Homeless With Six Children: A Family Crisis

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-07

[00:00:02]Australia, resource-rich, land of opportunity, one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

[00:00:10]But, we're also one of the most unequal.

[00:00:14]>> The rich are getting richer and the [music] poor are getting poorer.

[00:00:17]It wasn't so obvious 10 years ago, but now it is becoming very obvious.

[00:00:20]>> After 25 [music] years of relentless economic expansion, nearly 3 million live below the poverty line.

[00:00:28]>> I got to see a side of poverty that I actually didn't even know existed, you know?

[00:00:33]>> They're stuck on the bottom rung.

[00:00:35]>> We're sick and tired of not being heard, and sick and tired of struggling.

[00:00:38]There's not enough money being put back into the people.

[00:00:41]>> Feeling left behind in the land of the fair go.

[00:00:44]>> Even these sewer rats have a place in society, and I'm the odd one out.

[00:00:50]>> In this series, we hear from those whose lives are a daily struggle.

[00:00:55]>> We're not terrorists, we're humans.

[00:00:57]We're Aussies, you know what I mean?

[00:00:59]>> The forgotten battlers, trying to make ends meet, and hear from those trying to help.

[00:01:05]>> If we don't give them a bed or a couch, where else do they go?

[00:01:09]>> And the families trying to hold things together.

[00:01:12]>> And my dream is just never give up.

[00:01:14]>> [laughter] >> And I'm doing this for my kids, my family, my wife.

[00:01:19]>> But, when the system turns against you, >> It's [ __ ] mate.

[00:01:23]>> We've got no assistance.

[00:01:25]We've got no help.

[00:01:26]>> That man handle [music] me.

[00:01:27]>> And the ones that are hurt are the ones you love.

[00:01:30]>> Oh, [ __ ] You're going to scare my son.

[00:01:33]This is what it takes to remove me from my house.

[00:01:37]>> That's when you could end up on Struggle Street.

[00:01:49]In Australia, we're constantly told by our government how lucky we are. After all, we dodged the global financial crisis.

[00:01:58]But across every city and country town, many of us are barely making ends meet.

[00:02:04]>> Try living on Newstart when you're 57 and you've worked all your life.

[00:02:09]Try living >> Try living in a tent with no income at all.

[00:02:13]Stealing to eat.

[00:02:14]>> Even my mom personally is struggling and she's working her ass off. She's working three different jobs just to support us kids.

[00:02:22]>> Even Australia's third largest economy, Queensland, is home to some of the country's most disadvantaged areas. One such area is Inala.

[00:02:37]Near 20% [music] unemployment blights the postcode area 4077.

[00:02:43]A melting pot of cultures in the outer southwestern suburbs of Brisbane.

[00:02:49]>> Well, the 4077 is the most cultural area. You know, we got Aboriginals, we got Asians, we got Polynesians like myself, we got Samoans.

[00:02:59]You know, we all just we all come together as one. You know, we're family here. That's why we go by the name 77.

[00:03:07]>> Post-war public housing defines the area, which is also home to one of the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the city.

[00:03:17]Yuggera woman Karen Coghill grew up here.

[00:03:20]>> Inala is always based as a low socio-economic area.

[00:03:26]The powers that be, they need a ghetto in every major city and Inala's it.

[00:03:32]We've had just so much breakdown in community. It's like the politicians forget that they are there for the people.

[00:03:40]>> Many like Karen go [music] back generations in Inala and despite its challenges, are fiercely proud of their home.

[00:03:48]So, if you're told to get out of the home you love, [music] it can be devastating.

[00:03:53]>> The warrant to be executed as soon as reasonable practicable after taking effect.

[00:03:58]>> Karen's friend Norma has just received a notice of eviction, and their friend Marlene is round to help make sense of the decision.

[00:04:07]>> They're using the police raids against me.

[00:04:10]>> You've been to court for the raids?

[00:04:12]Did anything come out of the raids?

[00:04:15]Was there possessions of drugs or utensils found?

[00:04:18]>> 24-year-old daughter Keisha has recently been convicted for possessing a water pipe and smoking marijuana in the house.

[00:04:26]It means Norma's breached her public housing tenancy.

[00:04:29]>> It's a minor offense. It's not as though it's a big and it was dealt with in the courtroom.

[00:04:35]And it was for her personal, you know, her own personal use.

[00:04:39]>> The single mother of six has an [music] open-door policy for local children in need, but it's caused disturbances involving the police, and housing has warned Norma before about antisocial behavior.

[00:04:52]>> Well, I was getting raided, you know, quite a bit in Inala, actually.

[00:04:57]I could have feed up to 17 to 25 people in a week, any one night.

[00:05:04]But that's something I've always done and I grew up with.

[00:05:09]Family should always be there and have that open heart.

[00:05:14]>> They've taken everything from me. I don't have nothing.

[00:05:20]That letter means I got no house.

[00:05:22]My children don't have a home.

[00:05:24]That means I'm going to be homeless on my land in my country from my ancestors. This is it.

[00:05:32]What am I to do?

[00:05:34]What can I do?

[00:05:37]I don't have any rights in the eyes of Queensland Housing and Inala Housing.

[00:05:41]They don't even want to listen to me.

[00:05:43]You know, I was born here.

[00:05:46]I've lived all my life in Brisbane.

[00:05:48]Inala is my home.

[00:05:57]>> Entry and uh the warrant shall only be between [snorts] the hours of 8:00 a.m.

[00:06:01]and 6:00 p.m.

[00:06:03]This was sent from the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

[00:06:11]>> I can't get out. We're in the middle of winter.

[00:06:14]What am I going to do?

[00:06:17]How do you How can you explain to an 8-year-old child that we've been kicked out because of police and everything else? They've only known one home. They don't know any other home.

[00:06:28]I I I don't know what's going to happen.

[00:06:30]It's [music] Oh my god.

[00:06:34]>> They want you out. They're going [music] to come here, all arms, police, everything to get you out.

[00:06:45]>> We're told if we work hard and live within our means, we'll get on.

[00:06:50]And if times [music] get tough, the system is there to catch us.

[00:06:54]The fair go is a cornerstone value of what makes us proud to [music] be Australian.

[00:06:59]But nowadays, it doesn't always apply to everyone.

[00:07:03]>> When I arrived [music] in Australia in 1989, we were entitled to Centrelink and um all the benefits.

[00:07:13]Um in 2001, it changed. Anyone that came after that date were no longer entitled to any benefits or Australian government support except for the family tax.

[00:07:27]>> In one legislative stroke, the Howard government's change to the benefits system left more than 140,000 Kiwi residents without a safety net should times get tough.

[00:07:38]Based near Inala, the Koha Shed was co-founded by Lily and Mike.

[00:07:43]>> Culturally, you know, Kiwis it's not in our nature, it's not in our culture to [music] turn people away, you know?

[00:07:50]We weren't brought up like that.

[00:07:53]>> The charity [music] provides accommodation for those with nowhere to go, but unlike the [music] Australian government, it helps all nationalities, not just Kiwis. This is our first house, so it's been open since the 27th of April 2000 15.

[00:08:12]That's Phil.

[00:08:13]Phil is one of our Kiwi boys that stay here and not entitled to any benefits, eh? Isn't that right, Phil?

[00:08:21]>> Yeah.

[00:08:21]>> Yeah, no government support.

[00:08:23]>> For just under 4 and 1/2 years ago.

[00:08:27]>> What for?

[00:08:28]>> But you can try and get used to it. And I've only been getting it for 6 months.

[00:08:33]>> You've already been in the country for 10 years and then you only entitled to it for 6 months.

[00:08:38]>> Yeah.

[00:08:39]>> And that's just the new starter or >> New starter, yeah.

[00:08:42]>> Yeah, wow.

[00:08:44]And at the moment you don't have no income support or >> All I can get is uh the uh health care card.

[00:08:54]>> Which entitles you to cheaper bus transport.

[00:08:58]>> Medication and stuff, yeah.

[00:08:59]>> Yeah. Ironically, Australians living in New Zealand can claim benefits after only 2 years.

[00:09:05]>> Phil, did you want a cuppa?

[00:09:07]I was going to get you to get stuffed anyway.

[00:09:10]>> [laughter] >> 13 men live in the four-bedroom shelter and the charity is struggling with high running costs.

[00:09:17]>> I'm a recovering heroin addict, been clean for 3 years now.

[00:09:21]These guys have been very supportive.

[00:09:23]This is a stepping stone.

[00:09:25]From here, you move on to try to get your own place or share accommodation with someone else again, you know? And then from there, you try and get your own place eventually.

[00:09:35]>> We don't get no funding from the government. How we survive is those that are on Centrelink or working.

[00:09:44]Um they contribute. They pay a contribution each week. So, it each person is income assessed. The rest of us were volunteers.

[00:09:55]We don't get no wage or anything.

[00:10:00]>> If I didn't have that support, I'll be honest, I think I would be uh using heroin again.

[00:10:05]I would be. But this time I've chosen a different path.

[00:10:10]>> The Koha Shed's philosophy of not turning anyone away means the fledgling charity is sailing close to the wind with Queensland Housing.

[00:10:19]>> We have 13 in house at the moment and to them we're promoting overcrowding.

[00:10:24][music] Uh unfortunately, you know, when we get those knocking at our doors or phone calls that and it's raining, they've got nowhere to go.

[00:10:34]You know, they just want to have a hot meal. They want somewhere to be, just warm. So, yeah, at the moment [music] winter is our crazy time.

[00:10:41]Yeah.

[00:10:43]>> There are many different paths to Struggle Street.

[00:10:49]Two major culprits are mental illness and drugs.

[00:10:53]More than 4 million Australians will experience a mental disorder at some time in their life, of which nearly a third will have a drug or alcohol problem.

[00:11:02]>> They're either got a mental health issue and mental health people won't help them because they've got a drug issue and a drug issue people won't help them because they've got a mental health issue. There's a complete backwards system. But there's drugs everywhere in Australia, doesn't matter where you are.

[00:11:14]But they always like to put the spotlight on on the lower income areas, on the struggling areas.

[00:11:21]>> Well, it's escapism. You think the world's a better place when you're high.

[00:11:26]Uh you don't have to deal with all the [ __ ] that's going on in your head.

[00:11:30]>> Ice has exploded onto our streets in recent years, but in some areas of Melbourne's inner suburbs, heroin is also king.

[00:11:43]>> All right, well, both come in then. Come on.

[00:11:46]Because if one doesn't come in, the other one won't.

[00:11:48]>> Michael lives in the inner west Melbourne suburb of Seddon. The former truck driver has battled addiction and mental health problems his entire adult life and now lives in transitional housing.

[00:11:59]>> Okay, old fella. Let's see you on the couch as usual.

[00:12:03]>> [snorts] >> And how are your legs today?

[00:12:06]This is Kaiser. Kaiser's 14.

[00:12:09]>> [snorts] >> And um Witzel's one.

[00:12:12]I've been a bit depressed.

[00:12:14]And um the house is an absolute pigsty.

[00:12:18]And um and it's just all gone on top of me. And um I'm a little bit of ashamed of of the state of it.

[00:12:27]>> [snorts] >> Yeah, I know. I got to clean the house up. I know. I know, Kaiser. I know. I know. I know.

[00:12:37]I know.

[00:12:39]Ah, what a [ __ ] [ __ ] life. Ah, [ __ ] sake.

[00:12:44]You know, and you and you got to say to yourself, how how did it get like this?

[00:12:47]I mean, yeah, I was on drugs in the '90s, but gee, [music] I must be the world's biggest [ __ ] >> [snorts] >> I got a lot of acquaintances and a lot of friends, but um no good friends. I What Yeah, well, not not counting you. I'm talking about humans, Kaiser.

[00:13:06]>> [music] >> Michael's life went off the rails when he suffered years of bullying at school.

[00:13:11]>> No one knows except God and me how much I [ __ ] suffered at school at the hands of those bastards.

[00:13:17]I just wanted to have friends, you know?

[00:13:19]They they took me shoplifting and I shoplifted for them.

[00:13:23]I I let myself get used completely.

[00:13:25]>> [music] >> By 19, he was hooked on heroin.

[00:13:29]>> You start hanging around with those [ __ ] bags that shoot up and before you know it >> [music] >> you're putting your arm out and you're getting your first hit and it's a powerful feeling.

[00:13:39]Everyone I know died during the '90s.

[00:13:41]Everyone >> [clears throat] >> that I started using drugs with.

[00:13:44]>> [music] >> Maybe one or two I see occasionally that are still alive. Um everyone >> Michael's been off the hard stuff [music] for nearly 20 years, but is on prescribed methadone and his mental health remains [music] fragile.

[00:14:01]But today is not a good day for another reason.

[00:14:03]>> Yeah, just feeling sorry for myself cuz it's a shitty day. I've got to bury mom today and um mom wasn't a nice mom.

[00:14:15]But um but she was my mom and um yeah, so so I got to um and it's going to be a really humiliating experience. Um I don't have shoes to wear.

[00:14:27]I got paid Wednesday and I paid my rent, I paid the bills I had to pay, I dodged the ones I could dodge and I got $60 left on Friday.

[00:14:37]>> Every week it's the same struggle with 110 of his $400 benefit going on rent.

[00:14:44]>> I'm sick of going hungry and and I haven't got the rest of the cans that the dogs need for this week yet. I I haven't had the energy to go to the shop. I've just been buying them one at a time.

[00:14:53]So so I can't afford [ __ ] shoes.

[00:14:58]My family hate my guts.

[00:15:00]They don't want anything to do with me.

[00:15:02]I I could show you some text messages um over the last few days. Just just threatening messages from different relatives. You know, you junkie dog, you this, you that. No wonder your parents were ashamed of you. You junkie dog. I mean, imagine being called that a few days after your mom's dead.

[00:15:21]>> The 44-year-old may not have decent shoes for the funeral, but he's still determined to show up.

[00:15:27]>> I don't really go in the bathroom that often.

[00:15:30]>> [laughter] >> So, it's easier for me to just to take this light globe around than to go and spend $3.50.

[00:15:41]What a pain in the ass.

[00:15:45]Oh, [ __ ] I just don't want to massacre myself too much.

[00:15:53]Because, um, this is working all right.

[00:15:58]Because, um, I don't want to be bleeding all over the place at Mum's funeral.

[00:16:04]My relatives, I'm sure will be worried about getting AIDS or something off me cuz I'm such a bad junkie.

[00:16:11][ __ ] I had a pretty good life when I was a teenager. My My My parents aren't poor.

[00:16:20]Um, I went to a Mentone Grammar.

[00:16:22]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, for 3 years anyway. Then I went to Monivae boarding school.

[00:16:29]Anyway, I got to stop talking and get this done.

[00:16:34]We were very much loved when we were children, me and my brother. We weren't loved as teenagers and uh as adults, but we were loved when we were kids.

[00:16:43]>> Look to the camera.

[00:16:45]>> Michael was on the streets with Kaiser for 2 years. So, keeping hold of his few belongings was tough.

[00:16:52]>> I used to have a really nice, um, suit.

[00:16:54]I had to bury it.

[00:16:56]And uh it didn't survive the burial.

[00:16:59]I I thought I buried it and wrapped it in plastic pretty good, but I discovered roots grow through even triple-bagged plastic and after months and months and um yeah, the the pants didn't survive, but the suit jacket, not too bad.

[00:17:16]Half of me wants to go in there absolutely smelling, you know, and sitting next to them, you know, and making them suffer my presence, you know, they hate me that much.

[00:17:27]I've had nothing to do with them for 30 years. I >> [sighs] >> I'm not an [ __ ] I'm not.

[00:17:35]And um I just have to keep reminding myself that.

[00:17:44]>> The old saying charity begins at home doesn't ring more true than for the Koha Shed in Brisbane.

[00:17:51]Ongoing issues with registering the men's shelter and high running costs have resulted in its closure a week ago.

[00:17:59]Lilly and husband Pi have now personally stepped in.

[00:18:03]>> We since closed the men's shelter and most of them had sourced out their own alternative accommodation. Um we had three that weren't able to.

[00:18:17]>> [music] >> We wouldn't let them go to the street.

[00:18:19]We didn't have the heart to send them to the street. So we've brought them home.

[00:18:23]>> The five-bedroom house in Southwest Brisbane is already packed to the rafters with 15 members of Lilly and Pi's family >> [music] >> plus nine shelter residents.

[00:18:33]>> Lots of these are where all our family live. Um we've got our four children and their children and their partners. And then downstairs we have three homeless and a family.

[00:18:49]>> Here's the couches, the telly, three beds.

[00:18:54]>> Rex is from the recently closed men's shelter. He shares this room with two other men.

[00:18:59]>> Well, um I come out of um prison.

[00:19:02]I was pretty much um an I helper.

[00:19:06]I didn't have a bowel dress.

[00:19:09]Um practically the car shed um gave me life outside the bars.

[00:19:20]>> Rex suffers mental illnesses and then he needs that support care, that 24/7 support care and solid support networks behind him. You know, he's always had us or someone else around.

[00:19:35]>> Rex is lucky. He's Australian and so qualifies for transitional housing, a short-term place to help get him back on his feet.

[00:19:44]>> I get out in 2 days down to another part of Brisbane. I guess um it's new lifestyle. We've got to get off the drugs and as we've been doing and create a better life.

[00:19:59]>> Nearly half of those who leave [music] prison in Australia are homeless within the first 6 months.

[00:20:06]Kiwis Jared and Sharon aren't even as fortunate as Rex. They arrived [music] in Australia after 2001, which means they're entitled to nothing [music] except $400 a week family tax benefit paid to support their four kids.

[00:20:21]>> This was our daycare >> Sorry about >> for our kids. That's [laughter] okay.

[00:20:26]We had a family that reached out to the Kool Car Shed that we were becoming homeless and um we transformed it into their bedroom.

[00:20:37]>> [laughter] >> And their kitchen and >> their laundry, eh?

[00:20:42]>> [laughter] >> And their playroom.

[00:20:44]>> Yes, that's their Yeah, their playroom now. Yeah, so this is the Yeah, this is our fano.

[00:20:50]>> This is family.

[00:20:53]>> You're You're a dickie.

[00:20:55]>> Jared was incarcerated [music] at one of the remand centers here. He reached out to us the weekend that they were facing homelessness and he was scared. He was absolutely scared and broken >> [music] >> that him and his children, his four kids, had nowhere to go.

[00:21:15]>> Teenagers Trinity and Tiane and younger siblings Payton and Shelby are all crammed into this garage with their [music] parents.

[00:21:23]>> Mom and Dad and Payton, the 5-year-old sleep in the queen bed.

[00:21:29]Shelby sleeps there, Tiane and Trinity.

[00:21:33]It's not much, but hey, we make it as the best we can.

[00:21:37]It's a roof over my kids' heads >> [music] >> and mine and Jared's.

[00:21:41]It might not be much, but to me it's everything at the moment.

[00:21:45]>> Both are ice addicts and Jared also spent 16 months in jail on remand for serious drug trafficking offenses.

[00:21:55]Currently out on bail, his [music] future remains uncertain.

[00:22:00]>> I had a full-time job once upon a day.

[00:22:02]Um I got involved in drugs.

[00:22:07]Drugs [ __ ] ruined my life.

[00:22:09]It's ruined the life of my kids. And in the process of that jail time, I lost everything. I lost my possessions.

[00:22:19]I lost my money. I lost all the little things, the little things that I thought that mattered when I didn't see the big picture. I was losing my family. I lost my family.

[00:22:31]>> I finally admitted after just before Jared went to prison that I had an addiction, an ice addiction, [music] which is no good.

[00:22:42]Most of the time I have blamed Jared for it, [music] but at the end of the day, it's it was me.

[00:22:46]It was my choice to be an idiot.

[00:22:51]>> It wasn't me that introduced it to you.

[00:22:52]>> No, no. It's okay.

[00:22:57]It's okay. I'm the idiot that took it.

[00:23:00]I'm the idiot that got the addiction.

[00:23:03]It's my fault.

[00:23:05]>> Perhaps the drug's fault.

[00:23:07]>> Yeah, but >> Everyone who tries it once gets hooked.

[00:23:10]>> I know.

[00:23:11]>> It's a future drug.

[00:23:13]Some people would have half a gram and that would last them a week.

[00:23:20]I would boot half a gram eight or nine times a day.

[00:23:28]Future, I know. But I just keep going.

[00:23:31]Just keep booting and booting and booting and booting and booting and booting and booting.

[00:23:35]>> They've been clean for 2 weeks and are still fighting withdrawal. But their 19-year relationship is at breaking point for another reason.

[00:23:44]>> Dad was away, Mom cheated.

[00:23:47]Only because I listened to other people saying, "Oh, Dad, you know, he's going to be away for 25 years. You might as well move on with your life."

[00:23:54]Then when Dad came out, got out, he found out the truth.

[00:23:58]Jared wants us together, but it's going to take time. We all need help. We all need counseling. [music] And with the co-house shared, I think we're on the right directions of getting all the help we need.

[00:24:11]>> Even though she's done what she's done and my mates tell me she's [ __ ] dog [ __ ] kick her to the curb, as much as all as I wanted to, I can't and I refuse to.

[00:24:21]Because my kids deserve better than that.

[00:24:25]>> They have no government support.

[00:24:29]They have a lot of healing to do amongst themselves as a family unit. He needs a job.

[00:24:35]>> [laughter] >> Like the many others that are out there.

[00:24:39]Um They just need that solid support network.

[00:24:44]>> It's [ __ ] tough and we've done it tough and like I'm a big man and I'm a strong man, you know, and and and I carry my pride on my sleeve and I have shed more tears in the last two weeks than I have in my whole life.

[00:25:00]I had no work. I was scared about court.

[00:25:02]I was scared of jail. And I was sitting over in the chair in the corner hiding, sobbing my heart out for hours trying to be quiet so I didn't wake them up.

[00:25:10]There's no lonelier feeling on this planet knowing you've given it your all and it's just not good enough.

[00:25:19]>> Jared and Sharon are in dire straits with no money for a rental bond.

[00:25:24]>> Shelby.

[00:25:25]>> And the local council has [music] just become aware Lily has turned her unregistered home into a crisis shelter.

[00:25:32]>> They don't want to shut us down. They want to work with us and trying to get these registrations.

[00:25:38]This is our passion is helping those in need. And I um Yeah, this just makes me emotional.

[00:25:50]But if we don't give them a bed or a couch, where else do they go?

[00:25:57]I Who else is going to reach out and help them?

[00:26:09]>> Homelessness is one of the most potent examples of disadvantage [music] and social exclusion in Australia today and affects more than 105,000 of us. In Queensland alone, there are 20,000 homeless people and nearly [music] one in four of those are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

[00:26:31]Norma and her children are staring that future in the face >> [music] >> after receiving an eviction notice two days ago.

[00:26:39]She and [music] her family are now taking each day at a time.

[00:26:43]>> That's where I used to swim in the creek when I [music] was at your age.

[00:26:50]My mother left me in the gutter when I was 8 months old.

[00:26:52]>> Oh, yeah?

[00:26:53]>> I was raised by my grandmother. I Our life was good. There was a creek that separated, and on the other side of that creek, that's where the white people live.

[00:27:01]Well, you know, different children. It wasn't just Aboriginals. It was, you know, other white friends of ours.

[00:27:07]They're still our friends today.

[00:27:10]>> First time I seen that water flow like that since I grew up.

[00:27:14]>> There was no racism. There was no crime.

[00:27:18]>> [music] >> Um we were just teenagers. Everyone got along.

[00:27:22]>> I wish it was still fresh.

[00:27:23]>> Yeah, I know. It would have been You could have been swimming in the creek that I swam in, see?

[00:27:28]I was taught my culture here in this park. I am a Jagera person.

[00:27:33]But I also represent my grandfather's country, too.

[00:27:38]You know, and that's Kadjil Yaruman.

[00:27:46]Well, I had my first son in 1987. I was 15 years old.

[00:27:53]Jagera soul.

[00:27:55]He was loved by all.

[00:27:57]It taught me, you know, to love a child, to be there as a mother, something that I didn't have.

[00:28:08]Oh, 2006, I lost my eldest son.

[00:28:14]It was a Sunday night.

[00:28:16]We had a knock on the door.

[00:28:19]At 1:30 in the morning, that's when we were told that my son was in a police chase.

[00:28:28]There was four boys in the car.

[00:28:30]Everyone was flung out of the car except my son.

[00:28:34]Um he was dead on impact.

[00:28:41]>> Six weeks after Joe died at the age of 18, Norma's two youngest [music] sons, Hayden, 11, Glenn, eight, and their nine-year-old cousin, Reginald, were playing on a railway line.

[00:28:55]>> They were hit by a train.

[00:28:58]And they were killed instantly, all three of them.

[00:29:02]I held.

[00:29:03]I held like a dingo for an hour for my children.

[00:29:08]It was the hardest thing to ever experience in my life as a mother.

[00:29:17]It still hurts me today.

[00:29:27]>> What about your son?

[00:29:28]>> The loss of her three sons and nephew has made Norma appreciate the value of family even more.

[00:29:35]Something not even the threat of eviction can shake.

[00:29:38]>> They're running on the evidence of my eldest daughter's minor drug charge, uh, marijuana. That's the reason that they've given me for the eviction.

[00:29:49]They wanted me to kick my daughter out.

[00:29:51]Nah, I can't do that.

[00:29:58]If I was to kick my daughter out, she'd become another number for this government.

[00:30:04]Another number on the drugs, another number on the alcohol, incarceration.

[00:30:09]No.

[00:30:11]>> She hopes to make one last appeal to Queensland Housing.

[00:30:15]>> I'm not a drunk.

[00:30:16]>> [crying] >> I don't go out and party or leave my kids all over the place, you know?

[00:30:20]I don't do any of that.

[00:30:22]I did all my schooling in Inala.

[00:30:25]I went to high school in Inala.

[00:30:28]Had my first job from Inala.

[00:30:30]It's a part of my life.

[00:30:32]It'll always be my home.

[00:30:38]>> If you lose your home, there's always family to fall back on.

[00:30:43]But sometimes even they aren't there for you.

[00:30:47]>> Hello.

[00:30:48]>> In Melbourne's inner west, Michael's heroin days may be behind him, but his relationship with his family remains broken.

[00:30:56]>> my friend Neil.

[00:30:57]>> He's late for his mother's funeral and the prospect of facing relatives who've shunned him for decades terrifies him.

[00:31:05]>> I've got to be there in half an hour and I need something to make me relax a little bit.

[00:31:11]Um Yeah, a beer and a cigarette.

[00:31:17]Ah.

[00:31:27]That I'm on.

[00:31:28]I don't know where this [ __ ] bus goes.

[00:31:31]Um the guys at the station will know.

[00:31:36]Um I'm wondering where does the 411 go from?

[00:31:39]>> Footscray West >> Yeah, to Elterna.

[00:31:41]I don't want to go. Nobody wants to go to their mum's funeral, but most people pile into their family car and then after the funeral you have a few drinks and you you you give whoever a send-off.

[00:31:53]Going completely the wrong way. I've got to go back to where I've just come from, Footscray Plaza, to get the 411.

[00:32:00]But um it's not going to be like that for me. My family hate my guts.

[00:32:06]All right.

[00:32:08]All right.

[00:32:09]All right.

[00:32:11]All right.

[00:32:13]You know what a smart person would do?

[00:32:14]Look at a timetable.

[00:32:17]12:52. One went at 12:12.

[00:32:20]One goes at 12:52.

[00:32:23]So I'll get there about half an hour into the service and and that's that suits me. I'm quite happy to sit up the back.

[00:32:30]Um This bloody shirt keeps All right, 12:52. So, I got 10 minutes.

[00:32:40]That's another That's another beer.

[00:32:46]Where is this [ __ ] bus?

[00:32:52]>> [music] >> A lot of what that the nasty text messages I got in the days that after mom died are true as well. I am a smelly junkie, but I'm not a junkie anymore, but I was.

[00:33:13]>> [laughter] [snorts] >> But, they're right about me being dirty.

[00:33:24]Dirty and not and they're right about what about mom being a [ __ ] and drugs and me.

[00:33:37]Yeah, she was. Okay, so that that's the [music] truth. That's the truth.

[00:33:44]I wish my mom I wish she could have loved me more.

[00:34:05]But, it didn't matter how kind I was to animals or people.

[00:34:10]It all mom cared about was that I didn't have a good job and I wasn't Wayne Carey. She used to say that to me all the time. You could have been like Wayne Carey. You could have been anything you wanted, Michael.

[00:34:23]>> [snorts] >> But, you end up taking drugs and um and a whole decade of your life is taken away.

[00:34:31]And the consequences of that mistake will live with you forever.

[00:34:41]>> For Australians living below the poverty line, it's not just about the money.

[00:34:46]Things like housing and health care that many of us take for granted can be a daily struggle.

[00:34:52]>> [music] >> But even when parents give their child the best start like Michael, the cruelty of others can still shape lives.

[00:35:02]>> Bullying sounds like it's not a very nasty [music] or something that could [ __ ] your life up.

[00:35:08]Back then, you know, it was my whole world, school. It's my whole world.

[00:35:15]Yeah, poor mom.

[00:35:16]Honestly, now, she couldn't care less that it was at a funeral, but um I would be ashamed of myself and feel like a coward if I didn't go. This is my stuff, isn't it?

[00:35:26]Thank you. Yeah.

[00:35:29]See you.

[00:35:30]When I was young, I was best friends with mom, talked to her all the time, told her when I took drugs for the first time, told her when I went to a nightclub for the first time. So, I had um a relationship where I could tell her things like that.

[00:35:43]But um yeah, she uh she was just ashamed of me in that adult life.

[00:35:56]Thank you.

[00:36:05]>> Our politicians tell us they understand [music] and know what's best for us.

[00:36:10]Love them or loathe them, they call the shots.

[00:36:13]>> They only care about power cuz they've got the money. You know, most of them usually reasonably well-off.

[00:36:18]They just care about power and control.

[00:36:21]>> I would love to see one of them do what somebody has to do on a daily [ __ ] basis for a year. I would like them to step foot in somebody else's house on struggle street and do what we've got to do for a year.

[00:36:35]>> It's disheartening to see that Anala never progressed.

[00:36:42]Oh, we've got Annastacia [music] Palaszczuk's office is just over here.

[00:36:46]This is the premier's electorate. Most of her voters all live here.

[00:36:50]>> I wrote to her. I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is Henry Palaszczuk's daughter."

[00:36:54]Henry was a teacher at our school at Serviceton South State School. He was deadly. Talked to him, you know, a number of times over the years with politics and stuff like that.

[00:37:05]So, I thought his daughter might be similar ways.

[00:37:08]Nah.

[00:37:10]>> Karen's joined her friend and fellow Yuggera woman Norma, her sister Kelly, and their family at the Housing Service Centre in Anala.

[00:37:18]>> We're having a First Nations Yuggera woman being evicted from her homeland.

[00:37:23]She's had one of the first families that ever lived in Anala since they set it up. So, we're standing in support of Norma, meeting with housing. We're not protesting. It's a peaceful gathering.

[00:37:38]And look at that. They've got all these police here to intimidate us gathering in support of our sister. What other hope have we got here? We've got no politicians that represent our people.

[00:37:47]Milton Dick doesn't speak for our people. Neither does Annastacia Palaszczuk.

[00:37:53]They've moved along the first people.

[00:37:55]They've moved along the the low socio-economic battlers, and they expect us to be happy living like this.

[00:38:01]But, we're saying no more.

[00:38:04]>> It's terrible.

[00:38:08]>> Daughter Keisha's [music] drug offense means her mother's in breach of her public housing tenancy.

[00:38:13]A desperate [music] Norma has turned up to protest with the support of her family.

[00:38:19]>> I want these people to sit down and talk to me like a human being.

[00:38:22]Talk to me so I can understand.

[00:38:25]Listen to me.

[00:38:26]Don't just throw me out.

[00:38:30]You can't take my home away from my babies. I've got two little people there.

[00:38:35]I don't drink.

[00:38:38]I smoke marijuana. Wow. I survive on $600.

[00:38:46]Every fortnight I'm flat out with $70 left.

[00:38:50]I pay high rent. $583.

[00:38:54]That leaves me every fortnight $128.

[00:38:58]And I got six kids.

[00:39:00]But I make do with what I got.

[00:39:02]It's bad enough my life was already ruined by losing children.

[00:39:06]Now they want my home?

[00:39:10]>> We've got every right to gather in front of that office.

[00:39:14]We've got every right to stand there.

[00:39:15]We're only having a peaceful gathering.

[00:39:17]We're not going to smash anything. We're not rioting. WE'VE GOT EVERY RIGHT.

[00:39:21]WE'VE STILL GOT freedom in this country.

[00:39:27]>> My children, my nieces.

[00:39:29]This is my blood.

[00:39:32]We are here for each other.

[00:39:34]>> They're saying that this is with the tenants.

[00:39:36]>> We're talking about >> They They They're accusing her of you guys going to her place. That's what she's getting evicted for. They're looking for kids.

[00:39:43]>> The eviction of Norma, a pregnant Keisha, and Norma's two youngest children can happen at any time in the next 14 days without further warning.

[00:39:52]>> You know what it is?

[00:39:55]I will never ever respect you again.

[00:39:57]Never.

[00:39:58]Never in my life will I ever.

[00:40:02]I got no respect for you.

[00:40:04]That's right.

[00:40:05]>> I'm angry. We want answers. We want answers because we still have two little people at home that are at school at the moment. And when they get home, they want they want to know if we're still going to be living at home.

[00:40:15]>> We've gone upstairs and spoken to the lady um So, she says she's quite happy to talk to you today.

[00:40:20]>> What now? After she's Brother, come on.

[00:40:23]>> Well, we got here before and I was when I was speaking to find out what the story was.

[00:40:27]>> Well, I am not going up there myself.

[00:40:28]I'm taking my cousin with me.

[00:40:30]>> Well, go and ask if she's Well, go and ask if she can go up.

[00:40:32]>> I'm not going myself. No.

[00:40:34]>> Well, go and ask if she can go up.

[00:40:38]>> And if I'm not?

[00:40:41]They've got no respect.

[00:40:43]It would be a shame.

[00:40:47]Oh, bloody respect.

[00:40:49]>> So, hopefully we get a good outcome out of this. We just have to wait and see till they come out of this meeting and then we go from there.

[00:41:42]>> [music] >> Norma and Karen have had 10 minutes with housing officials.

[00:41:54]>> They've um met with us to tell us that it's gone out of their hands and QCAT, the body that oversees the housing and tenancy uh business, it's only in QCAT that this could be dealt with.

[00:42:09]>> Yeah.

[00:42:10]My body's a shaking, hey.

[00:42:11]>> They had no issues with Norma directly as the tenant. They They It was only because of police going to her. That's what they're basing their their eviction on.

[00:42:23]And now she's she's she suffers with a stress disorder, and now she's she's just gone into a a shock. She's It's too much for her.

[00:42:39]>> I haven't shaken like this since the day I buried my children.

[00:42:53]>> [music] >> Eviction is just one factor that can lead to homelessness, but the one that's most preventable is when people leave institutions such as prison with nothing to fall back on.

[00:43:12]In Southwest Brisbane, home for former prisoner Jared, his partner Sharon, and the four children has been a garage on the Coochie Sheds [music] property for the past few days.

[00:43:22]>> Um Um are you right?

[00:43:24]>> It's not an easy place to do homework for 16-year-old [music] Trinity when there's two adults, two brothers, and a sister on top of you.

[00:43:32]>> Grade 11's hard.

[00:43:33]Really hard. Harder than I thought it would be. We have exam block in the next few weeks, assignments all in June.

[00:43:41]It's really stressful.

[00:43:44]>> Get ready.

[00:43:46]>> Dad.

[00:43:47]>> Yeah.

[00:43:47]>> What were your daily routines like when you were in jail?

[00:43:50]>> Well, I'd wake up >> even finished my question and you started talking.

[00:43:54]>> Okay, my bad.

[00:43:55]>> I'm doing my assignment for school. It's documentaries. We had to choose a marginalized subject for our assignment, and I decided to choose prison life and realized that my dad was in jail so I thought it was a good idea.

[00:44:11]>> What are your daily routines in jail?

[00:44:15]>> Wake up, have a shower, shave my legs, brush my teeth, cell door opens, and then um nothing. Train, go out in the yard and train, train, eat, sleep, work out, repeat.

[00:44:33]>> When dad was in jail I got teased but it wasn't like teased to the point I was getting bullied. It was just they thought it was funny that my dad was in jail and theirs wasn't.

[00:44:41]>> Mum.

[00:44:42]Tell Payton to shut >> Shelby, mum mum. Shush, please.

[00:44:45]>> So when I went to jail I was still fried for weeks.

[00:44:48]They They call it drunk, you know, you come off the street drunk. I was still high for about 3 months.

[00:44:54]All I would think about was Sharon and the kids and make it was going through my head and through my head and through my head and knowing Sharon was probably still on the crack and I was [ __ ] around and the [snorts] kids were at home by themselves and not being able to just pick up the phone and ring them.

[00:45:07]>> What was the thing you looked forward to the most?

[00:45:10]>> Getting out.

[00:45:12]>> Other than that?

[00:45:13]>> Visits.

[00:45:14]>> What was so great about visits?

[00:45:16]>> I got to see my missus and kids coming for for an hour.

[00:45:26]There's nothing more important in jail than having [snorts] your family come in.

[00:45:32]Seeing for an hour, you get a cuddle, you don't get to talk about much yet.

[00:45:35]I got to sit there with my kids.

[00:45:37]>> How did that make you feel?

[00:45:39]>> Grateful.

[00:45:40]I don't think I got my first photos once I'd been there 12 months.

[00:45:44]And that's that's [ __ ] tough. That's when you know something's not right.

[00:45:48]And then my kids told her she was seeing someone else.

[00:45:50]And then she tried to deny it which made it worse.

[00:45:53]And then it just [ __ ] the visit.

[00:45:55]>> When dad went to jail that was probably the roughest patch I've ever been through. I was angry to start off with and I was embarrassed to like for a while, but then I just got over it, and I was like, "Ah, can't change what's happened now, so I just let it be." Goodbye. Mom, get on the chair.

[00:46:13]Look at her [ __ ] herself. She's like, "I don't want to do that."

[00:46:17]>> Don't ask you what you got up to when I was in jail.

[00:46:19]>> That we won't question. I don't ask. Get your ass over here and sit down, Mama.

[00:46:25]>> Oh, mate.

[00:46:26]>> I've stopped up over the years.

[00:46:28]I'm not afraid to admit it now.

[00:46:30]You know, I'm ashamed of what I've done, but at the end of the day, I need to guide the kids the right way.

[00:46:36]You know, don't follow Mom or Dad's footsteps.

[00:46:39]>> What was the biggest struggle personally for you when Jared was in jail?

[00:46:45]>> Housing.

[00:46:46]>> Housing?

[00:46:47]>> Trying to find a place for myself and four children to stay.

[00:46:54]Truly was very angry at me, but half the time her anger was aimed at me because of Dad, but she took it out on her mother because it's Mom's fault Dad didn't come.

[00:47:04]Dad broke another promise.

[00:47:06]>> The feeling of losing your parents to drugs is is [ __ ] heartbreaking. I guess at a point in time, I did hate them. I hate them for everything that they did to me.

[00:47:15]That I did hate them for everything they did to Shelby, Payton, Ashley. I just I just hate them.

[00:47:22]>> The family is at a crossroads.

[00:47:25]The younger children were born here, and they're all keen to make Australia their permanent home.

[00:47:31]And with Jared currently on bail, he can't simply pack up [music] and move everyone to New Zealand, even if he wanted to.

[00:47:39]But that situation could change if a court decides his outstanding drug offenses are serious.

[00:47:47]>> He'd sentence of 12 months or more, and it's and it's instant deportation.

[00:47:51]And I've already done six 16 months, so in in my view, it it it could well be a chance, but until we know what's going on, it's not I have It's just hanging there, yeah.

[00:48:03]>> What's your name?

[00:48:04]>> Shelby.

[00:48:05]>> How old are you?

[00:48:06]>> Nine.

[00:48:07]>> What family member of yours went to jail?

[00:48:09]>> Dad.

[00:48:11]>> How did that make you feel when your dad was in jail?

[00:48:15]>> Angry, lonely, and sad.

[00:48:18]>> Why did it make you feel like that?

[00:48:20]>> Because it's hard for me to have not have a dad around while he's while he's um gone.

[00:48:31]>> They are brilliant kids.

[00:48:33]They've just had a [ __ ] go.

[00:48:37]My son is struggling with it something fierce. He hates his mom with a passion.

[00:48:41]You know, and my daughter is waiting for me to explode, and Sharon's waiting for me to just rip apart, you know, she's waiting for me to [ __ ] explode and do some damage because of it, but it's not going to come cuz uh >> [snorts] >> it is what it is. I was in jail, for [ __ ] sake. [ __ ] happens.

[00:48:56]>> Do you have any goals you want [music] to achieve now that your dad's out of jail?

[00:49:00]>> Um yes, I only have one.

[00:49:04]>> What is that?

[00:49:04]>> That there will be no arguing between my my parents.

[00:49:12]>> [music] >> Family can cause the deepest of wounds, but it can also bind us and make us stronger.

[00:49:19]Whatever path we choose in life, it's never too late to make amends. [music] >> Ah.

[00:49:26]The funeral was lovely. My brother did a really good job. My brother is a [ __ ] [ __ ] but um what he wrote was um it was just beautiful.

[00:49:36]When I got up and spoke, I just mumbled something. I can't even remember what I said for 30 seconds, but um I I do know I told everyone I was scared about the future without Um I don't know why I'm scared. She never helped other times. Um it's just that um there's no more mom and dad.

[00:49:56]No more mom and dad at all.

[00:49:59]>> [laughter] >> But we all got to go through it, yeah?

[00:50:04]Yeah.

[00:50:05]And one day you'll die, too.

[00:50:07]Everything's temporary in this silly world.

[00:50:10]You know? God makes creatures like us.

[00:50:13]We're only here for a while. And that's why we've got to look after each other.

[00:50:18]>> [crying] >> Thanks, mate. I needed that. I needed that. I did.

[00:50:27]>> Next time on Struggle Street.

[00:50:29]>> Welcome to Broadmeadows. They call this the suburb of of all dodgy people.

[00:50:36]>> They found 15-20 addicts in here. And all it's done is wreck our community over the last 10 years. It just keeps ripping it apart bit by bit.

[00:50:42]>> The car industry's gone now. Ford's gone, Toyota's going, Holden's going.

[00:50:47]>> It's stressful having to go home and deal with all their stuff, and where we are, and everything.

[00:50:53]>> Ah, [ __ ] Can't you just get out of my sight?

[00:50:56][ __ ] off.

[00:50:57]>> Come on.

[00:50:58]Come on.

[00:51:00]>> Today's the 13th. You have to leave.

[00:51:02]>> This is what it takes to remove me from my house.