‘Decline or delay?': Unique struggle facing young Aussies
For much of Australia's history, each new generation has been better off than the last: better jobs, higher incomes, and improved living standards.
But a new e61 Institute report reveals that promise may now be in doubt.
The report found that young Australians were barely earning more than their predecessors yet were racking up markedly larger student debts and taking years longer to pay them off.
Real average incomes for 30-year-olds increased just 6 per cent in a decade, from $59,496
in 2012 to $62,987 in 2022. Meanwhile, the average HELP debt jumped by 45 per cent, from $19,485 to $28,260, the analysis of tax return data found.
The average age of final HELP repayment also rose from 33 in 2012 to 35 in 2022.
The percentage of 30-year-olds with a HELP debt increased from 15 per cent to 23 per cent,
The report said the story of young Australians today may not necessarily be one of decline but rather of delay.
'It is still unclear how many of these patterns will evolve. The challenge for policymakers is distinguishing between whether young Australians are reaching major life milestones – like moving out of home, starting families, and buying a home – later than prior generations, not reaching them at all, or changing their preferences,' it said.
e61 Institute research economist Matthew Maltman said the intergenerational compact's growing disparity had its roots in the global financial crisis of 2008. Since then the wages of workers under 40 have grown at less than half the rate of older Australians.
'Some explanations include rising underemployment, a shift toward insecure and lower-paying
service jobs, award decisions, and an oversupply of workers relative to available high-quality
jobs – driven in part by older Australians working longer – which weakened bargaining power
and suppressed wage growth,' he said.
'Rising employer concentration and a decline in job mobility may also have weakened young
workers' ability to climb the job ladder and move into higher-paying positions.'
The report stated that young Australians now had access to opportunities that were not available to their parents and grandparents.
'Today, they are achieving more in education, earning more in their early career stages, and participating in the labour market in new ways,' it said.
'Young people have also benefited from technological advancements, including greater access to information through the internet, improvements in the availability of digital goods and cheaper consumer goods.
'Whether young Australians will be better of than previous generations remains an open question,
'It depends, in part, on the choices policymakers make today. In the past, productivity growth has been the surest way to lift living standards for all and maintain the intergenerational bargain.
'However, Australia's recent lacklustre productivity performance means that policymakers cannot take for granted that the standard intergenerational pattern of improvement will operate as well as before.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
15 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Record-breaking $5m Caulfield South home wows buyers
A showstopping Caulfield South home has shattered the suburb's price record for a residential home, after selling for more than $5m. The bold five-bedroom residence at 6 Sea View St, known as Villa Rosa, features a glowing green onyx ensuite, a 400-bottle wine cellar and a magenta front door. The reimagined 1960s gem was painstakingly reshaped by its architect-owner over more than a decade. Designer Patrick Miceli chose to preserve and expand the original mid-century house, creating a statement home where Palm Springs modernism meets Mediterranean glamour. Gary Peer & Associates partner Daniel Peer said the home and the result was indicative of Mr Miceli's dedication to the project. 'It wasn't knocked down and rebuilt, but the cost of extending and redesigning it probably exceeded what it would've cost to start again,' Mr Peer said. Instead of boxy new construction, Villa Rosa is lined with chevron parquetry, wrapped in dramatic marble finishes, and topped by three-metre coffered ceilings, all softened by landscaped olive trees and synthetic lawn that create a resort-style outdoor zone. 'Patrick was very passionate about retaining the mid-century character,' Mr Peer said. 'But he also wanted to introduce modern European flair. That blend made it really stand out in the market — it's nothing like anything else in Caulfield South.' At the heart of the home is a luminous kitchen with a full suite of integrated V-Zug appliances, including dual ovens, a wine fridge, a built-in coffee machine, and a marble-clad butler's pantry. From there, the home opens out to a gas and solar-heated pool, an outdoor kitchen with a built-in barbecue and fireplace, and a covered entertaining zone with bi-fold louvres that blur the line between indoors and out. But Mr Peer said the real showstopper lies tucked away at the rear: a main bedroom suite accessed by a five-metre gallery of floor-to-ceiling mirrored robes that leads into a spa-like ensuite crafted from green onyx, with integrated backlighting that glows through the stone. 'It honestly feels like a movie set,' he said. 'That ensuite is one of the most incredible bathrooms I've ever seen.' Downstairs, a basement-level wine cellar holds around 400 bottles, tucked behind a secure four-car garage with a separate storage and bin room, just one of several hidden luxuries in the three-storey layout. Upstairs, a self-contained wing includes three identical bedrooms, each with its own ensuite, along with a cinema room with projector wiring, a second living area, kitchenette, study nook and European laundry, perfect for long-term guests or multigenerational families. The Gary Peer & Associates partner said the scale of the really blew buyers away. 'Even seasoned buyers would walk through and say, 'We weren't expecting that',' Mr Peer said. And while the design language spoke of Toorak or Bayside, the buyers came from just down the road. 'All the serious interest came from Caulfield locals,' he said. 'The eventual buyer was a young person who grew up in the suburb. 'Their parents live nearby. They were set on staying in Caulfield South — not even Caulfield North — which is pretty rare.' Gary Peer & Associates had sold the home previously under different owners, with Mr Peer being invited back to mark the personal milestone for Mr Miceli. 'The vendor bought it about 13 to 15 years ago and spent all that time crafting it,' he said. 'He's a perfectionist, and this was a passion project — not just a house but a real labour of love. It was a privilege to represent him.' The vendor, architect Patrick Miceli, purchased the property in 2009 for $1.258m. In today's dollars, that would be equivalent to about $1.84m, meaning Villa Rosa has gained more than $3.7m in nominal value — and about $3.16m in real, inflation-adjusted terms. With the previous suburb record sitting at $4.71m, also set by Mr Peer just weeks earlier, the agency entered the campaign confident Villa Rosa had what it took to go higher. 'From day one, we said if it sells above five, it'll be a new record — and that's exactly what happened,' Mr Peer said. The sale marked the first residential transaction in Caulfield South to exceed $5m, a milestone publicly confirmed by Gary Peer & Associates on social media following the result. 'Daniel Peer has SMASHED the record price in Caulfield South,' the agency posted. 'Selling 6 Sea View Street for the first ever sale over $5,000,000.' Mr Peer said the strength of the winter sale pointed to strong momentum heading into the second half of the year. 'Rates have stabilised, political confidence is returning, and buyers are feeling more certain,' he said. 'That last rate cut was described as a 'confidence cut', and that's what we're seeing now. 'There's strong competition for standout homes like this.'
ABC News
23 minutes ago
- ABC News
Childcare subsidy program leaks hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud and errors
Australia's $14 billion childcare subsidy program is haemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars each year due to fraud, overpayments and administrative errors, according to a landmark report from the auditor-general. The report paints a disturbing picture of a system with serious oversight gaps and estimates more than $2.6 billion has been lost from incorrect payments in the five years to 2024. It describes oversight and governance of the subsidy program as "partly effective," and monitoring and enforcement as not being properly managed. The report notes that Services Australia was unable to track childcare-related tip-offs and relied on incomplete income data, while the Department of Education, despite holding broad enforcement powers, lacked clear policies on when or how to act. "Which means it is not able to assess whether decisions to take enforcement action are fair, impartial, consistent, or proportional," the report says. In 2023-24 alone, the auditor-general estimated $484 million in incorrect payments, including fraud and non-compliance. The education department identified but failed to investigate 970 potential overpayments, and it withdrew 42 per cent of fines issued, recovering less than 1 per cent of $6.4 million in outstanding debts. With the subsidy program worth more than $13 billion a year, experts warn the real losses could be much higher than reported. The childcare subsidy is one of the government's fastest growing payments programs, supporting 1.45 million children in approved care. By 2028, annual spending is set to surge by another $3.2 billion to almost $17 billion a year. Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh defended the government's record, saying Labor had delivered the highest provider claim accuracy rate on record at 96.4 per cent, up from 93 per cent before it came to government. More than $300 million in savings had already been delivered through fraud investigations, strengthened audits, better data analytics and legislative changes. "The government doesn't tolerate crooks ripping off the Child Care Subsidy. We will always look for ways to continue to improve the integrity of the system," Walsh said. "Our integrity measures have delivered additional provider audits, more fraud investigations, improved targeting through better data analytics as well as education and support to the sector." The minister confirmed the department had accepted all seven recommendations of the auditor-general's report, and urged the public to report wrongdoing via the department's anonymous tip-off portal. Those recommendations include fixing oversight gaps, strengthening internal policies, publishing a joint compliance strategy, improving intelligence on risks and tip-offs, and upgrading critical systems. And since the audit commenced, a joint governance board was established between Services Australia and the Department of Education to maintain strategic oversight of regulatory activities across both agencies. This will ensure both agencies have a joined up view of the integrity activity underway across the breadth of the subsidy, and provide senior oversight and decision making on key cross cutting issues. But as costs rise and private operators chase profits, some experts say it is time to do something more radical and change the funding model. It comes against a backdrop of a major ABC investigation into the $20 billion childcare industry which exposed a sector in crisis, plagued by systemic failures, secrecy and a rising number of serious incidents at some of the country's largest for-profit providers. It triggered a parliamentary inquiry in NSW, spearheaded by Greens politician Abigail Boyd, and the release of tens of thousands of pages of regulatory documents, which include cases of inappropriate discipline, lack of supervision, unqualified educators and poor paperwork including expired Working With Children Checks and a failure to understand policies. The documents also reveal alleged subsidy fraud including centres over-enrolling children by up to 40 per cent to claim extra funding — an illegal and dangerous practice. Childcare advocate and consultant Lisa Bryant said the report's findings came as no surprise, given the sheer scale and complexity of the subsidy system. "The childcare subsidy is mind-numbingly complex," she said. "It's beyond human understanding how the payments are calculated. Families don't understand how the money and hours are calculated and providers are also frustrated … it's no wonder money is going astray," she said. Bryant said a simpler solution would be to fund childcare providers directly, much like schools, instead of processing subsidies for more than a million families. "If the government paid providers directly, it would have a stronger policy lever," she said "It could link funding to service quality and stop the funding if they don't meet the standards." Bryant said the subsidies should be directed to the centres themselves, similar to how schools work, and if they don't provide quality services, the government has a lever to withdraw the funds. Georgie Dent, the chief executive of The Parenthood, a parent advocacy organisation representing more than 80,000 parents, carers and supporters, said the system's failures are costing children and families dearly. "When almost half a billion dollars is lost to fraud or incorrect payments in a single year, it's not just a technical glitch, it's a policy failure," she said. "This is public money intended to support children's development, family workforce participation and economic productivity. We cannot afford to have it fall through the cracks." Dent said the findings make the case for funding reform clear. "We need a direct and transparent link between funding and the quality, accessibility and integrity of early childhood education services," she said. "Strong governance, clear accountabilities and aligned incentives are not optional, they are the foundation of public trust and better outcomes for children." Greens MP Abigail Boyd said the auditor-general's report revealed a deeply flawed system where billions of taxpayer dollars were being handed to early learning providers without the proper compliance and regulatory systems in place. "It's no wonder that so many large for-profit companies view the Australian early childhood sector as such a lucrative investment," she said. Boyd warned that injecting more money into the current model won't fix its structural failures: "We need a significant overhaul to ensure that everyone can have faith in this critical sector." Chey Carter, former educator and now industry consultant at Divergent Education, says she isn't surprised there is so much leakage in the system. She says she spent time working with a Child Care System management provider and saw firsthand the mass level of confusion directors face when managing childcare subsidy payments. "The support line was flooded with basic questions, how to fix overcharging, apply CCS correctly, or reconcile enrolments. These weren't one-off mistakes; they were routine," she said. "To be eligible for CCS, providers must have fraud prevention policies and procedures in place but if we look at the policy from 'Childcare Desktop' a nationally used childcare policy provider — it states: 'staff will attend regular training to assist in the identification of fraud and corruption'. I can guarantee that the majority of the ECEC workforce have never attended such training." It seems without deeper reform including linking funding to quality and tightening accountability and oversight, the childcare system will continue to bleed public money while failing the children it's meant to serve.
ABC News
39 minutes ago
- ABC News
Virgin Australia says it is new and improved but the risks of investing in airlines remain
Dave Emerson was woken at 3.30 am with the worst possible news. In a little over eight hours, he was scheduled to ring the bell at the Australian Securities Exchange for the long-awaited resurrection of Virgin Australia. But Iran had chosen that very moment to eke out revenge against America with a missile attack upon a US air base in Qatar, the home of Virgin's partner airline, Qatar Airlines. "I got a phone call this morning at 3.30, 'ah, we're diverting some planes', but two of ours, we had two," he recounted. For an airline chief executive, it's the kind of news that sends shivers down the spine. You can adapt to an economic downturn, take remedial action against the worst of health scares, and hedge against violent moves in the oil price. But war? That's an entirely different scenario. It's one that places passenger and employee lives in jeopardy. And it's hardly the way to celebrate the return of a business that had been to the brink. By dawn, the crisis had passed. US President Donald Trump had declared that both Israel and Iran had agreed to an indefinite ceasefire. Oil prices slumped, Wall Street cheered, and Virgin's planes were back in the air after stopovers in Oman and India. By the time midday rolled around, the champagne was flowing at the ASX, Virgin debuted at a solid 7 per cent premium to the $2.90 a share sale, and a beaming Emerson was enthusiastically ringing the bell. Was he relieved? "Honestly, I didn't have any expectations on how it was going to trade," he said. That's easy to say after the event. Had Virgin shares sunk on the debut, it could have been a scarring experience for all involved, as anyone who remembers the Myer flop will readily recall. It also would have damaged the credibility of the ASX, an institution already under intense fire. The exchange has been shrinking, with a dearth of new listings in recent years that have failed to keep pace with the constant takeovers that have seen an exodus of major corporations. And it would have made life more difficult for private equity funds that would have seen the door shut on a potential exit for their investments. "It's always good to start on a nice positive note," Emerson eventually admitted, after some prompting. "I'm happy to see that." By day's end, Virgin shares had piled on an extra 11 per cent, ending the day at $3.23. Virgin has undergone some radical surgery in the five years since it collapsed. It is now focused almost entirely on domestic routes, centred around the Golden Triangle of Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, has a singular fleet of smaller Boeing 737s, and has outsourced its international operations to Qatar. Debt has been slashed, with a lower metric than Qantas, and last financial year, it delivered its first profit in more than a decade, although that was boosted by a one-off credit recovery. It has also hit the ASX at a time when competition has evaporated following the collapse of REX and Bonza in the past 18 months. And despite the favourable landing on the ASX, it is significantly cheaper than Qantas when the share price is compared to earnings. Qantas, meanwhile, is facing some significant hurdles. After a decade and a half of underinvestment in aircraft under Alan Joyce, Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson is facing a mammoth task upgrading one of the world's oldest fleets. But it would be highly unlikely for Qantas to simply allow Virgin a free kick when it comes to market share and earnings growth. The Flying Kangaroo recently announced the closure of its Singapore-based Jetstar Asia offshoot, a decision that will allow around a dozen extra aircraft to ply the Australian domestic and Tasman routes. More aircraft means extra seats, which translates into competitive air fares. That competition doesn't end with consumers. Qantas will want to ensure that Virgin also has to compete when it comes to capital. Constraining Virgin's margins and earnings will force the comeback airline to be more judicious when it comes to eating Qantas's lunch. Emerson seems content to ensure Virgin's growth doesn't come at the expense of earnings. So, while there may be a lift in competition, don't expect a re-run of Qantas and Virgin's battle to the death that we witnessed a decade ago. "Our growth will come as Australia's GDP grows," he said. Of the $685 million raised through the float, none of the proceeds will find their way into the airline's hands. All will be repatriated to Bain. The US private equity firm will retain a 39 per cent stake, Qatar will keep 23 per cent, private investors will hold 30 per cent, and employees will keep the rest. "We didn't need any additional capital," Emerson said. "We have a very strong balance sheet. We're generating strong returns." The Virgin boss is adamant that Virgin will be able to fund its fleet expansion without raising equity, something Qantas may struggle with.
