March for Australia

"I recently got a rent increase notice for an additional $180 a week, which works out to be about $10,000 a year," Morgan began.

"I tried to find a cheaper place and there just aren't any. What little is available, there's dozens of people lined up."

"Lots of them are immigrants and they have plenty more money than I can possibly get."

The hard working dad revealed that his young family had already been forced out of Sydney by rapidly rising rent costs - partially driven by an influx of people moving to the city increasing the demand for property.

"'I'm already working two jobs," Mr Cox said.

"One more rent increase and my family - my one-year-old baby - we're facing homelessness and we've got nowhere to go".

Of course, the enormous outpouring of sympathy for this young man stems mainly because he has a family, with a very young child. There's little interest from the media in stories on male homelessness but the fact remains that it is men who have always been more likely to be homeless, and many times more likely to be sleeping rough. Here's a graph of recent increases in homelessness by gender.

These are the sort of issues people were talking about on that Canberra march. We met many older parents concerned about their kids in the big cities looking for somewhere to live, the unemployed young men still living at home, unable to attract a partner. For all the efforts of our politicians to pretend it's not happening, there is a very real problem out there and people have had enough.

That's why some of the mums from Mothers of Sons are joining the March for Australia this Sunday, October 19. I hope you will think about joining the march at one of 14 locations across the country. Details listed here.

You might like to have a look at an ABC interview with Scott Challen, the Brisbane businessman who is organising the Brisbane event - just in case you are nervous due to the media's scare tactics.