Zanny Begg
All in the family
Just before the federal budget, Channel 7's current affairs program, Real Life, featured a story on young people who leave home because of the attraction of welfare payments for the homeless. Young people who were interviewed said bluntly that they ran away only for the money. Young people are out of control, we were told, and families have been bypassed by the welfare system.
The story echoed assumptions behind NSW Premier John Fahey's comments earlier this year when he claimed that women's refuges undermine the "family unit".
The conclusion we are meant to draw is that the welfare system is too generous to those who seek to escape the family. Women and children belong in the home.
Unfortunately, the reality for the 12,000 to 40,000 young people on the streets is vastly different. A discussion paper produced by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme found that one in four girls and one in 11 boys are victims of sexual abuse in the home. Boronia Halstead, the author of the report, links violence in the home directly to youth homelessness.
This conclusion receives support from the experience of the Caretakers refuge in Sydney. Research conducted there found that the majority of the young people who apply for housing support are escaping physical and/or sexual abuse.
"These young people are often moving from an abusive situation in the family", writes Halstead, "into further abuse on the streets".
Caretakers coordinator Laurie Matthews says that if young people are going to refuges merely as a better option to home, then home life must be pretty bleak.
The claim that welfare payments for young people are too generous is an insidious myth. Young people are often forced to subsist way below the poverty line and have very few options if they want to leave their family. The trend over the last few years has been to erode rather then increase funds available for young people seeking independence.
The federal budget continued this trend. Austudy payments for those under 18 have been transferred from young people into the Family Payment System. Denying 15- to 17-year-old students financial independence makes it very difficult for them to have any say over their studies and their lives.
This has negative repercussions particularly for young people in refuges or on the streets. Caretakers has approximately 10 young people through its doors a week. According to Matthews, about three of these want to continue studying. "Benefits are a strong bargaining point between parents and children", she says, "and giving the Austudy payment to the parent throws the balance of power back into the hands of the parent".
Forcing young people back into the family relieves the state of the burden of their care. It also undermines young people's independence.
Just as women have been funnelled back into the family unit, young people have been told to keep quiet and stay put. But for many young people family life doesn't walk off the back of a cornflakes packet and access to other living options is crucial for their physical and emotional well-being. Many young people want to remain with their families, but those who don't, or can't, need assistance and alternatives.
[Zanny Begg is a member of the National Executive of Resistance.]