There's a strange rule built into our social security system: young adults get $150 less money to live on each fortnight simply because of their age.
Wed 21 Oct 2026 12.53 AEDT
Photo: AAP Image/Michael Currie
First, patients were promised meaningful consultation on reforms to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). It never happened. Then AHPRA asked the public for five minutes of feedback —and removed the responses they did not want displayed.
Wentworth MP Allegra Spender is urging the Albanese government to honour its 2022 election promise to close a loophole under federal law that allows religious schools to discriminate against teachers and students based on their gender identity, sexuality or marital status.
Most Australians do not realise that carve-outs exist in the Sex Discrimination Act or that in the present day, women are still losing their jobs for getting divorced.
Young Australians are doing it tough. They’re struggling to find affordable housing, juggling work and study, and finding it harder than ever to get a foothold in adult life.
For those who are between 18 and 22 years of age and getting by on Youth Allowance, they’re doing it even harder. That’s partly because of a strange rule built into our social security system: young adults get $150 less money to live on each fortnight simply because of their age.
While much of the focus on Youth Allowance tends to be on its role supporting students, what is more concerning to me is the role Youth Allowance plays for young Australians as a discount version of JobSeeker when they are looking for work.
Those between 18 and 22 pay, for instance, the same rent as a 30-year-old, and the same price for groceries, petrol, electricity and all the other life expenses. Yet when they need help from the government, they’re expected to survive on $150 less a fortnight than someone older.
There is no youth discount on rent, food or petrol. There shouldn’t be a youth discount on the safety net either.
This week, Anglicare Australia released new research showing just how little young people are expected to survive on. We looked at the costs facing Youth Allowance recipients who are living out of home and for those living with their parents.
The results are staggering. For a young person living in a share house, things are bad. They fall short by $52 every week after paying for rent, food and transport alone. For this analysis, we used a rent of just $178 per week, the amount needed to qualify for the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance. Try finding a room for that price in most Australian cities. And if you’re living on your own and fending for yourself, our report shows that you are falling backwards even further when it comes to affording the basics in life such as rent, food, and transport.
These numbers don’t even include electricity, phone bills, healthcare, clothes, or the costs of studying and looking for work.
And in our most generous scenario, a young person living with their parents has just $34 left each week after paying for food and transport – and that’s assuming they pay no rent or board, and that their food costs are halved. That $34 needs to cover their phone, clothes, medical costs, study expenses and everything else. It doesn’t leave much room for saving to move out of home.
Quality research, analysis, explainers and factchecks from experts you can trust.
Of course, young people aren’t literally spending money they don’t have. Instead, you will find them lining up at the Emergency Relief centres run by organisations such as ours, putting off trips to the doctor, taking on ridiculous debt arrangements, or couch surfing, or living somewhere unsuitable because it’s all they can afford.
Sure, some may be relying on their parents to make up the difference, but for many young people whose parents are struggling themselves – or those who have fled family violence, moved away to study or find work, or left the care system straight into homelessness – they are left to pay adult prices on youth rates.
There’s a double standard here, and it’s one we’ve already started to recognise in the workplace. Earlier this year, the Fair Work Commission decided to phase out junior pay rates for workers aged 18 to 20 in retail, fast food and pharmacy, a decision set to benefit around 500,000 young workers.
Under the old system, an 18-year-old could be paid just 70 percent of the adult rate. A 19-year-old received 80 percent, and a 20-year-old received 90 percent. The commission’s changes will be phased in over time.
It’s a welcome decision. So why are we still applying the same outdated thinking to Youth Allowance? If we’ve recognised that young adults deserve adult wages, surely we can recognise that they need adult income support too.
It’s time to abolish Youth Allowance as a separate, lower-rate payment. Young people who live independently should be able to rely on the same working-age income support as other adults, whether away from home or at home.
The point of income support should be to give people enough security to get back on their feet. For young people, that might mean finishing a qualification, finding a job, or getting established in a new city. We tell young people to study hard, work hard, get qualified, and build a future for themselves, but we give them a safety net that makes it almost impossible to do those things.
The Fair Work Commission has taken an important step towards ending age discrimination in wages. Now it’s time for the Federal Government to do the same for income support.
Paul McDonald is the CEO of Anglicare Victoria.
