Young Australians bear brunt of Rudd Budget blow-out
13-May-2009
The Rudd Labor Government’s reckless spending and mounting debt will be “an albatross around the neck of young Australians”, Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The huge and unprecedented burden of debt left to our children in this Budget is disgraceful. And it will be today’s teenager who will really bear the brunt – with unemployment expected to soar in the next few years. There will be 1 million Australians unemployed by 2010-11, and unfortunately many of them will be young jobseekers.”
“This Budget reveals that Labor has no plan to ensure that our small and medium businesses can grow and create jobs in the future. There is effectively zero for small business and there is nothing of significance to boost apprenticeships for young Australians.”
Mrs Mirabella said Labor’s new “Jobs Compact” for Australians under 20 would be just a “training treadmill” for young people if there were no jobs available for them to take up.
“It’s all well and good to spend on various training programs – but if there are no jobs at the end of that training it’s a soul-destroying and disheartening process.”
“Plunging the economy into an economic black hole of debt and deficit is not the way to improve business confidence and promote growth. Without businesses growing and expanding, opportunities for young Australians literally dry up – we saw that during the last recession we had to have.”
Mrs Mirabella said she was also disturbed that the Rudd Government is pulling $24.7 million out of the National Illicit Drug Strategy.
“We have to remain vigilant about the threat illicit drugs presents to our children - The National Illicit Drugs Strategy is an important program and I’m concerned that money is being pulled out.”
Mrs Mirabella said she was also concerned about the tightening of the criteria for establishing independence under the Youth Allowance.
“The Youth Allowance is a vital avenue of income support for students and this change, which takes effect from the start of next year, will mean that some people currently working towards meeting the criteria will have their plans for further study thrown into disarray.”
“Labor has already done enough to gouge students with their Compulsory $250 Higher Education Fee that they had promised before the last election not to introduce.”
“There is no disguising the fact that this Budget provides a bleak outlook for young Australians. In fact, there’s ample evidence that because of Labor’s reckless spending they will be the ones paying for many years to come – with economists predicting it will take up to 20 years to repay the debt that Labor has managed to accumulate in just 18 months!”.