It is just another divide and control policy from a PM who lies about wanting "social cohesion". The differences between generations are just the same as they have always been - up to now. Albanese will make them much worse, as he has made everything in Australia worse.

Scott invokes the Ghost of Christmas Past, Harold Macmillan an old conservative hack, born in the 19th century, and we celebrate the 40th anniversary of dear old Harold's demise this year. In the 1950's Harold believed the Poms, "never had it so good", I suppose he was right as only a few short years beforehand they were being bombed out of existence in yet another capitalist war. They had it so good that 3 million of the buggers left the joint post war, never to return. 1.5 million ended up welcomed to Australia as 10 pound Poms, good on em'. Like a true blue blooded conservative Harold believed if the worker had a crust of bread, providing it wasn't mouldy, then he never had it so good. Enough about Old Harold.

Why do conservatives believe life is not meant to be easy, well for the lower classes that is, not applying that to themselves of course. Scott claims that; "young people today from when they are born, start school, attend university in increasing numbers, leave home, form relationships, and enter the workforce, enjoy living standards, benefits, personal freedom, and independence greater than any previous generation." If we can improve the lives of our children, and in turn the lives of our grandchildren then so it should be. The claim that tackling Intergenerational inequity will create bad karma for future generations is a nonsense attempt to maintain the status quo of bias privilege for the rich of today, at the expense of those deserving of a better future tomorrow, our very own children and grandchildren!

Don't agree Scott.

Both sides are struggling for concrete ideas as Aust's golden days are over.

That is the first reality that any fair dinkum commentator should acknowledge.

Lets see what the centre-right parties come up with, but merely accusing Labor of populism through the young vote is complete rubbish imo

Hi Paul,

" I suppose he was right as only a few short years beforehand they were being bombed out of existence in yet another capitalist war. "

How was WWII a capitalist war?

Chris

"Aust's golden days are over"

I've been reading about life in rural Scotland in the 1930s. Even days under Magoo are comparatively golden. Such pessimism. What about the renewable energy superpower stuff? Don't you buy into the halfwit hype? The historical trend is for improvement provided you don't have too many decisions being made by idiots and grifters.

Yes, living standards are higher now than in the past, and have mostly risen steadily since the industrial revolution, with some temporary shocks due to wars and recessions. And quality of life more broadly has improved – we are healthier, more educated and live longer than previous generations.

But in two respects the argument that younger generations have it tough has merit. Housing affordability is a real concern, with far more young Australians unable to afford to buy their first home than in the past. This has important implications not just for the nature of their accommodation but for their security, lifetime wealth accumulation and sense of home.

And though living standards are higher than 20 or 40 years ago, they fell sharply during the pandemic and have since stagnated. Real wages are lower than they were 15 years ago. Real household disposable income is less than it was 10 years ago – one of the worst performances in the OECD. And with poor productivity and the housing stock failing to keep pace with population growth, there is little prospect of a return to the old “normal” of most young people having a reasonable expectation that they will own their own home and enjoy real growth in living standards over their working lives.

This week’s budget will do little to address the underlying problems, and framing the problem as boomer privilege vs gen Z victimhood is wrong. Young people have been let down by politicians and policymakers, not their parents and grandparents.

Fester, me bad with choice of words.

What I meant is Aust's days of easy policy choices are over.

At least Howard govt, whether you liked it or not, had the good sense to bring down public debt in relatively good times.

Chris, I am pleased that you have not lost hope for a better future. Optimism is a good thing, although I sometimes expect the worst so that I might feel relieved with a better than expected outcome.

We don't teach young how to succeed.
By the time they start high school many are already on a path to failure.

Public schools teach kids how to become renters and employees.
Private schools teach kids how to become landlords and employers, Parents of those kids don't want them cleaning toilets and emptying bins.

But they're all rats in a cage, slave to a system.
We don't teach our kids to become entrepreneurs.

You could literally start your own empire and become your own boss at age 13 for under $10 with knowledge and determination to do so.

$10, buy a bucket, some chux, some windex and a cake mix.
Bake the cake, cut it into pieces, go door to door selling the cake and ask if you can clean windows.
One small bit of work earning $100 and you could buy a $50 vacuum cleaner, a mop, and a duster.
Do a little more work and buy a cheap mower, whipper snipper and long handle pruners.

Now you're 13 years old and you have 2 business, one home cleaning and another lawn services.
You get almost $100 to mow a lawn these days.

These jobs you get paid by task, so you won't get low wages just because you're a kid so you skip junior wages.

Keep using your money to make more money.
If you live near the beach, buy a $250 metal detector and go hunting for watches and jewelry.

Buy a couple of trailers, and hire them out.

Learn to have you fingers in all the pies, concentrate on teaching them how to buy a house the easiest way, like get a home deposit by 18 and let your friends and co-workers rent and pay it off for you.

Start a business, a coffee shop or something.
If you do everythng right, you might make 4k on weekdays and 5k on weekends if it's in the right location.
It might cost you 12k a week to run with rents, cafe supplies, wages, electricity, insurance, but you might make nearly 30K a week.

You're 18, your friends and co-workers are paying your house off for you, and you're making 10k a week.
Do we teach kids this? No.

An entrepreneur makes their own opportunities.

We don't teach our kids to be smart.
They don't even know what to do when they finish school.
All they want to do is hang out with friends and spend money, and it's not until they're in mid 20's that a few might start thinking about a house (when they already have a partner, and kids) or starting their own businesses.

Seriously, a 13 year old could learn just one computer program and a bit off CSS which they probably already teach them in high school.

Learn how to set up shopify and square websites, and how to set-up POS and configure shipping for online sales
You could make $100 an hour or $1000 for building an entire website in 2 school nights.
http://www.shopify.com/au

They even give kids an easy way to learn it.

"In Australia, students can access a special Shopify student offer providing four free months to build their store, followed by a $1/month fee for the next three months to start selling. This offer is designed for students at qualified institutions, allowing ample time to develop a business, with verification typically through a school email address."

Buy a laser cutter maxhine.
http://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/vevorstore-vevor-laser-engraver-laser-engraving-machine-10w-compressed-spot-eye-protection-jywrdififcjibwhpyu2/
Use it to make drink coasters.
Start will brand name alcohol coasters.
Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Bundy Rum.
Contact local pubs and cafes and see if they want some coasters made, with their brand logo. Buy some felt and some spray adhesive.

Buy a pressure washer, $100 Bunnings.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-1800w-2030psi-high-pressure-washer_p0254158
Clean wheelie bins, concrete driveways and pathways and housewashes.

Spend some of the savings buying $2 coins from the bank, and look for the more valuable ones, not only will it add to your income, but for the rest of your life ou'll know which ones are the valuable ones, if ever you come across them.

Buy a piece of land, start with a old caravan and a 2 car garage.
Put in solar panels and solar battery.

Put shipping containers on your property and rent them out for storage for extra income
Knock some star pickets in and lease it to the local cattle farmer or rent it out for horse agistment.
Find out what plants are valuable or sought after in local restaurants and build a greenhouse.
Put some of these cheap new portable homes on your property.
http://www.comfycontainerhomes.com.au/products/container-house-kit-flat-packed-ready-for-diy-assembly-copy-1
Do a bit of landscaping set up an undercover area between them with lounge, tiki bar, spa, bbq.and get $250 night each.
Make it nice and rent it out as a venue for weddings.

There's a million things you could do, endless opportunities.
Do we really inspire them, do we teach kids what to do, how to really get ahead?

- Not really.

God almighty, that snotty nosed kid I employed this morning to clean up my front garden.... he's just whipper-snipped the heads of my prized petunias! 5 years of careful nurturing, oh, my prized petunias gone with one foul swipe by a kid with a whipper-snipper. My hard work, its all gone down the drain. Oh no, now he's set the kitchen on fire, claiming he was going to bake me a cake!

The young are neglected, it's as simple as that ! Neglected by online game providers (criminals really), Media (also bordering on criminal), Education (criminal neglect), Justice (criminal leniency), TV programmers (criminal idiocy), Music industry (criminal mindlessness), Immigration (criminal facilitating), Taxation (criminal incompetence), Bureaucracy (criminal incompetence) etc etc.
Social engineering in Universities is responsible for the bulk of ineptness !
Bring back National Service to stop the rot !

Hi Paul,
Yes, the young lad got a little bit carried away.
One minute he was concentrating on the edging,
Next minute he was waving the whipper snipper around like a bo staff.
His mind wanders off that boy, he thought he was a ninja turtle...

He's not really all that bright, but at least he has a go.
He said he's really sorry about your petunias, but I think he's more worried about you putting the ring doorbell footage up on TikTok.

Hi AC,

Yeah you're right, we have to give the young people a go.

As me and the lad sat in the gutter outside the smouldering ashes that was once my house, I said; "Nice chocolate cake." He said; "It vanilla, hope you don't mind the burnt bits.... Do you want me to vacuum this week... I'll do it for 10 bucks?" I said; "Nah, you've done enough this week, maybe next time."

Well, what chance can there be for the young with role models like Paul1405 ?