Dear About Time,

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I wanted to write to share my story in the hope it will help others. I've had a problem with alcohol probably since I was 17 and got in a blue with my dad at the football. We ran a dairy farm in South-West Victoria and when a farmer and his family work 12 hours a day, seven days a week and receive a paltry amount that isn’t enough – it’s defeating. I ended up getting into work, did a trade, worked full time for 10 years and even spent two years abroad working. When I got back, I had a nervous breakdown or mental health episode. I was in and out of psych wards, tried to work, went on disability payments and started drinking heavily. A good thing during this time was I went to university and got a 3-year degree in applied science. I got some professional work in a lab and at a zoo. However, the competition for jobs at that level is high and my drinking did continue, and I broke the law for the first time in 2019. Since then, I’ve been out for a couple of 18-month blocks but I’ve done a few sentences. I seem to get fit and then hit alcohol when out and re-offend. As we all know, it is difficult to get work in the outside world, and this is something I hope to change. Some people think one crime and you should be locked up for life. I read former offenders are good at labouring jobs. I hope to stay fit this time when I get out, buy some nice clothes with my money. If one looks respectable, one can more likely be treated with respect. Perhaps the dream is to be fit, respectable, look good, listen to authority, earn money, pay tax, be a good citizen, not drink or smoke and be happy.

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We must learn to face our demons. Perhaps your demon is the bottleshop or the pub or the smokes counter. For me, I would go three months without a drink and a weak moment on a Saturday afternoon will bring me undone. What will we do in the moment of weakness?

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The housing crisis is a big one that impacted me. I was in about 25 different rentals from when I was 18-36 years old, and then I got blacklisted, became homeless and went on a public housing waitlist. It took almost five years to get housing, and that’s why I did about 12 months in jail due to not having housing and doing stupid stuff when drunk in public or stealing food or getting angry at a shopkeeper.

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It’s just a bit rough, I feel, when I have been a qualified tradesman working on people’s houses and I don’t or can’t own a house myself. Supposedly, the other half is there to house us in a jail cell.

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Well, thanks, but I’d rather live in my car or on the street most of the time than in a cell. As tough as the street is, you have the open air, your kit and the ability to move around.

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We hear about the minefield of mental health crisis in prisons. It's true that a large number of prisoners have mental or physical health problems. I am not the only one. Some of us are fortunate that we will get an opportunity to go back into society and have a new chance.

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You can have as many support workers and parole officers as you can get, but it will never make you stop doing crimes. It has to come from within yourself.

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I just wish people in the general public would be more accepting of us with lived experience. The attitude of “oh, he is weird or different – lock him up” is a poor attitude in my opinion. Give us men the median-average income, and we will be well. Give us access to doctors, nurses and support workers, and we will be well.

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We in Australia are all fortunate that we have found ourselves on one of the greatest pieces of land in the world. In Aboriginal spirituality, if we look after the land, its people and others, the land will look after us. My great-grandfather and grandfather were in WWI and WWII – I am lucky to be here writing this. It is gratefulness and gratitude and grit that can get us to sobriety and wellbeing.