Megan Gordon was brought up by a single mother in a family that “struggled a lot with money”.
Her father left the area, which falls within the Coalition-held seat of Longman north of Brisbane, to get a job that paid more than what he could find locally.
But Gordon, 18, will not be swayed by concerns about government welfare cuts affecting low-income families, especially single mothers, when she casts her vote for the first time in the federal election on 2 July.
She is sold on the Coalition’s vision of economic growth fuelled by company tax cuts, laid out to her on Friday night by Malcolm Turnbull and her local MP Wyatt Roy in a local “Politics in the Pub”-style event.
The education student and butchery worker from near Caboolture met Roy while captain of her high school. “I think he’s great, I think they’re both great,” she said.
“I think the tax cuts and all that would be something for the majority of people, because everyone’s looking for tax cuts. It just depends if it happens.”
Should workers earning less than $80,000 a year, who will not benefit from tax cuts, also get more help?
“Definitely they should but also, no, because of course everyone needs help,” Gordon said.
“The prices of everything, groceries, are going up daily. Like, my dad, he has to work away [in Canberra], he can’t afford to work around here because there’s no way anyone’s earning [attractive] money around here.
“That’s something other people can do if they’re not earning money. I know it’s hard to do but that’s something that can happen.”
What of slated Coalition cuts to family benefits that on one survey have 80% of single parents believing they will run out of food or struggle to pay for school books, uniforms or utility bills?
“That’s actually a personal thing for me because my mum was a single mother and we did struggle a lot with money, especially with tax and her working and everything,” Gordon said.
“I think also there are so many people out there that just don’t work and they just complain about having no money and they just rely on other people that do work.
“I know so many people my age that have just gotten a little job, like at Fasta Pasta or McDonald’s or something, it’s so easy to find a job but so many people out there that just rely on other people’s money to go through life and I think that’s just ridiculous. They definitely need to work on that.”
The Coalition pitch on business-led prosperity hits home with those who see self-reliance and personal initiative as the key remedy to social disadvantage.
But it’s wildly at odds with what frontline social workers are saying in Longman.
They cite domestic violence and intergenerational poverty as the main issues in an electorate recently rated the third highest nationally in suicide numbers among 28 electorates in a survey by Anglicare.
They harbour grave concerns about the local effect of Coalition cuts highlighted in the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children survey this week.
Roy has angered some advocates by declining to participate in three public forums set up for Longman candidates to address these social issues in recent weeks.
After a late withdrawal from a 3 June “Meet the Longman Candidates Forum” attended by Labor, the Greens, Katter’s Australian party and Family First, Roy also declined to attend a 27 May forum in Caboolture organised by the advocacy group RiSE Queensland.
The RiSE Queensland chief executive, Bronwyn Rees, said this spurred her on to organise a third “Policy in the Park” forum so Roy could attend.
“I was very disappointed he didn’t turn up and when I heard he didn’t turn up for another event, I decided, not good enough,” Rees tells Guardian Australia.
“I sent him an invite, he was the first person obviously. The exact wording I got back was: ‘He is not taking any engagements for the foreseeable future’.
“I said that is unacceptable, can you please notify me of at least listening posts, because that is the only way we can get to see him and question him on these issues.
“I am a constituent and I think that is unfair.”
Rees said she was angered by the lip service paid by the Turnbull government to tackling domestic violence – 30% of funding to community legal centres will be cut from next year.
She said fears of privations highlighted by the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children survey had been realised years ago for many people, including after Labor put single parents on Newstart payments in 2012.
“You do it again, another cut, you have no idea, you’re pushing people over the edge. Seriously,” she said.
“I know a lot of people that are going without food. That’s normal for a single mum, a sole parent. You cook a little feed for your kids: ‘why aren’t you eating, Mum?’ ‘I already had some, darl’. We see things like that all the time.
“Kids going to school with a hole in their shoe, getting bullied because they come from a lower socioeconomic group. Mum couldn’t afford to put lunch together for them today.”
Rees said she had seen a local spike in home schooling from economically-disadvantaged parents wanting to protect their children from bullying. This had led to patterns of more social isolation and suicidal ideation in youth. One such family had payments cut because the child was not completing homework, Rees said.
“Now the family is stressed because the money’s gone. See the cycle?”
She said she felt “desperate” and compelled to speak out after holding her tongue during the last federal election “when our services were afraid to speak up because everyone was worried about funding”.
“Where is the social justice, where is the needs for community? I get angry. I don’t want to hear about our roads, I don’t want to hear about all this other stuff.”
The Greens, who like Labor oppose lower taxes for larger businesses and the cuts to family benefit payments, announced on Saturday that they would instead increase key welfare payments, including Newstart by $55 a week.
They also say they will raise Commonwealth rent assistance by 30% and move single parents on to the higher “Parenting Payment Single”, which the Queensland Greens senator Larissa Waters says will benefit 19,499 single parents.
A spokesman for Roy’s office was contacted for comment.
