Yesterday’s anti-immigration protests in Melbourne’s CBD left me with a heavy heart and a lot to unpack. While I wasn’t there myself - frankly, the thought of encountering neo-Nazis on a weekend family outing doesn’t exactly scream “fun day out” - the images and stories filtering through social media painted a picture that’s deeply troubling for anyone who believes in the Australia I thought we were building together.

What struck me most was reading about families who chose to stay home for safety reasons, healthcare workers questioning whether they want to keep serving a community that seems to reject them, and immigrants feeling genuinely unwelcome in a country they’ve helped build. That’s not the Melbourne I know, and it’s certainly not the Australia I want my teenage daughter to inherit.

I’ve been watching the debate around the “March for Australia” unfold online over the past few days, and frankly, it’s left me both frustrated and deeply concerned about where we’re heading as a society. What started as people asking legitimate questions about the march’s organisers has devolved into the usual online shouting match, with some folks demanding “concrete evidence” while others point to what seems pretty bloody obvious if you just scratch the surface.

Scrolling through the news this morning, I came across something that made me put down my latte and stare at the screen for a good minute. ICE is planning to track over 180,000 immigrants with ankle monitors, and - surprise, surprise - the company making these devices donated at least $1.5 million to Trump. It’s the kind of story that perfectly encapsulates everything that’s gone wrong with how we do politics these days.

The discussion around occupational downgrade among refugees has been doing the rounds online lately, and it’s got me thinking about how we frame these conversations. The headlines focus on refugees experiencing career setbacks after a decade in Australia, but the reality is far more nuanced than the sensationalist framing suggests.

What struck me most about the various perspectives shared was how many people pointed out that occupational downgrade isn’t unique to refugees at all. It’s a common experience for most migrants whose qualifications aren’t recognised here. One person mentioned downgrading from a PhD in Iran to become an MD in Australia - earning more money and finding the work easier. Another talked about taking ten years to rebuild their career path entirely.