Bri Williams says she didn't become a real estate agent to make a profit, she did it to help people. Being on the frontline of the housing crisis, she sees this as one of the biggest issues coming into the 2022 election.
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Each participant of the Australian Community Media "Pub Test" series will have an in-depth profile to explore how they think about topics that matter most to them. For Bri, her opinions have never been around a particular party but a collection of ideas.
Bri recognises and appreciates in real estate "we do well under a Liberal National sort of government" but says from "a generational point of view" everyone should be able to live in a home and feel safe.
"I hear these horrible stories of first-home buyers having all this optimism and enthusiasm heading into the market and then you just see it get chipped away every single time," she said.
An unspoken issue Bri's observed through her career is older people unable to afford a home. She says this is particularly women whose spouses have passed away and have no retirement funds, often resorting to halfway housing which she says "breaks my heart".
"Everyone deserves a home and everyone deserves to call a letterbox their own," she said.
'Beautifully libertarian' Canberra
Born and bred in the capital, Bri is currently in Belconnen under the Bean electorate. The longest period she had away from the ACT was five months working in photography at a summer camp in South Carolina, describing it as "a shock, to say the least".
"I was a very nave 21 year old going over there and I didn't realise how beautifully libertarian we are," she said.
Everyone deserves a home and everyone deserves to call a letterbox their own.
- Bri Williams
At this stage of the election, Bri says she would still vote for Labor despite Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese's gaffe forgetting the cash and unemployment rate.
"I felt really bad for him, but at the same time, I'm like 'welcome to scrutiny', he hasn't really had to deal with much over the last three to four years," she said.
While national issues are important for Bri, she cares about what is happening with local ACT members during the coming weeks of the campaign.
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Liberal Senator Zed Seselja leaving the campaign trail in an urgent appeal to the Solomon Islands over the country's potential China security agreement was something noteworthy for Bri, saying it played into Senator Seselja often "getting up up and moving and not really actually staying in Canberra."
"In this instance [though], I kind of agree with what he did in terms of going over there and trying to negotiate the Solomons to not sign a deal straight away ... I don't agree with Zed a lot of the time but I agree he made the right decision in that regard," she said.
How TikTok works with politics
Outside of real estate, Bri regularly creates TikToks commenting on politics, Canberra culture and day-to-day mishaps which she says is a "good tool" to represent the ACT.
She became increasingly frustrated the capital was "defined by politics" from other states, saying one day in January 2021 she "just got sick of it" and created a video showing everyone beautiful parts of Canberra which later blew up online.
She figured out the media's profiling of Canberra is what has contributed to broader Australia's negative attitude of the capital.
"They say, in Canberra today, and you're like 'no, in Parliament House today'," she said.
Now Bri makes multiple TikToks a week catering to the ACT's unique sense of humour, particularly the large number of public servants, saying "the share count always goes through the roof in an APS TikTok."
During the election Bri says TikTok is "a way to find humour" out of difficult situations and politics and to provide the community with engaging content.
Week One - voters have their say
When it comes to the group of five, Opposition Leader Anthony's Albanese's "blunder" is the stand out of week one during the election campaign.
From the Bean electorate, Jeff Bollard described the Labor leader's inability to remember the cash rate or unemployment rate on Monday as "not a good look" but also had some sympathy.
"If he'd had a minute to think about it he probably would have got the correct answer, it's just that kind of 10 seconds to respond and he didn't get the right answer," Jeff said.
"The thing that annoyed me was the young, supposedly Labor party person who took on the Prime Minister and put it on Facebook or whatever platform it is."
Jim, Raelene and Bri shared a similar sentiment, saying the forgotten figures were the political moment of the week.
"I did hear about Albo making a mistake, but I also don't care," Jim said.
"I don't know if that's going to cost him the election, I also think it's completely stupid how people are making it the end of the world, but also, then again, I think that about most things in politics."
Questions this week on the $500,000 plus taxpayer funded payout to Rachelle Miller, who was Liberal minister Alan Tudge's former staffer, was a serious issue for Raelene, saying government accountability needed to be a priority.
"I think it points out that we definitely do need an integrity commission," she said.
Ash, who is the youngest of the five and a first-time voter, hadn't really been paying much attention to the national news, but said he had noticed corflute signs popping up after Sunday.
"They're being placed around everywhere, I know that David Pocock was just out and about getting around the community, showing his face everywhere he could. It seems like everything is in full swing and everyone's trying to get their name out there," he said.
No participant would change their vote at this stage, but voters like Bri say Labor's disaster week makes the Prime Minister's chances of winning higher.
"I know he's promised a few policies actually this week in relation to jobs and stuff ... so honestly, I think ScoMo would win today, if we had to go to an election today," she said.
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