This week, the Federal Government handed down it’s budget. The budget is their final one before the election (which will probably get called very shortly). It’s important to note that the budget won’t become law unless they win the next election.
Also, if you want to read our full and official budget snapshot, you can do so by clicking the button below:
Ok, let’s unpack what was in the 2019-20 budget for young people!
Overall Take:
This was a budget where they essentially flagged their election strategy. So it's incredibly troubling to see the government ignore the key concerns and struggles of young people - Especially after the parliament denied 16 and 17 year olds the chance to vote only last week.
It’s also concerning that a surplus has been projected while people living with a disability, low income earners and those surviving on Newstart and Youth Allowance are doing it tough.
What’s in it:
Income support
The detail:
There has been no commitment by the government to raise the rate of Newstart or Youth Allowance leaving thousands across the country to continue to live in poverty.
There will be a ramping-up of the data-matching debt recovery system that will save the government $2.1b.
The take:
With people on Newstart and Youth Allowance living hundreds of dollars below the minimum wage and over $200 below the poverty line, we are disappointed to see that the rate of income support will not be raised.
We are also concerned that they’re ramping up ‘Robo-debt” (the government’s automated debt recovery scheme), considering the current system is having a massive negative impact on the lives of many young people.
Mental health
The detail:
$461m for youth mental health and suicide prevention.
$111m for 30 new headspace services by 2021.
$152m to reduce waiting lists for headspace through additional services.
$110m to extend the Early Psychosis Youth Services Program for two years.
$54m to establish 4 specialist residential facilities for eating disorders.
The take:
Investing in mental health services is a good thing.
If you told us that you were worried about the fact that they think headspace is the answer to all of Australia’s mental health questions, we’d certainly sympathise with you.
Also, there needs to be a greater commitment to provide accessible services in rural and remote areas.
Education and training
The detail:
$525m for the vocational education and training (VET) sector, including $200m towards the creation of 80,000 new apprenticeships over the next 5 years.
$50.6m on a trial of 10 new school-based VET training hubs in areas of high youth unemployment, and the establishment of a new National Careers Institute to give careers advice to jobseekers.
$41.7m over 4 years for a national pilot of two Skills Organisations in the areas of digital technologies and the human services workforce.
$93.7m over 4 years for scholarships for students to study at a regional campus of a university or VET provider.
$8.5m for 400 new training scholarships to address youth unemployment.
The take:
Notice how we didn’t call this ‘employment’?
In terms of an education and training policy, this is good. YACSA welcomes an increase in training, skills development and apprenticeships - so long as placements are meaningful, non-exploitative and safe.
As an employment policy… Not so much. The latest figures show that there are 23,000 young people looking for work, and only 10,900 jobs available. There are more unemployed young people than there are jobs available, so upskilling unemployed people instead of legitimately and genuinely growing the number of jobs is kind of disingenuous (we’ve talked about this a lot. Check out more by clicking here).
Indigenous young people
The detail:
$5m over 4 years to implement Indigenous suicide prevention initiatives.
$276.5m over 5 years to support Indigenous students to undertake and complete study to help close the gap in education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
$200m over 4 years to fund additional scholarship placements and mentoring support for Indigenous students.
The take
With alarming suicide rates and experiences of poor mental health amongst Indigenous young people, YACSA is disappointed at the Federal Government's commitment of only $5m to address this significant and urgent social issue.
Domestic and family violence
The detail:
$328m over 4 years from 2018-19 towards initiatives to reduce domestic and family violence against women and children.
$78.4m to provide emergency accommodation for women and children escaping domestic and family violence and to continue the Keeping Women Safe in their Homes program
$82.2m to improve and build on frontline services.
$35m to address the specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by violence.
The take:
This is good.
Increased funding to provide vital services to victims of domestic and family violence is very good and we welcome it.
National Disability Insurance Scheme and support for young carers
The detail:
Due to a slower than anticipated roll-out of the NDIS across the country the government has reported an underspend of $1.66b.
$84.3m over 4 years to expand support for carers under the Integrated Carer Support Service.
The take:
Disability advocates have argued that the underspend is due to problems accessing the service and not from a lack of demand. Young people not getting the service they need is something that would concern us greatly.
What else is missing?
Young people are being increasingly excluded from the rental and property markets, so we’re disappointed that there was no commitment in the budget to a comprehensive plan to increase the supply of appropriate and affordable housing options for young people.
Note: We didn’t tackle environment/climate change here because it’s a pretty complex issue that goes beyond our expertise.
Do you have a video that can help me make sense of the budget?
Look, we’re as disappointed as you are that this budget produced very few funny and/or quality videos & memes. But this one’s pretty good, and explains some key economic terms, and the politics behind the budget:
