In 2004, the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) began a study called ‘Growing Up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’ (LSAC), by surveying thousands of children over two decades. This has been paired with Centrelink data for the primary parents from 2002 to 2017.

The results indicate that young people whose parents receive welfare payments are far less likely to be working or studying in late adolescence. Adolescents had 80 per cent higher odds of not being in employment or in education or training at age 18–19 if a parent received welfare for 3.5 years or more over a 15-year period, and 51 per cent higher odds if their parent received any welfare.

LSAC Program lead, Dr Lisa Mundy from AIFS, said the findings have implications for policymakers, as well as employers and local communities. “We know that not being in education, employment or training in adolescence can impact on many aspects of life,” she said.

“Young people in this situation often experience lower rates of academic performance, lower rates of employment, more social exclusion, and poorer physical and mental health outcomes.

“When governments at all levels work effectively with employers and local communities to address entrenched disadvantages, there is a real opportunity to break the cycle, and make a lasting difference to young people and their families,” Dr Mundy said.

With this kind of information at hand, it’s fair to ask what the government will do to address it. Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, thinks that this research is proof that young people experiencing economic disadvantage have not been getting the support and interventions they need. 

“Young people have been consistently overlooked. That’s why the Treasurer and I worked to deliver an almost $200 million investment in the last Budget to tackle entrenched disadvantages. The package has a strong focus on giving young people a voice to come up with their own solutions to meet their needs and aspirations.” 

Minister Rishworth said, “We want to see more community-led initiatives like the Burnie Works ‘Every Day Counts’ school attendance campaign, which empowered young people to explore the issues that impact their ability to attend school, and identify youth-led ways to support school attendance. Their solution was an advertisement which shows primary and secondary school-aged children being affected practically and emotionally when their friends don’t come to school. 

Evidence shows that targeted investment in community-led projects of this kind across the country will help break the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage and improve outcomes for young people.  

The LSAC study is an ongoing national study. In 2004 around 5,000 babies aged up to one, and 5,000 four to five year-olds and their families were recruited and have been surveyed every two years since. This has given researchers a deep understanding of the experiences of children and young people growing up in Australia.  

Narelle Clay, AM, CEO Southern Youth and Family Services told The Bugle that “It is unsurprising that young people whose parents receive welfare payments struggle to engage with employment or education because Australia’s welfare outrageously low rates of income support payments trap people and families in poverty. 

“Living in constant financial stress has negative outcomes for both participation in employment and for the physical and mental health of income support recipients. That is why the Australian Council of Social Services is calling on the Federal Government to lift people on income support payments out of poverty by raising the rate of income support to at least $76 per day. The Government’s recent increase to JobSeeker payments is welcome but inadequate.”

Ms Clay said that young people who experience disadvantage need targeted support to be able to participate fully in education, employment, and training. However, we have an employment services model that depends on creating a competitive market in Employment Education and Training (EET) Services. She said, “This policy has failed young people. Furthermore, there is little funding available for specialist EET support despite the clear need.” 

Southern Youth and Family Services (SYFS), the agency she works in, provides an integrated suite of education, employment, and training services that are integrated with their broader service model. 

The requirements for being a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) are onerous for smaller organisations. These programs are largely self-funded due to a lack of appropriate funding from the government.

Ms Clay thinks that Youth-led campaigns to increase school attendance are an excellent initiative. She says, “We need to address the growing structural problem in our public schools that stem from the failure of successive governments to fully implement the Gonski review.”

“Public schools, which educate the majority of students with additional support needs, do not have the funding to provide adequate support while the majority of Commonwealth funding increases since 2009 have gone to private schools.” 

Furthermore, Ms Clay says, “The failure to adequately remunerate skilled teachers is contributing to a staffing crisis in public schools with 1,600 full-time teaching positions unfilled in NSW. To increase attendance and improve outcomes for the most vulnerable students, we need to ensure public schools have the funding they need to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all children.”