By Marina Cameron
Federal cabinet approved further cuts to youth income support on June 10, when it agreed to in-principle support for a common youth allowance to replace Austudy, Abstudy and the youth dole in 1998.
The CYA was flagged in the August budget and has been to cabinet six times already. The government is finding the structure and implementation harder than it originally thought.
Resistance national coordinator Sean Healy told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, "The CYA saves the government nothing overall, but the real content is the drive to shift more of the cost of education onto students, and more of the cost of unemployment onto individual families.
"It paves the way for future attacks on youth income support across the board. Student groups, trade unions and community and welfare organisations should all join a campaign against the attacks contained in the CYA."
The Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition has released details of the measures proposed by the government. These include:
1) Parental income testing will be introduced for unemployed 18-20 year olds. This will affect around a third of those currently receiving benefits, and is the big money saver to pay for the increased benefits elsewhere in the plan. This is a clear attack on the ability of young people to lead independent lives, and escape distressing or violent home situations.
The government is lying when it claims that young people from low income families will continue to get unemployment benefits. The cut-off for full benefits for combined parental income is $23,350 — well below average weekly earnings.
2) Rent assistance will be available to unemployed and students. This is being pushed as a great bonus for students, but it is available only if young people live away from home in order to pursue studies or look for a job. Those living in the same vicinity as their parents won't benefit.
3) Benefit rates for 16-17 year olds will increase by $30 per fortnight, bringing their level up to that of 18-20 year olds.
4) The work requirement for independent eligibility will be changed. Currently, unemployed people must have worked or looked for work for 13 weeks. For Austudy, it's much harsher: full-time work for three out of the last four years. The proposal is to make the requirement 18 months of full-time work for everyone. This won't substantially help students, and will drastically hurt the unemployed.
5) Thresholds for money earned while receiving benefits will be left at$6000 for students, $1530 for unemployed.