By Sean Malloy
Violence, poverty, homelessness and other forms of oppression and suffering experienced by young people are usually dealt with in compartments, separate and unconnected. A Lost Generation, a report prepared by the Australian Youth Foundation (AYF), links these phenomena, compiling the essence of discussions held with 700 disadvantaged young people.
The conclusions drawn, in the main, get to the heart of matters ranging from violence to recreation. Statistics of high youth unemployment, violence in the family, sexual abuse, climbing suicide rates, homelessness, isolation and inadequate schooling are brought to life through snapshots of human experiences documented in this report.
Poverty was identified in the discussions as a major factor contributing to crime, homelessness, violence and difficulty in getting work or education.
"Everything revolves around money and we don't get enough of it", said one Woolloomooloo participant. From the young people's experiences, this was true of both wages and benefits. The report notes strong expectations for full-time paid work clashing with the reality of unemployment, meaningless training schemes, low wages and employers who hoodwink young people.
As if trying to find a job wasn't bad enough, attempting to obtain benefits is another obstacle course. "I was broke waiting three months for an Austudy payment, hitting on Vinnies and the Salvos. I almost gave up", said a Townsville person. Social Security criteria become absurd: "Most kids here would probably have grown up in violent homes. Then Social Security want us to have it in writing before we can get homeless allowance."
Failure to get benefits led directly to crime and contributed to violence. It's "disgusting to have to steal to eat", said one youth. "Why should we have to roll some old guy for money for food?"
"When you run away from home [to escape domestic violence] you have to learn to be violent yourself to survive on the streets", said another. Prostitution or selling drugs was also referred to as a way of surviving, but not as a way of leaving a cycle of poverty and violence.
While domestic violence was often referred to in the report, it was not taken up specifically. Violence on the streets, in the community and from police, however, were discussed. A cycle of violence between family and streets, statistically documented in Young People as Victims of Violence (an August 1992 paper prepared for the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme), is confirmed by these people's experiences. One Perth contributor said, when discussing street violence, that "if you get beaten up as a kid, it's hereditary".
Sexist violence, sexism and sexual abuse were referred to by young women in the discussion groups. "They spoke of the commonplace staring ('being mentally undressed') when they walked on the street, of young boys' abusive talk, of abuse at home and everywhere — these suggested the constant undertow of sexual threat which could blow up more violently in their lives", the report says.
Police violence discussed by young people seemed to shock the report's authors and AYF workers alike. "Fear of police violence was an oppression most keenly felt by young Aborigines and those known to have 'a record'", note the authors.
"The most common story, constantly repeated at consultations, was of physical violence — young people being arrested or simply taken in for questioning and being beaten by police."
One young person described a common police method: "They take you to a cell, put a phone book on you and hit you with batons — so you don't show the bruises".
Other aspects of police violence included young women's fears of police as "violent people" and police disbelief of women reporting violence.
Police raids of young people's squats were also documented. "They kept harassing our place until they broke it up", said a Queensland participant. "They raided it continually, broke open a mattress, killed two pet rats ... trashed the house ... The first four times they came I was nice as pie. On the fifth time I said 'fuck off out of my house'. I was taken to the watch-house and got the shit beaten out of me."
"Homelessness for some young people", the report says, is a "chronic condition" and is linked to poverty and domestic violence. Applying for homeless allowance requires parents to state their children cannot live at home. The very people who abuse their children, in the vast majority of cases, have the power to deny them homeless allowance.
A Queensland youth says, "A person walks in with bruises all over and they still won't believe you've got nowhere to go". A West Australian says, "My parents take pride in their reputation and wouldn't give proof that I can't live there".
On the whole, young people are isolated by inadequate public transport. Disadvantaged youth are not the only ones to feel this gap. "In most parts of Australia public transport is inadequate and in many places it closes down after normal work hours. Public transport late at night is always difficult, often dangerous and sometimes not available at all", the report says.
It is not "a simple 'tyranny of distance' but a paucity of public services. Whether the distance is twenty kilometres or two hundred, the absence of affordable or available transport makes either distance tyrannical", it adds.
The report struck an ominous note on the issue of racism. It said that "many of the young people were themselves deeply racist. Their level of disadvantage and deprivation was closely linked to their racial antagonism, particularly towards Asians and then towards all immigrants and Aborigines — indeed to those who they believed were securing a better deal for themselves."
A Lost Generation exposes the government's facade of caring and sets the record straight on what's really happening to an expanding layer of young people, in a country where profits of the top 1000 companies total $22,262 million in a year.