The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition released the statement below on May 9.
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The peak body for youth affairs in Australia has welcomed last night’s budget measures that support a fair go for young Australians, but continues to call on the Gillard government to ensure that financial assistance is raised to levels that ensure young Australians are not living below the poverty line.
Andrew Cummings, Executive Director of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC), said: “There is no doubt that young people reliant on these payments live in poverty. Newstart is now so low — at just $35 per day. Young people who are receiving government benefits are telling us that they cannot afford to buy medicines, or pay for basics like train fares or suitable clothing when they go for job interviews.”
AYAC has previously joined a chorus of community leaders calling on the government to increase payments by $50 per week. However, the new Supplementary Allowance announced in the budget falls well short of this offering approximately $4.04 per week to singles and $3.37 per week to each person in a low-income relationship. Clearly, this is a step in the right direction — but it falls well short of the mark.
“Young people are already disadvantaged in the labour market and financial hardship further alienates young people from completing education or finding work,” Cummings said.
With the youth unemployment rate at 16%, young people are much more vulnerable to unemployment than other workers and many young people on government benefits face multiple obstacles to entering the workforce, such as poor access to transport to job interviews and homelessness.
AYAC is also concerned that budget savings of $685 million over four years have been pulled from parents of young people and children. Newstart payments to many single parents will reduce by almost $60 per week when their child turns 8 years old. Significant physical, emotional and cognitive development occurs between the ages of 8 and 16 years and adding financial stresses to their sole parents can only do damage that will last a lifetime.
However, AYAC does point to signs of a fair go budget for young Australians, including the first stage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and details of the Remote Jobs and Communities Program. Both these programs have the capacity to deliver real benefits for young people with particular needs.
AYAC supports full funding of the NDIS to support all people with a disability, but calls on decision-makers to ensure that the scheme adequately considers the needs and rights of young people and ensures their voices are heard in the design and delivery of all services to them.
AYAC also notes the immense potential of the Remote Jobs and Communities Program to provide young people in remote Australia with access to basic services at the standard expected by the wider community.
However as noted in our submission to the inquiry into “fly-in, fly out” workforce practices in regional Australia, young people need to be involved in developing partner relationships with service providers that have an ongoing presence in their area. This will ensure that employment and community support programs are tailored to the needs of local young people, and build on strengths in young people and their community.
