Routine budget commentary focuses on the "winners and losers", a snapshot of the good and the bad from that year, feeding into the election-cycle mentality of haggling for votes, with little concern for longer term strategies. Continuous silence on issues concerning young people mean we are the perpetual losers of post-GFC politics. Absent from the budget is long awaited Newstart increases, a change which even John Howard agrees is overdue. The budget had no tangible action plan on reducing youth unemployment or tackling systemic issues in home ownership, nor rental affordability and stability. In giving young people an extra $10 per week in tax cuts, if they pay tax at all, the absence of action on intergenerational fairness issues has yet again left young people short-changed.

Debt is a burden passed onto the young, and Grattan Institute research shows that each year the government runs a $40 billion deficit, it increases the lifetime tax burden for households headed by a person aged 25 to 34 by $10,000.

There have been no significant tax reforms since the Howard era’s introduction of the GST. Prominent economist Saul Eslake states it’s difficult to see anything fair about the redistribution of income and wealth from younger and middle-aged adults to the old. Taxation policy in Australia is in a slow but marked decline, and is in desperate need of review and rebalancing. Without significant reform, young Australians will continue to be on the back foot, saddled with debt before they’ve even had an opportunity to embrace the future.

Megan Shellie is one of the founding members of Think Forward (thinkforward.org.au), a lobby group for young Australians who want our politicians to prioritise and take action on issues of intergenerational fairness.