MINISTERIAL STATEMENT: Federal Budget, Youth

Hon. MAJ SCANLON (Gaven—ALP) (Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef
and Minister for Science and Youth Affairs) (10.12 am):

Federal budgets are supposed to show a government’s priorities. What this decade-old Morrison-Joyce government has revealed in this latest budget is that young people do not matter to them. Young Queenslanders and their future have been left off the agenda.

When 40 per cent of millennials are struggling to pay rent, when the average savings for gen Y
have fallen 46 per cent, we saw nothing for renters. We saw no long-term strategy to deal with the cost
of living or to increase wages. We saw nothing to deal with skyrocketing house prices. In fact, when
pushed on the matter, the Prime Minister told struggling renters to just go and buy a house. When young
people are crying out for climate action, they are cutting climate funding by 35 per cent.

Scott Morrison and the LNP think young people do not matter. The Australia Institute’s Chief
Economist Richard Denniss has said—
"The prime minister clearly thinks that the federal election in May will be decided by voters who are older than average, richer than average, and more likely to live in regional Australia than average.

"As a result of that cynical calculus, he has aimed an enormous amount of our money at his target voters, while doing little to address the major concerns of young people."

Basically, he is betting that young people will not be paying much attention to the budget or his
dismal failures as a Prime Minister. Well, I think he is wrong. Now is the time for young Australians to
make their voices heard. There are tens of thousands of young people across Queensland who are not
enrolled to vote. This Morrison-Joyce government is counting on you not caring. Prove them wrong.
Make sure to enrol if you have not already, or check that your details are up to date and tell your friends
as well, because very soon we will be heading to an election—a chance to vote Scott Morrison out. Get
out there, show this government that you matter, that your future matters and that your vote matters.