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.
