2022-23 State Budget wrap-up
It's state budget time - here's five things you should know
What’s in the federal budget for young people?
Raise the Age: It's way past time
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 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’.
Why 'The Smashed Avocado'?
In 2016 columnist for The Australian, Bernard Salt got riled up in an article about young people who go out and order ‘smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more’.
According to him, he can afford dropping $20 on lunch because he’s middle aged and has raised his family but young people – they should be eating at home and putting their brunch money toward a house.
This statement made news publications across the world, with the estimates on social media that at that price you would need to sacrifice a weekly brunch for close to 200 years to afford the deposit for a middle of the range home in Sydney.
Young people have been locked out of the property market, but it is much easier to insinuate young people are lazy and wasting their money on brunches rather than looking at the reasons for that like availability, affordability and debt.
We see this kind of thinking about young people everywhere – particularly as they are consistently blamed for the unemployment crisis.
However, apparently having young people globally not only dismantling the whole basis of that argument and clowning you on social media at the time wasn’t enough to stop anyone else from publicly spurting this narrative.
In 2017 Tim Gurner, a luxury property developer and millionaire, made headlines after he told 60 Minutes that the reason why young people couldn’t break into the property market was because they’re spending all their money on ‘smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each’.
Because as we all know, saving on $4 coffees is the same as being left a trust fund by a wealthy grandparent like Tim’s.
We’ve all heard these comments, whether they blame avocado toast for us not all jumping toward an unaffordable housing market or, like the Prime Minister, the ‘cafes, dinner parties and wine bars of our inner cities’ to deflect from not being on track to achieve net zero emissions, the problem is obviously those young people and their food and drink spending.
The Smashed Avocado is a YACSA platform designed for young people - want to contribute? Find out how to write your story here.
Young people want real consent education, you can keep the milkshakes
It is time to care about women as much as we say we care about women.
This year, International Women’s Day fell in the wake of multiple sexual assault allegations arising from our Nation’s capital. Brittany Higgins coming forward and then the historical allegation against Attorney General Christian Porter, culminated to put a focus on sexual violence against women in Australian media and political sphere.
State Government Tackle ‘Period Poverty’ in Schools
Yesterday the state government moved to take action against period poverty by making free pads and tampons available in all South Australian schools, allocating $450,000 worth of funding.
Each public school will receive a grant for sanitary products this school term based on the number of female students they have enrolled.
Lockdown Update
COVID-19 Update(d): important resources for young people
It's time to stop blaming young people for the unemployment crisis
How COVID-19 is impacting young people
We asked young people to tell us how they’re going with the COVID-19 restrictions and here’s what we heard:
Young people are experiencing increased stress and anxiety about job losses and they’re worried about how they or their family will pay rent and utilities. They are also worried about how they will buy food, medications and other necessities.
Young people are reporting increased feelings of isolation and anxiety as a result of COVID-19 and are concerned about their own and others mental health & wellbeing. They’re worried about vulnerable family members contracting the virus.
Young people are anxious about online education and aren’t getting the support they need to navigate the transition. They’re worried about falling behind in their studies.
Not all young people have access to tech or data and online and phone support/services don’t work for everyone, so some aren’t getting the support they need.
We also asked what they would like to say to decisions makers:
Young people want the government and educational institutions to make sure no-one is left behind or made worse off by COVID-19.
Young people want to know what governments are planning to do to address unemployment and what financial supports and protections will be put in place to ensure they and the wider community avoid increased disadvantage.
We’ve shared this info with the state government and asked what they’re going to do to make sure young people receive the support and services they need during the pandemic and beyond.
We’ll provide updates here about their response but in the meantime, if you haven’t already completed our survey, we’d like to hear from you! Take the survey here.
