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No safety net for young people

The federal budget announced last night hits young people the hardest, with draconian changes to Centrelink support for under 30 year olds:

• Newstart (an extra $45 per week) will only be available for those 25 years or older
• A 6 month waiting period for Youth Allowance and Newstart
• A 6 months on / 6 months off social security scheme that will leave young jobseekers without any form of income for 6 months every year
• Financial penalties for young people who do not accept a job offered
• Tightened eligibility for the Disability Support Pension that will effectively exclude young people experiencing mental health issues

These budget announcements will result in more young people living in poverty and homelessness.

From our experience, young people are keen to study and work, but there are not enough opportunities available for young people experiencing disadvantage to “earn and learn”.

Education and training more expensive

An alarming number of Victorian teenagers are dropping out of school each year. A further 6,000 are dropping out within 12 months of transferring to the state’s vocational education and training system.

These figures confirm what youth services on the ground have been observing – young people as young as 10 seeking help having dropped out of school and left home.

There is a growing and significant number of young Victorians disengaging from school and faring badly. Most have not come to the attention of child protection and are now homeless or living in unstable and/or abusive homes. They are largely invisible to the public and government, and reliant on youth and government services.

Despite these concerns, education funding has been slashed with the highly anticipated Gonski reforms to improve education outcomes for our future leaders being cut.

Following the budget, it will be harder for young people to study with higher course fees for students going to university and requiring young people to repay university debts on lower incomes with higher interest.

Youth unemployment crisis

Young Victorians are struggling to find work. The youth unemployment rate in Victoria has jumped to 12.5% – more than double the national figure. In some areas youth unemployment has risen more than 50% in the past two years.

With such high youth unemployment, young people experiencing disadvantage and struggling to find work will soon be without any income. They will face eviction, poverty and homelessness.

Funding cuts to Youthlaw

Last night, the federal Attorney-General notified community legal centres of how funding cuts of $43.1 million will occur over 2 years.

These cuts will significantly reduce essential legal help for vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians.  Youthlaw was notified that the $150,000 granted by the former Attorney-General to fund Youthlaw Online for 3 years – a free Skype legal advice service to young people without help and struggling in country Victoria – will be cut by $100,000.

The budget has also defunded a number of core community services, including Youth Connections (a program to help young Australians remain engaged with education and training).

We are concerned that young people will become increasingly desperate to fund their basic survival needs when their social security payments are taken away from them. We anticipate an increase in criminal offending and mounting debt for young people experiencing homelessness, at a time when community legal centres and legal aid face crippling funding cuts.

A decision handed down this week by the United Nations Human Rights Committee has significant implications for how complaints against police are dealt with in Victoria.  This decision comes at a time when both major political parties are signalling intention to review the powers and role of the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti –Corruption Commission (IBAC ).

“This decision is extremely timely and should provide the incentive to both political parties to commit to introducing the required changes to IBAC that will enable it to function as an effective independent police complaints investigation body ” said Ariel Couchman , Director of the Young People’s Legal Rights Centre, today.

The UN committee in the case of Horvath v Australia has given Australia and in particular the Victorian government 180 days to remedy the way in which serious complaints against police are dealt with.

“In a very strong and clear decision the committee has made it clear that the state has a direct responsibility for serious complaints against police. The state must ensure effective and independent investigation and must actively remedy the violation whether through disciplinary proceedings or compensation.”said Ariel Couchman.

“Over our 10 years of legal practice at the Young People’s Legal Rights Centre we have rarely seen complaints brought by young people against police lead to an acknowledgement of wrongdoing or appropriate disciplinary action against the officers involved. Attempts by the Victorian government to establish an independent body to investigate these complaints has failed to date. Both the OPI and now IBAC do not have resources or the powers  required to independently investigate police complaints.  Currently IBAC investigates a few corrupt police but otherwise 99% of complaints are referred back to Victoria Police to investigate themselves. “ 

“In our view the current police complaints system is inadequate. The government must provide an effective and impartial body to investigate and punish police officers who engage in criminal offences. Currently Victoria Police internal investigations lack adequacy, transparency and independence.”  

The decision on Horvath v Australia requires the Victorian government to re-open the disciplinary proceedings against all police involved and to put in place broader system changes to ensure ‘independent and impartial investigation’ of serious and criminal complaints against police.

In March 1996 Corinna Horvath aged 21 was viciously assaulted by police fracturing her nose and rendering her unconscious.  Subsequently the County Court of Victoria found the individual police officers liable for assault, trespass, wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. An internal police investigation by the Ethical Standards Department (ESD) looking at the same evidence as the County Court dismissed disciplinary charges on the basis of lack of evidence. Police involved continue to be employed today.

“The UN Committee also called on Victorian government to amend Section 123 of the Police Regulation Act (Vic) to bring it into compliance with human rights law. Currently the Act allows the government to avoid responsibility (including compensation) for victims of criminal acts by police. The Committee found this to be a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Australia is a signatory to “.

The Horvath v Australia decision highlights the importance of governments protecting their citizens’ human rights by investigating allegations of violations promptly thoroughly and effectively, and by ensuring redress when violations occur.

This month the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Victoria will hear an appeal of Bare v Small. This case is about how serious complaints against police officers were dealt with by the state and will  determine whether the human rights of the young man Nassir Bare required that his complaint against police was dealt with independently of Victoria Police. In this case the OPI determined not to investigate the complaint and referred it back to Victoria Police to investigate.

Youthlaw has advocated for the interests of young people in relation to proposed cyber-bullying laws and policies in the Department of Communications’ Discussion Paper “Enhancing Online Safety for Children”.

We support the establishment of a Children’s e-Safety Commissioner, development of an effective complaints system to remove harmful material from social media sites quickly and securing these protections with federal legislation.

While Youthlaw supports a new cyber-bullying specific criminal offence, we are concerned that the proposed penalties could have unintended and unfair consequences for young people.

Youthlaw believes any cyber-bullying specific offence should be available for all victims of cyber-bullying (not just under 18 year olds). In relation to young offenders, the proposed penalty of a fine is overly punitive and out of line with existing penalties in the Children’s Court and not an effective deterrent for young people. Instead, we propose an educative and prevention-focused cyber-bullying diversion program that reinforces the harmful effects of cyber-bullying and the responsibilities of young people when using social media.

Read more: Youthlaw submission – Online Safety for Children Discussion Paper 2014