Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

These 28-year-olds, who may have an electrician's or plumber's trade certificate or a university degree, will be relying on their parents or having to rely on charity to survive. What do they think this is going to do to those communities where there are not enough jobs for people? What do they actually think is going to happen?

We have got a whole range of community organisations out there saying what is going to happen, and they are saying that poverty and homelessness will increase. I hope you are really proud of that on the other side, because that is what your budget is going to do to people. It is not okay to say that people need to live on fresh air for six months of the year. What is worse is, if you analyse the budget, they could be living on fresh air for six months of more than one year; it could be six months of several years until they find a job—six months each and every year that they have to live on nothing. That is what you are doing to young people. You are hiking up their HECS fees so that they cannot afford to go to university. You are increasing their debt. You are denying them proper education. You have ripped money out of trade training centres.

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