Generation Z
Gen Z is often characterised as the carefree generation since we grew up relatively stress-free, but in adulthood we have become the most anxious generation thanks to the housing crisis, GP affordability and the debt that comes with choosing to study.
Now many of us are struggling to decide if we can afford to move out of the family home, having to choose between buying groceries or paying bills, if we have enough after paying rent to afford a GP visit or seek mental health support, and whether we can even afford to start our own families.
The federal budget has not done much to encourage a change of mindset.
The government will provide additional funding of $46m over four years to continue digital mental health services and more than $650m over three years to add 50 Medicare urgent care clinics around the country.
For gen Z women there is a share of $240.4m over five years in women’s health funding, including $20.9m to provide specialist care and support for women experiencing endometriosis and pelvic pain.
In education, the government will provide funding to establish more university study hubs. And, as previously announced, it will cut the Help loan program and other student debts by 20%, bringing cost-of-living relief to gen Z students.
Many gen-Zers who rent will be among the 1m households who benefit from the 45% increase to maximum commonwealth rent assistance, also previously announced. – Eelemarni Close-Brown
Millennial
Like many millennials, I am at that strange stage of life where we spend more time in GP waiting rooms with small snotty children than sitting at a bar – so the reduction in beer tax is interesting but it’s the funding injection to bulk-billing services that has me frothing.
Investing in better healthcare for women, with a focus on menopause treatment, comes at a good time for us. And yes, tax cuts and an extra $150 off our electricity bill indeed sends a message that those boomer politicians can sense our suffering as we struggle under the weight of unfulfilled adulthood and a cost-of-living crisis.
But those savings won’t put much of a dent in our enormous mortgages or soaring rental payments.
What’s really needed is ambitious policy to fix the housing crisis – expanding the Help to Buy scheme is promising, but how about building more three-bedroom apartments and getting rid of negative gearing?
Oh and “putting schools on the path to full and fair funding’’ sounds nice but the public schools near me need more than that so that our kids can look forward to the same opportunities, no matter how much their grandparents have saved. – Hannah Parkes
Generation X
I scraped into the gen X cohort by a few weeks – so I don’t feel totally representative of the broader generation that stretches, depending on definition, from about 1980 to 1965. Many of the concerns I have are shared with millennials: housing affordability, education funding, health and cost of living.
Like many of my generation I have school-age children, so it’s good to see additional budget funding via state-federal agreements.
Also, increased funding for the social safety net via Medicare, the NDIS and PBS are all welcome but it’s disappointing that the government has again failed to increase the jobseeker rate, which remains woefully inadequate for any age group.
Most gen-Xers are in the most expensive part of their lives with mortgages and children, so tax cuts come in handy. Over the past decade or two, the overall tax burden is increasingly being loaded on to younger working generations (gen X, Y and Z) through income tax.
There’s not a lot for housing affordability in the budget. Banning foreign buyers from buying existing homes is not really new and makes little difference in the scheme of things. Similarly, there’s very little on climate and the environment in this budget, something important for gen-Xers who want to see their children inherit a liveable planet.
One thing that separates gen X from gen Z is that I do like to sometimes crack open a beer rather than drink a turmeric latte after run club. Fortunately, I’ve been given a tax reprieve, with the excise on beer being paused for the next four years. I’ll drink to that. – Patrick Keneally
Boomer
Other generations can be quite mean about boomers’ economic advantages, which is understandable. But the downside is, we are now getting quite old, and so the health and aged care provisions in the budget loom ever larger.
The previously announced spending to limit the price of medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to no more than $25 a script will disproportionately benefit older Australians. They will also want to take advantage of more opportunities to visit a bulk-billing GP, and seniors and pensioners are among those targeted by the 4.7% increase to the Medicare levy for low-income thresholds.
Those of us at the younger end of the boomer spectrum may not want to think about later stages of life just yet, but $2.6bn spent on pay rises for aged care nurses feels like money well spent.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, we don’t just think about ourselves (and of course not all boomers are lucky enough to be property owners). If the support for renters and proposals to help would-be first home buyers into the property market have some effect, we will all be better off.
There is one smaller investment that seems to have boomers written all over it – $6.7m to extend the operation of the National Anti-Scam Centre. I can’t help feeling that won’t be nearly enough. – Mike Ticher
