Murray Plains should be a place that is easy to get to, easy to get around, and easy to live in - but in recent years it has been getting harder to live in northern Victoria.
Hi, I’m Asyiqin (ah-shi-kin). I’m a community activist, a retail worker, and a proud trade unionist. I’m running as a state election candidate for Murray Plains with the Victorian Socialists.
Murray Plains should be a place that is easy to get to, easy to get around, and easy to live in - but in recent years it has been getting harder to live in northern Victoria.
Finding a rental that’s both comfortable and affordable is more difficult every day. Our severely constrained public transport means it’s impossible getting anywhere without a car and no option to save on petrol.
Childcare is unaffordable and inaccessible. Class sizes in schools balloon while our teachers are overworked and underpaid. Waiting times for medical check ups or for emergency medical services can take hours.
The increasing frequency of drought, floods and other extreme weather events caused by climate change are impacting farmland and crops. In summer we deal with brutal heat and fear of bushfires.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
I’ll fight for:
- A five year freeze on residential rents and an increase in public housing to address homelessness and housing insecurity
- Increased government subsidies for the installation of insulation, air conditioning and solar panels in our homes
- Free and extended public transport, including more regular express trains to Melbourne
- Free, publicly-run childcare, five days a week, and more investment in our public schools to hire more teachers and reduce class sizes
- The expansion of public hospitals in Murray Plains and to build the first Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (UCC) in Swan Hill, Cohuna and Echuca
- An expansion of Fire Rescue Victoria and the State Emergency Service to address increasing risks from fires and floods.
Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we have the economic capacity to implement these demands. The only obstacle we have is a political one. The major parties prioritise the interests of the wealthiest few above the needs of working-class communities.
Growing up, I was elected as the Echuca College Vice Captain and sat on the Campaspe Shire Youth Action Group committee. Since then, I’ve supported workers on strike for better wages and conditions at early morning pickets and participated in industrial action in the university sector while I worked there. I’ve cut my teeth organising protests to defend public housing, for climate justice, for LGBTQ+ rights, for Palestine and against the rise of racism and the far right.
As an organiser for RMIT Students for Palestine, I coordinated the month-long Gaza Solidarity Encampment in 2024, which called for RMIT University to cut ties with weapons manufacturers associated with Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
I got involved in politics because I was sick of living in a world of growing inequality, environmental destruction, war and genocide - problems that Labor, the Liberals and One Nation offer no solutions for. These parties rule for the wealthy elites, while the rest of us get left to deal with the consequences of a system that puts profits over people.
Victorian Socialists are the opposite. Our slogan is ‘people before profit’. One aspect of that is putting back into the communities we represent. That’s why all our candidates pledge to only accept an average full time worker’s wage (equivalent to a 6th year nurse) and donate the rest of our salary (more than $100,000) towards local community initiatives.
Let’s show Victoria that Murray Plains does not think racism is the solution to the cost of living and housing crisis. We think the solution is economic justice: take the wealth from the billionaires, banks and big corporations and pour it into working-class communities. We deserve to live full and dignified lives too.