Memo to Rudd: Gen Y misses out

Your generation of greedy, big spenders missed out in last week’s $10 billion economic Rescue Package. Gen Y, coined as the most materialistic yet, didn’t receive a cent to stimulate the economy. It’s ironic that those most likely to spend up big in the eyes of society weren’t considered in Rudd’s nationwide shopping spree.

Three quarters of Australian families will receive a once-off, tax-free payment of $1,000 for each child in care, and pensioners will receive $1400. While families with children who receive the Youth Allowance or Abstudy will share in $3.9 billion allocated, it seems independent students, those just graduating and entering the workforce on starting salaries, and young professionals working their way up wont benefit at all.

Either choosing to ignore the youth of Australia was a huge mistake in his attempt to boost the economy, or Kevin Rudd knows something the rest of society doesn’t. Maybe Gen Y isn’t the selfish, consumerist youth predicted but genuinely living it tough.

When university students camped out overnight in the streets of Brisbane to protest exorbitant rental and living costs, it became apparent that many young people have more important concerns than the latest fashion trends.

How about abolishing that HECS debt (no wait, now a HELP debt), that will total $40,000 by graduation. Eliminating payments of $100 out of each week’s pay check for a decade would certainly provide an opportunity for frivolous spending among those apparently most likely to do so.

But it seems Rudd intuitively knew that the youth do have the ability to manage their money properly. Australia’s generation of spenders would have made sensible choices if given a handout in last week’s package, and this is probably why they missed out.

The true motivation behind Rescue Package is for families to spend on toys and pensioners to spend on pokies. Whichever, it’s not fair to group all young Australians as part of the selfish, insatiable Gen Y.

By Freya Longhurst