Budgets & intergenerational inequality
Australia has an intergenerational inequality crisis. But what does that mean, and how can the federal budget help?
Australia has an intergenerational inequality crisis.
Young people in Australia today are the first generation since federation to have a lower standard of living than their parents.
As for their futures, they’re set to see education debt accumulating faster than they can pay it off, increased taxation to support Australia’s aging population and more frequent natural disasters, along with carrying the costs of combatting climate change.
BUT there are opportunities to reduce inequality between generations, one being the upcoming Federal Budget due to be released on 9 May.
Much attention will go to the budget deficit and the government will likely look at decreasing spending and increasing revenue. This approach risks prioritising short-term gains over long-term change, addressing inequality and better supporting young people.
There are a number of areas that could be targeted in the Federal Budget to address intergenerational inequality and better support young people.
Economic Participation
Cost-of-living is the most urgent issue reported by young people and is now the leading risk factor for suicide in Australia. Suicide remains the most common cause of death for young people in Australia.
The financial stress young people are experiencing is compounded by the decade of lost wages prior to the pandemic, on top of being the most impacted by COVID-related economic shock.
The Federal Budget provides an opportunity to address rising costs impacting young people who report they are forgoing food, education, healthcare and travel to make ends meet, combined with anxiety about their future.
What would help in the budget?
Raising the rate of income support including youth allowance.
Investment in and commitment to a youth full employment guarantee.
Tax reforms for low-to-middle income earners to begin to address intergenerational inequality.
Mental Health
Financial stress, isolation and cost-of-living pressures contribute significantly to young people’s experiences of psychological distress and mental health challenges.
Even pre-pandemic, support services like headspace and private psychologists were struggling with increasing demand. This has only been exacerbated since then.
Despite this, the interim Federal Budget released in October 2022 offered little and the Federal Government chose not to extend an increase in the number of subsidised mental healthcare services.
What would help in the budget?
Significant investment in increasing the availability and accessibility of mental healthcare services.
Increasing funding to evidence-based community mental health and wellbeing support including dedicated youth programs.
Housing
Young people make up at least a quarter of people experiencing homelessness, yet there is currently no federal funding dedicated specifically for youth homelessness.
Most young people access housing through the private rental market as they have long been priced out of buying their first home. However, the maximum amount of Commonwealth Rental Assistance (CRA) is less than $160 per fortnight despite rental prices increasing by 14.6% in 2022 to an average of $550 per week.
The interim Federal Budget offered no support to renters and since then the rental crisis has only gotten worse. The Federal Government has committed funding to increase social housing stock, young people represent less than 3% of tenants in social housing and are unlike to equally benefit.
Decades of policy has supported people to invest in housing, which has resulted in young people being forced to rent permanently. Federal housing policy like negative gearing has worsened housing affordability and has also facilitated a transfer of wealth from young to older people.
While there is no quick fix to Australia’s rental crisis, there are options to better support young people to afford housing. Reform to these policies would begin to provide rental price relief as well as begin to address intergenerational inequality.
What would help in the budget?
Funding for youth-specific homelessness services including for prevention and early intervention.
Increasing the rate of CRA available.
If you need some extra support, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the below:
Lifeline 13 11 14 & webchat 24/7
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 & webchat 24/7
13 YARN (13 19 76) Crisis support for First Nations people 24/7.
What the HECS?!
HELP – what is happening to my study loan??
There’s a lot of people talking about HELP (formerly HECS) loan indexation at the moment – but what does that mean exactly?
The HECS-HELP scheme assists eligible Commonwealth supported students to pay their student contribution amount of their fees with a loan. HECS‑HELP loans are available at all public universities and at a handful of private higher education providers.
HELP or HECS loans are often thought about and referred to as being less debt-like debt. This is because they don’t generate interest, but they are indexed on 1 June each year.
Indexation is applied to your debt to maintain its ‘real’ value by adjusting it in line with inflation.
This was a big topic of conversation last year when loans were indexed at 3.9%, but it has now been confirmed that this year will be nearly double that at 7.1%. These are extreme increases, unlike any in the past decade:
In short, if you have a HELP loan and log onto your MyGov account you might get a bit of a fright. The average HELP loan, $23,685, is set to increase by around $1,680 this year.
The compulsory repayment threshold for the 2022-23 financial year will be $48,361, with the repayment rate increasing with earnings. Anyone who makes between the threshold and $55,836 will pay back 1% of their income, $55,837 - $59,186 will pay back 2%, increasing to a maximum of 10% for anyone making $141,848 and over.
For a lot of young people, including students still completing study, balances will grow substantially before they can even afford to begin paying it off. On the average loan amount, anyone making below the 3% repayment threshold ($60,992) will have their loan balance increase faster than they can pay it off (without additional payments).
The whole idea behind our student loan system is to reduce barriers to higher education, passing the cost forward to when (hopefully thanks to that study) you can afford to pay it off. The system was set up to give Australian students an alternative to personal loans, not as a source of government revenue.
Young people and students were hit hard by the pandemic. Those in precarious, seasonal and casual employment were the first to lose their hours, jobs and income – and young people particularly were the last to get them back. So why are we piling on and saddling them with even more financial burdens?
What would help?
The federal government has the power to freeze (and end) student loan indexation. It’s really that simple. This is a huge increase to Australian students’ loans, saddling young people undertaking higher education with a disproportionate amount of debt to carry into their futures.
YACSA recently appeared before the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Education and Other Legislation Amendment (Abolishing Indexation and Raising the Minimum Repayment Income for Education and Training Loans) Bill 2022.
The realities of youth homelessness
Homelessness often looks different for young people than it does for other cohorts, so why don’t we have a national youth specific homelessness strategy?
Today (19 April) marks Youth Homelessness Matters Day, a national day of advocacy held each year to raise awareness for the specific and complex needs of young people experiencing homelessness.
While 12-24-year-olds only make up 16 per cent of the Australian population, they represent 24 per cent of the homeless population. But despite being nearly a quarter of the country’s homelessness population there is currently no federal funding dedicated specifically for youth homelessness.
The assumption that youth homelessness can be addressed in the same way as homelessness more widely ignores the complex and specific needs they have that adults, or older adults, do not.
We know that young people think about what experiencing homelessness looks like differently than older cohorts. Young people experiencing homelessness don’t always see couch surfing or crashing with others as being homeless, which leaves them to fly under the radar without any support.
Almost a third of young people who present alone to a homelessness service were couch surfing before they turned up. Over a third had experienced domestic and family violence, and almost half had a mental health issue.
In 2021-22 almost 40,000 specialist homelessness services clients were young people presenting alone. 46 per cent of these young people needed long-term housing, but only 3.9 per cent received it.
While the Federal Government has committed funding to increase social housing stock, young people are still rarely supported with social housing, making up less than 3 per cent of tenants, and are unlike to benefit equally.
Home ownership-centric housing solutions also leave young people behind. Most young people access housing through the private rental market because even with these, they have long been priced out of buying their own home. While there is no quick fix to Australia’s rental crisis, there are options to better support young people to afford housing.
Australia has an intergenerational equality crisis. Young people in Australia today are the first generation since federation to have a lower standard of living than their parents.
Their futures do not look any fairer, set to experience education debt accumulating at a faster rate than they can pay, increased taxation to support our aging population and more frequent natural disasters, along with carrying the costs of dealing with climate change.
Their needs and interests have long been pushed aside to favour older generations, a process beginning long before the pandemic. This broken generational bargain is a context we cannot separate from any conversations around young people because of the real and continuous impacts on their lives.
Young people experiencing homelessness need specific and specialised support, which is why we support Y Foundations’ call for the development of a standalone National Child and Youth Homelessness Strategy. You can find more information on Youth Homelessness Matters Day here.
SA Voice to Parliament
SA Voice legislation has passed, but what does it mean and how is it different to the Federal Voice?
Legislation to establish a Voice to Parliament in SA has passed both houses in South Australian Parliament. Despite opposition from the Liberal and One Nation parties, Labor had enough support to pass the legislation without them, becoming the first state or territory to establish a First Nations Voice to Parliament.
What will it look like?
Six regions will be established across the state and representatives will be elected for each. Two members from each of these local groups will then form the State First Nations Voice. All of these will elect an equal number of men and women.
The Local First Nations Voice groups will have a focus on local issues working with organisations and local government within the region.
The State First Nations Voice will be able to present to both houses of Parliament and are entitled to be heard on Bills. They will also engage with Government through Ministers and Chief Executives.
Wait – I thought we had to vote on a voice to parliament?
We will later this year – but that’s for Federal Parliament. We’ll go to the polls because, at a federal level, the voice is being enshrined in the Constitution, which cannot be done without approval by the public through a vote. You can find more about that in our referendum explainer.
But in SA the voice legislation makes it law, a voice doesn’t have to be in a constitution to operate, but on Federal level that is the route being pursued. This is so that if Australians approve a voice in the constitution, the only way it can be removed is with their approval again.
Both in SA and federally, legislation will frame how a Voice will operate which can be changed over time, but federally regardless of what that legislation looks like it will have to be there.
What is OPCAT and why does it matter?
Let’s talk about the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Last year delegates from the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (UN SPT) visited Australia to tour and observe places where people are held in detention in Australia.
But after being refused entry to places of detention in New South Wales and Queensland the visit was suspended on 23 October last year. Now, they have made the decision to terminate the visit, a move the Australian Human Rights Commissioner has labelled ‘disappointing but not undeserved’. The only other country to have a visit like this terminated is Rwanda.
What is OPCAT?
OPCAT, or the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is a UN human rights framework which Australia signed and then ratified (agreed to uphold) in 2017, over 10 years after it came into force in 2006. In doing this we agreed to inspections of anywhere people are detained using principles of the convention to help ensure independence in oversight through bodies that conduct the inspections.
OPCAT is meant to protect people in detention, including not only those incarcerated in a prison, but also includes youth detention, mental health facilities, hospitals, immigration detention and aged care. Under OPCAT countries have two main obligations:
Cooperate with the UN SPT
Designate a National Preventive Mechanism
Australia was given until 20 January this year to put in place mechanisms to prevent torture and inhumane treatment in places of detention, but despite years to do so, has not met these obligations. While South Australia did have an OPCAT implementation bill before Parliament in 2021, there isn’t a current implementation bill.
Is this a big deal?
In short, very. OPCAT is about prevention and transparency – the whole idea is to take away the secrecy surrounding detention which enables human rights breeches, and through visits and recommendations, contribute to the protection of the rights of those in detention.
The decision to terminate this visit reflects incredibly poorly on Australia and any commitments to maintaining the human rights of people in detention. Detention is a denial of someone’s liberty, not of their human rights, which should be paramount and protected regardless of the circumstance.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
What is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international agreement of child rights that came into force on 2 September 1990, 32 years ago. It is the single most ratified human rights treaty ever with 196 countries agreeing to be legally bound to abide by it.
Australia signed the agreement on 22 August 1990 and ratified it on 17 December later that year, so as a country we have agreed that the articles in this convention are rights of all young people in this country and to uphold them.
These rights apply to everyone under 18, regardless of who they are, where they’re from, their race, religion, abilities or views. The rights included in the treaty range from freedom of expression and right to education, healthcare and safety to the right to protection from abuse and to not be separated from family (unless it is the best option).
There are 54 articles in total, as the peak body representing young people in SA, we particularly focus on two articles in our role.
Those are Article 12:
States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.
In short – children and young people have the right to have a say in the decisions that affect them, and to have their opinions taken into account.
And Article 13:
The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.
The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.
In short – children and young people have the right to receive and share information, as long as it’s not damaging to themselves or someone else.
They kind of go hand in hand, your right to access information and to participate in decision making have a lot of overlap and the upholding of each of these rights can strengthen the other.
You can find a simplified version of all the articles here.
Young people & homelessness
This week (1-7 August) is Homelessness Week
This week, 1-7 August is Homelessness Week 2022. Any given night in Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness. Homelessness Week is held each year to raise awareness of the impact of homelessness on Australia, this year’s theme is, To end homelessness we need a plan. See here for more info.
Affordable, stable housing is fundamental to ensuring the economic, social, psychological, and physical wellbeing of young people, but unemployment, casualised jobs, increasingly high rental costs, and a lack of suitable housing makes transitioning to and maintaining independent living a challenge.
Like all other crisis, the ongoing Australian housing crisis has disproportionately impacted young people with low-waged renters the most affected. 24% of all people experiencing homelessness in Australia are young people aged 12 to 24 years old.
The pandemic has exacerbated this, with 1 in 20 young Australian were pushed into first-time experiences of homelessness during the pandemic. For young people who experienced homelessness for the first time during COVID-19, almost 87% were previously living in privately rented housing.
In SA, the vacancy rate for rental properties is the lowest in the country at just 0.3%, which has driven rental prices through the room. The median (middle of the range) rental price across the state is $476.78 (as of 28 July 22).
Since 2016 young people have been increasingly living in overcrowded dwellings and almost half of young people pay more rent than they can afford. Home ownership is significantly less likely for young people than in previous generations, meaning a majority source housing through the private rental market where young people face discrimination due to a lack of rental history and stereotypical assumptions.
Housing stress and homelessness has a significant impact on young people living in rural and regional areas, who have limited access to support options. Risks of housing stress through relying on living in overcrowded dwellings or couch surfing are increased for those living within inner regions while moving to live with family despite risks of isolation or violence are increased for regional young people.
Experiencing homelessness, even for a short period of time, can have long-lasting effects on a young person’s life. More than 55% of young people facing first-time experiences of homelessness during the pandemic experienced psychological distress and at least 35% reported their mental health and wellbeing as poor.
Young people experiencing homelessness are at risk of experiencing negative impacts in education and employment, mental and physical health. Experiencing homelessness at a young age also increases a person’s risk of experiencing persistent homelessness.
Young people can be supported to avoid experiencing homelessness with early intervention services. Urgent and significant investment from both state and federal governments can fund homelessness services to be able to provide family support, facilitate connections to local community and provide youth-specific housing and support services.
Building more social and affordable housing is important and welcomed, but only 2.9% of social housing tenants in SA are young people. Immediate and targeted support is needed now for young people, especially as they are disproportionately affected by the housing crisis. Homelessness preventative measures that create a well-functioning housing market can lessen the impact of housing stress.
Additionally, when population and inflation are considered federal government funding for housing and homelessness services has decreased over the past six year.
As the economic effects of the pandemic continue for young people, it is increasingly evident that an innovative response is needed in a recovery. Commitment is needed to ensure young people can access safe and secure housing through a comprehensive plan that includes rental reforms, housing supports, and social housing that prioritises young people. A youth-specific strategy to support families to stay together could lessen demand on the system if provided to young people at the initial stage of risk.
Feeling Lonely? Here’s some tips to try
YACSA member organisation, Uniting Communities have launched their #UnlockLoneliness campaign, check out these handy tips for experiencing loneliness
This post is brought to you by Uniting Communities as part of their #UnlockLoneliness campaign
Ever felt lonely or isolated? You’re not the only one. Data shows that the 18–24 age group feel the most lonely and left out in South Australia. As part of the Uniting Communities #UnlockLoneliness campaign, we want to increase awareness of loneliness amongst young people and start a conversation to reduce the stigma.
If you’re feeling lonely, here are some tips you can try to begin overcoming loneliness.
1. Focus on the quality of your friendships over quantity. Still feel lonely even in a crowd of people? It often comes down to the quality of your friendships, so take time and energy to strengthen them.
2. Call or text a friend you haven’t spoken to in ages. Such a simple act can make a huge difference.
3. It’s okay to be feeling lonely, turns out a lot of us do. Reach out to family and friends to reconnect. Its important to reach out to others.
Check out the full set of tips and keep up with the campaign via Facebook or Uniting Communities Young people and loneliness website.
Um, what's a recession?
‘Recession’ is a word we’re hearing a lot at the moment, but what does that actually mean?
You may have heard some talk recently about the possibility of a recession and while we’re not there yet, let’s talk about what that actually means.
So what’s a recession?
Basically, it’s a period of time where economic activity declines and many industries experience poor economic growth. People stop spending, business profits decrease, and manufacturing decreases due to reduced demand. Inflation and interest rates can decrease and the price for goods and services can stagnate for a short period, usually a few months to a year or so.
What causes a recession?
Most recessions are caused by a combination of things. High interest rates can trigger a recession because they limit the amount of money people can borrow. Inflation, the general increase in prices of goods and services, can also be a trigger for a recession because as things cost more typical incomes can buy less. Low consumer confidence can also impact whether a recession occurs because if people (consumers) think the economy is bad they spend less money.
What happens during a recession?
During a recession, the unemployment rate increases and wage growth can halt. People are also more at risk of experiencing bankruptcy or defaulting on loans during this time. Businesses experience decreased sales and profit because people have less money to spend and this decrease in demand decreases manufacturing. Interest rates as well as the value of everything produced by a country (called the gross domestic product) can fall too.
The economy will recover and there will be increased economic activity again. During the recovery phase after a recession Government will usually create policies that address the causes of the recent recession and reallocate resources to support people and businesses.
Our top 4 things young people 'need' to abandon in order to buy a house
& how long it would take to save for it.
Young people are frequently told that they’re the reason they can’t access the housing market – all these ‘luxuries’ that we live with now like brunch and streaming services are the real reason you can't break into the housing market.
It’s definitely not that house prices continue to go through the roof coupled with the rising cost of living, lack of wage growth and that most people working in causal positions are young people, it’s the avocados.
The median (middle of the range) house price in Adelaide has hit $650,000, the estimates below are based on this price with a 5% deposit of $32,500.
1. Smashed avocado
It’s an oldie but a goodie, or it must be with the amount of times it comes up (so much that we named this site after). We’ve given the run down on this here, but working off a $20 smashed av you’d need to skip about 1,625 brunches, or a weekly brunch for over 31 years to save for your deposit.
2. Netflix
Netflix is another point of contention, another one of those luxuries we relish at the expense of home ownership. Bold of them to assume we’re using our own accounts (shoutout to the parents, friends and housemates bearing the responsibility), but the lowest Netflix subscription price in Australia is $10.99 a month meaning you’d need to give up your account for over 246 years to save for your deposit.
3. Coffee
Often brought up alongside the smashed avo argument is the amount of money young people spend on coffee. Maybe they’re right, after all saving $4.50 on caffeine (price adjusted for milk alternatives) every day when for just shy of 20 years you could have a house deposit instead.
4. Takeaway
Food seems to be a common go-to, it’s as if we require it to survive. This one is a little harder to estimate because it’s so broad, but if we run off $35 a week on takeaway you’re looking at just under 18 years to get your deposit together.
2022-23 State Budget wrap-up
The 2022-23 State Budget is here, so let’s look at what is happening in key priority areas and what that means for young people.
On 2 June the newly elected Labor State Government released their first budget with a $233 million surplus. While we welcome attention on priority issues such as housing, cost of living, mental health, and youth participation, young people are still struggling from the impact of COVID-19 and are likely to face long-term effects of the pandemic. So overall we are concerned by the lack of targeted community-based prevention and early intervention support in the priority areas listed below.
Economic participation
What’s happening:
An extra $238 million over the next four years to support training and study in industries that are currently experiencing skills-based shortages (including $208 million for five additional technical colleges (three metropolitan and two regional) to support additional apprenticeships in trades).
$12.7 million over four years to return supported high-demand courses to TAFE SA in care industries.
University scholarships of $5,000 each will be available over four years for teaching students in a bid to strengthen and diversify the profession in South Australia.
Public sector traineeships program has been decommissioned as a cost saving measure ($15.5 million).
YACSA’s take:
YACSA welcomes additional support for training and study as well as the return of supported TAFE SA courses so the training organisation can continue as an important pathway into the labour market and further study for young people.
However, given the disproportionate rate of young people in unstable employment and COVID-related job losses, we want to see a focused commitment to strengthening opportunities for secure full-time employment accessible for young people.
Housing & homelessness
What’s happening:
$177.5 million over four years to construct an additional 400 public houses to address the supply shortage and conducting maintenance on 350 current empty public homes to bring them up to standard.
Funding has been restored to St Vincent De Paul, Catherine House, and Hutt St Centre’s homelessness services, to the tune of $10.4 million over 4 years.
Government will keep working with HomeStart to provide first homebuyers with access to low deposit loans.
YACSA’s take:
Increasing the amount of public housing in SA is a welcome and a much-needed investment in the community with long-term benefits. But as young people make up less than 3 per cent of social housing tenants, we would like to see a focus on ensuring young people have increased access to social housing and associated services.
Additionally, as buying a home is increasingly less obtainable and the majority of young people source housing via the private rental market, the government must provide immediate support for renters to address the significant lack of affordable and accessible rental properties.
Mental health & wellbeing
What’s happening:
$50 million over four years will provide 100 mental health and learning support specialists to work across the 500 public schools in SA.
$157.8 million over four years to provide additional mental health beds in metropolitan and regional hospitals with Queen Elizabeth, Modbury and Noarlunga Hospitals set to gain 24 additional beds each.
An additional $3.1 million funding for the public community mental health crisis team.
$800,000 funding over four years for the Lived Experience Leadership and Advocacy Network (LELAN).
YACSA’s take:
Funding additional mental health support in schools will help young people as they experience long wait-times to access other services, so this is a positive start to providing the early intervention community-based care young people need.
Improved availability of mental health beds in the healthcare system is welcome as it recognises emergency departments are not the environment for anyone experiencing mental health challenges.
However, our consultations with young people about the impacts of COVID-19 have illustrated the need to improve access to non-clinical and community-based support for mental health and wellbeing. Investing in community-based prevention approaches that promote wellbeing would ensure young people have access to support early and locally.
Youth participation
What’s happening:
$80,000 over four years for a Minister’s Youth Advisory Council to provide a direct line of communication to the State Government and facilitate the opportunity to advise the Minister for Human Services on issues relevant to young people across the state.
YACSA’s take:
Young people have the right to participate in all decision-making processes that affect them, so we welcome a formal council to engage with young people, particularly around COVID-19 recovery.
We also hope that this will increase recognition of the importance of youth participation across government as a whole.
A strong youth sector
What’s happening:
$128.9 million over the next five years to meet the costs of residential care and an expected increase to children and young people requiring a child protection statutory response.
$7.5 million over four years rants for services for children and young people in care and their carers, including young people who have left care will be available.
$300,000 in funding over four years for non-profit organisation Gold Foundation to deliver support for young people on the autism spectrum and their families.
$1 million over four years for family drug support including vital counselling.
$1 million over three years to establish two domestic violence prevention and recovery hubs.
$2 million funding over four years for victim support services.
YACSA’s take:
We welcome increased funding that supports children and young people to be safe after they have entered the child protection system.
However, Government needs to commit funding for prevention and early intervention to strengthen families and prevent children and young people entering the overwhelmed child protection system at all.
Want to know more?
Check out our 2022-23 Budget snapshot for a full breakdown here.
It's state budget time - here's five things you should know
Every year there’s a mix of excitement and frustration in the air when it comes to budget time, but what do we need to know in order to understand what comes out of it?
Every year there’s a mix of excitement and frustration in the air when it comes to budget time, but what do we need to know in order to understand what comes out of it?
1. A budget is basically the government deciding where they’ll put funding and how much they’re going to spend, as well as how much money they’re bringing in.
2. Two words you’ll hear a lot are ‘deficit’ and ‘surplus’. This just means that either the Government needs to take on debt to cover spending over the amount of money taxes and investments bring in (deficit) or taxes and investments more than cover spending and there is money left over (surplus).
3. The need to deliver a surplus is seriously exaggerated in Australia and it distracts from what could be the priority of government spending, limiting Australia’s ability to address some of our biggest challenges like climate change, growing generational inequality, the housing crisis and more.
A government budget isn’t the same as a household or personal budget, so it’s not the same as taking on debt as an individual. It is true that the government cannot spend endlessly because eventually it would impact things like inflation, but it can still shift priority away from delivering a surplus and toward investments for a sustainable and fair future.
4. The budget can definitely feel like an overwhelmingly dry document full of massive numbers, but amongst that it out outlines the current government’s future plans for things like climate action, education, mental health, housing and everything in between.
5. At the end of the day this is just the funding, not that this isn’t important, but in order to make calls on who has ‘won’ and who has ‘lost’ we need to the see the policy it is supporting.
We have no real idea of what a lot of this will look like, which is a significant flaw in looking at a budget through the lens of ‘winners and losers’ which you’ll probably see a lot of.
Keep an eye on The Smashed Avocado and our socials for our take on the budget, coming soon!
What’s in the federal budget for young people?
Don’t get excited…
Don’t get excited!
The federal budget delivered this week lacks any acknowledgement or measures to directly address immediate or long-term disproportionate impacts experienced by young people throughout COVID-19 and the apparent recovery, nor does the budget acknowledge or address the increasing gap in intergenerational equality. The only measure to address cost-of-living is a one-off payment or tax offset.
Economic participation
Overall, the funding provided in the budget to address youth employment does not address the key issues young people face concerning economic participation, especially due to the far-reaching impact and lifelong consequences of COVID-19. Youth unemployment remains double the national unemployment rate, meanwhile young people’s income has gone backwards in real terms, and well over 300,000 young people are experiencing underemployment, which none of the budget measures address.
$1.3 billion over 5 years for a range of supports for apprenticeships, mainly supporting employers to engage and retain apprentices through a revised wage subsidies scheme.
$2.8 million in 2022/23 towards increasing apprenticeships In-Training Support by an additional 2,500 places for young people aged 15-20 years old (In-Training Support services assist individuals assessed as being at risk of non-completion of their apprenticeship).
A wage subsidy scheme for apprenticeships was introduced in October 2020 to address Australia’s skills shortage. These programs, the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) and Completing Apprenticeship Commencements (CAC) provided employers subsidies for employing new apprentices and to support apprentices undertaking their second and third year. The spending to extend the BAC and CAC and transition to a new wage subsidy scheme is not specifically for young people, but may be utilised by young people. However, the scheme may not have benefitted young people as much as other age groups as the youth unemployment rate continued to increase after the program was established from 14.5% in October 2020 to 15.4% in January 2021.
$52.8 million over 5 years ($10.6 million per year) for the ‘ReBoot’ program to help up to 5,000 young people learning “employability skills” and move into other youth employment programs like the PaTH program.
In mid-2021, approximately 280,000 young people in Australia were not engaged in employment or study and so “up to” 5,000 young people is only up to 1.8% of all young people who are not engaged in employment or study.
$9.2 million to extend the Youth Transition Support program for an additional 12-months. The program supports young people from a refugee background to engage in education, employment, and community opportunities.
One off cost of living payment of $250 for eligible recipients on Jobseeker, Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy Living Allowance.
A temporary 22 cent reduction in fuel excise tax for the next six months.
Housing and homelessness
There are no measures to support young renters and no specific measures to address youth homelessness in the budget. There are limited budget measures for first home buyers (not limited to young people) and for regional home buyers (also not limited to young people).
35,000 guarantees per year for the First Home Guarantee (formally the Home Loan Deposit scheme) with a deposit of 5 percent.
10,000 places per year until 2025 for a Regional Home Guarantee that will support eligible citizens and permanent residents who have not owned a home for 5 years to purchase a new home in a regional location with a minimum 5 per cent deposit.
It’s important to note the median house price across Australia’s capital cities has risen to $1,066,133 with no predicted reduction in sight. A 5 percent deposit for the median house price would be $53,306.65 (+stamp duty).
Mental health
Young people’s mental health has been described as at crisis level since before the pandemic and demand for services has increased considerably, leading to long waitlists for young people in need of support. Experts have also warned of gaps concerning ‘the missing middle’, the cohort of young people who need support but do not need clinical support for severe mental illnesses. While budget measures ensure current services can continue, there are no measures to provide widespread support for young people, especially this ‘missing middle’.
$206.5 million over 3 years from 2022/23 to ensure “continued access” to services for young Australians with severe mental illness.
This funding will allow headspace early psychosis services to continue in most states/territories and will set-up the service in states/territories that need it.
$14.8 million over 5 years to continue headspace programs including the Digital Work and Study Service and schools suicide prevention activities.
$3.3 million over 2 years ($1.65 million per year) to provide early intervention and prevention mentoring for some year 8 students at non-government schools.
$52.3 million over 4 years for Lifeline to continue to provide supports.
$9.7 million over 3 years ($3.23 million per year) to provide nationally consistent mechanisms to better manage mental health and wellbeing concerns in schools, including national guidelines for the accreditation of mental health and wellbeing programs and trauma informed professional development support for teachers.
Raise the Age: It's way past time
As thousands of children and young people return to school from holidays this week, almost 500 Australian children and young people under 14 will be spending another day in prison.
As thousands of children and young people return to school from holidays this week, almost 500 Australian children and young people under 14 will be spending another day in prison. You might have seen people posting photos of themselves in year seven on social media with along with #MeAt13, a message to decision makers that 13-year olds belong in school, not prison as part of the #RaiseTheAge movement.
So, what is #RaiseTheAge and why is it so important?
In Australia children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged, taken before court and imprisoned. The #RaiseTheAge campaign calls for federal, state and territory governments to change this so that children and young people aged 10 to 13 aren’t sent to prison.
Across Australia, in just one year, almost 600 children and young people aged 10 to 13 years were locked up, and thousands more were put through the criminal legal system. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are disproportionately impacted by these laws and pushed into prison cells at even higher rates, accounting for the majority of 10 to 13-year-olds in prisons.
When children and young people are put through criminal legal processes at such a key period in their development they can suffer serious harm to their health, wellbeing and future.
The State’s current approach breaches Australia’s commitments to several human rights conventions (including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatments), while also failing to recognise the medical evidence regarding the brain development of children and young people.
Many of the young people detained in South Australia have experiences of trauma, child protection intervention, relationship breakdowns in their families and they can experience barriers in life resulting from foetal alcohol syndrome and learning disabilities.
Because of the risk of harm that comes with breaching the rights of young people in detention, raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old is supported by our State’s Commissioners for Children and Young people and many national and international legal, health, community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.
It’s way past time
Late last year state Attorneys-General committed to developing a proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old – despite the fact that advocates both nationally and internationally have long called for a raise to 14.
All 16 of Australian’s children’s commissioners and guardians, which includes South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People and Guardian for Children and Young People, responded with a joint statement to say that this is not raising the age far enough nor is the process moving quick enough. They have together urged all state and territories to introduce legislation to raise the age to 14.
Who is behind #RaiseTheAge?
#RaiseTheAge was developed by a group of legal, medical and social justice organisations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community owned organisations. This includes National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, Change the Record, Human Rights Law Centre, Law Council of Australia, Amnesty International Australia, Australian Medical Association, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Public Health Association of Australia.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has also called on countries to raise the age to at least 14 years old.
Why is 12 years old not high enough?
Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old would improve the lives of approximately 44 (9%) of the 499 young people aged 10–17 detained in Australia. By not raising the age to 14 we are leaving most detained young people at risk.
Figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that here in South Australia where pre-court detention is available, more than half of all young people in detention were unsentenced. This means that our system is locking up children and young people and putting them at risk before they’re even sentenced in court.
Also in South Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are overrepresented in detention at 28 times the rate of non-Aboriginal young people despite representing only 4.5% of the general population aged 10-17 years old.
Children and young people 13 and under are not at a stage of development where they may be able to fully understand the impact or consequences of their actions – cruelty aside imprisonment is not an approach that works.
What is the alternative for 10 to 13-year-olds?
It’s rare for people this young to be charged with serious offences of violence, the majority are funnelled into the criminal legal system for offences of theft, burglary and property-related crime.
When children and young people aged between 10 and 13 are alleged to have caused harm to another person this is a sign that something has gone wrong in their lives. Violent actions from people this young are often directly linked to experiences of trauma, neglect, and harm or unaddressed mental or physical health problems.
Rather than criminalising trauma, South Australia needs to invest in an alternative for placing young people in secure care while waiting to be sentenced as well as further development of diversion pathways. South Australia could redistribute the funds required to incarcerate young people under 14 to community-led early intervention to address underlying issues faced by young people and to build the capacity of the youth sector to better support young people before they enter the youth justice system.
Basically, rather than punishing 10-year-olds for the things that have happened to them, we invest in prevention services to support them so they never enter the criminal legal system in the first place.
It's way past time to raise the age of criminal responsibility, this isn’t political, it is human rights.
You can also read our joint submission calling on the Council of Attorneys-General & the Federal Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 (2020) with our sister peaks across the country here.
We asked young people why they're getting vaccinated, here's what you had to say
We asked, you answered. Explaining why you decided to get the jab can hep others who might still be feeling a bit unsure to consider your reasons and how they fit into their lives!
Here’s why the young people who completed our survey are getting the vax. If you’d like to share your reasons with us you can do that here, and we might make a part two!
“To protect myself and others. I also hope that with vaccines we can safely get back to a normal life.”
“Getting vaccinated to stay safe and to help society get back to normality!”
“To protect myself from negative effects of the virus and to contribute to the national vaccination numbers which will enable the boarders to be opened.”
“To keep myself and the community safe.”
“I am a nurse, it will create herd immunity and support those who can’t get it.”
“It is the responsible choice to protect myself and others.”
“I’m a fulltime carer for my mum and it’s my responsibility to make sure she doesn’t get sick.”
“Staying safe and hopefully helping the world return to some state of ‘normal’.”
“To help keep myself and my community safe.”
“I’m a young carer.”
“Because it’s the bare minimum I can do for both my own health and others.”
VACCINE ROLLOUT
The vaccine rollout looks a little different in each state which can be confusing, so we’ve checked the details for you.
Update: Spikevax (Moderna) vaccine is available for all people 12+ years at participating pharmacies - see below for more info
The vaccine rollout has been confusing to say the least.
But if the current outbreak and lockdowns have shown us anything it is that getting vaccinated, along with maintaining contact tracing and hygiene practices, is key to keeping our communities safe and open.
The vaccine rollout looks a little different in each state, which can be confusing, so we’ve checked the details for you.
When is it my turn?
Now! In South Australia, the vaccine rollout currently includes everyone aged 12 years & over!
How and where do I book?
No matter where you are in SA vaccine bookings are done online through SA Health here. The system will find you a first and second dose appointment.
Year 11 and 12 students can get priority access for COVID-19 vaccination at SA Health COVID-19 vaccination clinics during September, allowing you to be fully vaccinated before you finish school.
If you are in Year 11 or 12, you can walk in at the following SA Health COVID-19 vaccination clinics without an appointment by showing your student ID:
Wayville (Adelaide Showground) (before 3.30pm)
Victor Harbor (call before attending 0468 576 150)
Mount Barker (call before attending 0468 576 150)
Gawler (call before attending 0468 576 150)
If you are on Kangaroo Island, book your jab by calling 0468 576 150 (Monday to Friday, 8.00 am to 4.00 pm). This clinic also takes walk-ins. Please note that the last day to receive a first dose Pfizer vaccine on KI is 18 September 2021 (2 October 2021 for Astrazeneca). More info on vaccines on KI here.
If you have any issues call the SA COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787.
I qualify for the rollout now, if I book in what vaccine will I get?
If you’re 12-17 years old you’ll be getting Pfizer or Moderna, depending on your preference and where you book in. Moderna is now available in participating pharmacies, while Pfizer is available at vaccine clinics
If you are 18 years old or over you are eligible for Pfizer or Moderna, but you can get AstraZeneca if you want to.
Not all GP clinics have access to Pfizer vaccines, so it’s important you check with the clinic prior to booking, or choose a clinic from the list here. The closest clinic to you might not have the vaccine you’re getting but the booking system will find you an appointment somewhere that does.
Information subject to change, refer to the SA Health website vaccination page for the most up to date information.
Do you have questions about COVID-19 or the vaccines that you want answers to? Submit them to us using the button below and we’ll do our best to find them for you
The low-down on masks
We’ve made it out of lockdown! However, we’re expected to be under stage 3 restrictions for at least a week from the end of the stay-at-home order and have been told to expect masks to stick around.
We’ve been really lucky in SA, even when we had strong mask recommendations during the Parafield cluster, but now both the Premier and Chief Health Officer have said at press conferences that we should get used to wearing masks to keep us and our communities safe from the Delta variant.
It’s different this time around, but why?
In short - the Delta variant.
All viruses change over time, that’s why there’s a new flu shot every year, we adapt the vaccine in order to keep ourselves protected from an adapting virus.
Most virus changes have little to no impact on how the virus affect us, but this hasn’t been the case with the COVID-19 Delta variant.
However some, like the Delta variant in this case, can impact on things like how easily the virus spreads, how severe it is when someone is infected and how well vaccines and treatments work.
How quickly and easily this variant can spread, or the infection rate is what we’re combatting with masks.
If we can stop people from getting sick in the first place, then we can stop them from developing the really severe infections the variant is causing and stop people from dying from COVID-19.
But we know they work best when everyone uses them, the best chance we have of stopping the spread is by blocking the virus twice – through the mask of the person infected and the masks of the people around them providing a second line of defence from the virus entering their bodies too.
But if we don’t have cases in the community why do we have to keep wearing them?
While we’ve avoided the amount of community transmission seen in other states and across other parts of the world, what our latest outbreak has shown is that we just can’t be careful enough.
Someone can be infectious in the community before they develop symptoms and whether they’re a family member or you’re sitting in the same restaurant, you just can’t be sure than no one around you is carrying COVID-19.
We’re certainly privileged to live in a place in the world that hasn’t had extended lockdowns, and masking up is important to keep it that way.
So what do we need to think about when choosing and wearing masks?
The main types of masks are fabric or surgical.
Fabric masks are reusable, making them an environmentally friendly decision compared to surgical masks which you need to dispose of after wearing.
You can buy both of these, or you could make your own fabric mask.
If you’re going to make a mask of your own, make sure you watch this video first which covers what types of fabric you need for each of the three layers of your mask.
There are situations where surgical, or medical masks are recommended over fabric masks by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Medical masks are recommended for:
Health workers in clinical settings. See our guidance for more information on the use of personal protective equipment by health care workers.
Anyone who is feeling unwell, including people with mild symptoms, such as muscle aches, slight cough, sore throat or fatigue.
Anyone awaiting COVID-19 test results or who has tested positive.
People caring for someone who is a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 outside of health facilities.
Medical masks are also recommended for the following groups, because they are at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 and dying:
People aged 60 or over.
People of any age with underlying health conditions, including chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, immunocompromised patients and diabetes mellitus.
Non-medical, fabric masks can be used by the general public under the age of 60 and who do not have underlying health conditions.
No matter what type of mask you choose, you need to just follow the WHO’s basics of how to wear a mask:
Clean your hands before you put your mask on, as well as before and after you take it off, and after you touch it at any time.
Make sure it covers both your nose, mouth and chin.
When you take off a mask, store it in a clean plastic bag, and every day either wash it if it’s a fabric mask, or dispose of a medical mask in a trash bin.
Don’t use masks with valves.
Wearing masks is something we can do individually to protect ourselves, each other, our communities and our most vulnerable.
To quote our Chief Health Officer, if you can wear a mask, wear a mask.
We’ve got this, SA.
15 of our favourite COVID-19 Tik Toks
Between the current outbreaks across the country, the vaccine rollout and now us in lockdown, there’s been plenty of content on Tik Tok to keep us going.
We’re also doing press conference wrap-ups on our Tik Tok which you can follow here!
1. I’m proud to say I AM 67 years of age
2. A more realistic take on the government’s latest vaccine ad (which you can watch and read our take on here)
3. COVID-19 support payment feels
4. Deleted scene from F9
5. Meds from Pfizer is one step closer to a vaccine from Pfizer, right?
6. Ah yes book a vaccine appointment… for the vaccine I’m not eligible to book yet
(vaccine eligibility info here)
7. Lost count of how many times I’ve watched this
8. Doja Cat and public health information is the crossover we needed
(vaccine eligibility info here)
9. Lockdown entertainment for the whole family
10. Oh, would you just look at me, I’m ✨ essential ✨
11. No explanation needed
12. Anyone else had the ‘post’ pandemic cold? Gets a -6000/10 from me
13. Wait what, how did one of ours get in here?
14. Jkjkjk unless…
15. EHE
Live in SA and not sure if you’re eligible? We’ve compiled the info for you here.
You can’t target vaccine ads at young people if you won’t let them get vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccine roll out has been a complete mess from the word go.
The prioritising of high-risk groups was always going to put the majority of young people at the back of the line, but rollout stalls have extend the time they have to wait.
Sure, for some the hesitancy to be vaccinated has to do with the Astrazeneca side effects and advice changing, but there was never going to be a smooth rollout without more doses ordered.
Despite the Prime Minister repeatedly stating that this isn't a race, it doesn’t change that we’re ranked dead last in percentage of the population vaccinated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Now, with the mounting cases in NSW, a new ad from the federal government has been released to encourage Australians to get tested, stay home and book their vaccinations.
The ad features a young woman, clearly in a lot of pain attached to oxygen and struggling to breathe in a dark hospital room on their own.
It’s reminiscent of the anti-smoking ads we’ve seen in the past, aiming to make us uncomfortable and scared in order to keep us safe.
But airing this ad puts the blame and responsibility on young people when most aren’t even eligible.
Sure, young people can now approach their GP (if they have one) to discuss getting the Astrazeneca vaccine, but with the conflicting advice and not all GPs on board with this, it isn’t really opening the door.
At best this is all just nonsensical, paying to produce and release an advertisement targeted at people who, for the most part, can’t book their jab.
But it’s worse, it essentially says, ‘see this young person wasn’t staying safe and now they can’t breathe and that’s on them’.
There are young people in with COVID-19 in ICU in NSW now, this isn’t some look at what the future will be like if we don’t get vaccinated – it’s what it looks like now.
Making the person in the ad someone who doesn’t look old enough to qualify without meeting another criteria is a choice, a choice made to frame young people as irresponsible risk-takers who aren’t following the recommended precautions.
Never mind the fact that it feels blatantly unethical to launch a scare-tactic campaign amidst a global pandemic that has had significant impacts on the mental health of so many of us.
It isn’t surprising that not being able to get vaccinated has become young people’s fault, this narrative of blaming young people for things they can’t control is well practiced.
But it is an undeniably strange angle to take when young people aren’t opposed to getting the vaccine.
The Daily Aus, an Instagram news channel for young people surveyed their followers and found that 90% of respondents said they would get the vaccine today if one of their choosing was available.
In England, more than 700,000 COVID-19 vaccines were booked on the day their National Health Service vaccination program opened to people aged 18-20.
Young people want to get vaccinated, all they need is the opportunity.
Are young people winners in this year's state budget?
Last week the 2021-22 State Budget was released, and while we have seen young people described as ‘winners’ out of this, there really isn’t much in there for young people at all.
While this year’s budget has big spending in health, infrastructure and education, which will impact young people, spending on the environment, cost of living relief and economic security for young people is missing. It comes during a global pandemic that we know young people will continue to feel the effects of for up to a decade, so we’re disappointed that there are no measures specifically for young people in this COVID-19 context.
The measures that directly relate to young people are:
$2.6m over four years for pilot Stability Post-Care program to support young people up to the age of 21 years leaving care at risk of homelessness
$1.3m over two years for Child Diversion program (Youth Justice) triage and support service for children at risk of being remanded into custody due to lack of accommodation
A two-year extension of payroll tax exemption for apprentices and trainees to encourage employment and training of young people
$4m over four years to establish the position of Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People
$1.2m over two years to establish a significant incident reporting unit in Child Protection which may be useful for children at risk, but it is unclear why a separate unit is required.
The state government has allocated additional funding to child protection and youth justice but here at YACSA, we don’t see that as a win. This much additional money going to child protection and youth justice suggests to us that we’re not doing enough to prevent children and young people entering those systems. Therefore, we would prefer to see more spent on early intervention and prevention services that support young people’s physical and mental health, housing needs, and cost of living.
We’re pleased to see that the role of the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People will continue. We also kind of welcome payroll tax exemptions for apprentices and trainees, as long as it means more young people can do a traineeship or apprenticeship of their choice and secure a job in that field at the end.
At the end of the day this is just the funding, not that this isn’t important, but in order to make calls of who has ‘won’ and who has ‘lost’ we need to the see the policy it is supporting. We have no real idea of what a lot of this will look like, which is a significant flaw in looking at a budget through the lens of ‘winners and losers’.