Last night, the latest budget of Australia was announced by the Liberal Coalition. While there is great depth to different plans, one thing is for sure; it's going to negatively affect young people. There are many measures within the budget that affect us and it's imperative for all young people in Australia to know what they are facing.









That feeling when you successfully harm Australia's future Firstly, the government has announced cuts to higher education spending. This means that your university fees will rise 7.5%. Pretty ironic decision from a generation that got their higher education for free. This 7.5% rise in education costs will obviously affect young Australian students in a big way. In a nation where house prices are rising and the need to save is even greater, the government is making it more expensive for you to get an education that can hopefully lead to you paying off these sharply rising costs. As well as this, the HECs repayment threshold has dropped from earnings of $55000 a year to $42000 a year. To put that into an easier number to work with, the new threshold equates to roughly $808 a week. The realistic costs of renting a single-bedroom apartment in Sydney is a minimum of $400, plus various other living expenses. The average Australian salary for the second quarter of 2016 was $78000, or $1500 a week. To force people to repay student debts at such a low level leads to struggles in entering the housing market, which is already turbulent enough.

The budget also has a big effect on the young people receiving welfare. Whilst you're unlikely to be too drastically affected by the budget if you fulfill all obligations, you could find yourself on the "Cashless Debit Card System" if you fail to turn up to some appointments or refuse to work for the dole. This Cashless Debit Card System is currently used in regions of the Northern Territory, largely inhabited by Indigenous people, originally put in to "control sexual assault". The mental gymnastics shocked me too. If you're a new recipient of welfare, you may find yourself randomly drug-tested, because there's nothing like taking away support structures from people with addictions.



