” he said.
“I started seeing a lot of people suffering, doing it tough. I started seeing mental health be more of a problem in the community with people isolating themselves.”
The Maidstone resident, who came to Australia when he was two years old after his father went missing in South Sudan, said the situation has shown the importance of young people and low-income residents and families having a voice and being heard.
“I know the issues, I have the lived experience and I know the community, so I thought ‘how can I be more involved with decision making?’ This municipality is very diverse and if the council does not reflect the community I think you risk a lot of people being left behind.”
Mr Semra said the attraction of local government is that it is “closest to the ground” and in the best place to directly involve communities in decision-making.
He identified COVID-19 recovery efforts as one of the key priorities for the new council after the October elections, with the need to focus on areas such as mental health services and public open space.
Mr Semra said to be most effective this needs to happen in culturally aware and appropriate ways.
“We need to know what is happening in every community and every single community is different,” he said.
“I feel it’s very important that the council hears a lot of what the community says and wants, particularly young people because young people are going to be among the most disproportionately affected by the pandemic.”
