The Liberal government’s war on young people has become an actual freaking joke. And “war on young people” aren’t my words, actual real-life paid writers and journalists have been bandying it about for a couple of years. I am near-livid that the government who is supposed to both represent and do what is best for its people has done this. Cause they’re not. They’ve gone and skipped a whole freaking generation of care and respect and duty. And young people should know about it.
In the past couple of days the Liberal government passed new legislation to decrease the HECS repayment from $52,000 to $45,000 a year. That means that anyone earning over roughly $730/week will have to start paying it back. Even if they’re still undertaking those studies. That’s only $10 more than the minimum wage. AKA what has been determined as the necessary amount of dollars to live.
In June of last year penalty rates for those in retail and hospitality (aka the bread-making industry for nearly all young people) were set to be cut in a series of financial years. So in 3 days time that’s going to take a hit.
Adding fuel to the fire are the bunch of tax cuts which help mainly, surprise surprise, the wealthy, with an increase in benefits for those earning $180,000 and above. Clearly they need it.
All this comes from a government of whom the majority didn’t have to pay for their university degrees. Turnbull has admitted that he didn’t pay a cent for his 5 year long Arts-Law degree at Sydney University. For which the dude now makes roughly 500k/year.
This government’s disdain for young people is evident. The Minister for Youth was scrapped from the cabinet in 2013. Any complaint is retaliated with contempt: “we’re spending too much on smashed avo”. The price of existing has never been higher and don’t even get me started on real estate. There are more UNI graduates than jobs, our income doesn’t increase with the cost of living. Paying over $1.50 for petrol is the norm. But our generation is clearly entitled and doesn’t know what it means to work hard.
People, especially young people, should be informed and aware. Politics affect us. Hugely. Evidently. Come voting time, I so often hear, “I don’t really pay attention. I’ll probably just donkey”. And sadly, we are the ones bearing some of the brunt of policy and policy changes. Even more sadly, the majority of the brunt is shouldered by refugees. Which if you aren’t educated on and don’t find repulsive and aren’t a little ashamed to be Australian, then I have zero existence for you. But we need to know what’s going on. Cause it will impact us. A lot.
Here are the references if you want a closer look, or further reading:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-s-young-people-are-under-attack-20180418-p4zaa3.html
https://www.spectator.com.au/2017/08/war-on-young-australians/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/aliceworkman/free-ride?utm_term=.swYqaRP63#.xb3avmDz5
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/penalty-rates-and-allowances/penalty-rates-changes-2017
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/graduates-on-730-a-week-to-pay-back-loans-after-government-strikes-deal-on-student-debt-20180626-p4znsv.html
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2017/03/04/charting-the-war-young-people/14885460004299
https://www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au/new-hospitality-penalty-rates-from-1-july/
https://theconversation.com/most-of-the-benefits-from-the-budget-tax-cuts-will-help-the-rich-get-richer-96348
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/03/26/australia-really-needs-a-minister-for-youth-mps-say_a_22012970/
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/15/australian-millionaire-millennials-avocado-toast-house
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/17/australian-wages-growing-more-slowly-than-cost-of-living
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