Page 303 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 December 2016
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I believe access to quality and affordable education is a right for all Australians. It is more important now than ever before. The educational institutions—institutions that underpinned many of the opportunities enjoyed by previous generations—now face constant attack. State governments across Australia have slashed funding to TAFE, while gifting money to for-profit providers. Some of these operations do little but trade in the exploitation of students.
Similarly, for our universities, the threat of fee deregulation represents a move towards a corporate model of education. This undermines the core tenets of our higher education system: access, quality and affordability. This corporate system will increase inequality and limit the opportunities of young Australians to better their own and their families’ lives.
Even more sinister are attacks on student benefits and allowances. The most significant barrier to education is the cost of supporting oneself through study. Welfare benefits make sure that students from all backgrounds get an education. An attack on those payments is an attack on social mobility.
When my generation leaves formal education, things rarely improve in the workplace. The modern Australian workplace is increasingly casual and insecure. Wage theft is all too common. The share of people working part-time jobs has doubled in the last 30 years, with roughly one-third of people now working part time. Casual employees with no access to leave entitlements now make up one-quarter of our workforce, and people previously in full-time, secure work are increasingly pressured to become independent contractors, taking away their rights to sick leave, redundancy and superannuation.
These problems affect people of all ages, but they especially affect young people. Casual employment is draining. It is being on call all the time; it is a life with no sick leave; it is an irregular income; and, of most concern, it is a workplace where it is harder to say no. Casual employment should be a choice, not a way of life. This is how far too many people are living, and it is a disgrace.
The secure, full-time job that many generations have taken for granted is a pipe dream for too many. You know there is a problem when my friends think I have a more secure job than them. These people are not just retail and hospitality workers who have long suffered from casualisation; they are construction workers, teachers, nurses and public servants. For those who have gained employment, they are part of a new workforce that cannot expect growing wages. Wage growth is at record low levels. The cost of living continues to rise. The Australian way of life is being eroded, and we stand here as witnesses.
My generation is the renting generation. Many of us will never own a home or, if we do, it will be because of the help of our parents. Three decades ago the average home was worth five times the average salary. Today, the average home is 10 times the average salary. This is unsustainable and unfair. Housing should not be a financial instrument but a human right. The ownership of housing cannot be seen as a route to prosperity.
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