Morrison Government supporting young Australians

The Morrison Government’s 2021-22 Budget includes targeted measures to educate young Australians, encourage them into work and support their mental health.

There are more than 3.2 million young Australians who will benefit from billions of dollars of additional support in this budget.

Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge, said support for young Australians would continue to be a focus for the government as the COVID-19 economic recovery continues.

“We are backing young Australians with guaranteed Commonwealth funding for all stages of education, from preschool right through to higher education and extra support to get them into work,” Minister Tudge said.

“We’ve also committed more than $300 million to expand youth mental health services and improve access.”

“Young Australians have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and we want them to be front and centre of our economic and social recovery.

Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, the Hon Stuart Robert MP, said businesses will continue to receive direct support to help young Australians kick-start their careers.

“Our Budget commits more than $2.7 billion to boosting apprenticeship commencements, as we look to continue our partnership with the states and territories to provide low-fee and fee-free training places in areas of need,” Minister Robert said.

“By extending and expanding our support for apprenticeship commencements, we are ensuring that young Australians are able to learn new skills and find sustainable employment that will help drive our continued economic recovery.”

Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services, the Hon Luke Howarth MP, said the Government is also providing $481.2 million to expand the highly successful Transition to Work program that helps disadvantaged young people into work or further study.

“Transition to Work, now included in the new employment services model, will support an average caseload of 41,000 disadvantaged young people per year with help from dedicated youth specialist services,” Assistant Minister Howarth said.

The Australian Government is also investing an additional $23 million in measures to address violence against women and children and deliver resources to support children and young people experiencing technology-facilitated abuse.

Key Budget Measures targeted at Australian Youth

Jobs and training

  • $2.7 billion to extend and expand support for apprenticeship commencements, enabling businesses to claim a 12-month wage subsidy for new apprentices commencing between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2022.
  • $500 million for the expansion of the JobTrainer Fund to deliver around 163,000 additional low fee and fee-free training places over two years.
  • $481.2 million to expand the Transition to Work program to help disadvantaged young people aged 15-24 make the transition into work or further studies.
    • Transition to Work will be brought into the Government’s new employment services model, the largest reform to employment services in more than 20 years, starting from July 2022.

Youth mental health

  • $280.3 million to enhance and expand youth mental health services
  • $13 million to support ReachOut for Online Youth Mental Health Services
  • $26.9 million to improve the treatment for eating disorders.

Women’s safety, respect and opportunity

  • The Budget includes a range of initiatives focussed on young women, as part of the Transitional Strategy to the New National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children submission. This includes:
    • $10.7 million to provide age-appropriate and evidence-based ways of educating young Australians about consent and respectful relationships
    • $3 million to develop and implement a new program delivering resources, training and technology-based tools to support children and young people experiencing technology-facilitated abuse.
  • Over $23m for an additional 2,700 places (to a total of 12,595 by 2023) in new and existing academies to support Indigenous girls and women in their schooling and to make successful transitions into work or further study.

Youth engagement

  • $11.1 million for the delivery of programs to assist young people, teachers and parents foster a greater sense of social cohesion, diversity and a sense of belonging.
  • $1.2 million to co-sponsor the Young Australian of the Year Awards, to recognise the contributions and service of young people within our community.
  • $1.0 million to strengthen civics and citizenship education, including by extending participation in the annual National Schools Constitution Convention to Year 9 and 10 students.

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