Interview with Isaac Mulcrone, Youth Jam

Topics: Youth funding cuts, AYAC, youth consultation, Budget impacts on youth.

E&OE…

ISAAC MULCRONE

I want to chat and get the reaction of Angie Bell, who is the Shadow Minister for Youth here in Australia. Angie Bell, good morning to you. Thank you for your time.

ANGIE BELL

Good morning, Isaac. Great to be with you and your listeners.

ISAAC MULCRONE

Good to have you. The Albanese Government says they are all about engaging with young people, yet they have defunded the peak body for youth, you must be pretty outraged by this.

ANGIE BELL

Well, I think that is absolutely right. AYAC is Australia’s only independent national peak body that represents you, the young people of Australia. And I’ve been meeting with them for over four years now that I’ve been the Shadow Minister for Youth. And the government, disappointingly, has pulled their funding, so that really does minimise the voice that you, young Australians, have here in Canberra to raise your concerns with the government.

ISAAC MULCRONE

Have you been in touch with AYAC since this all happened to help find a solution? I know they’re looking for different grants and applying for as many as possible. Have you been in touch with them to try and find some sort of solution.

ANGIE BELL

Certainly. I met with AYAC last week here in my office in Canberra, and I’ll continue to do so. They are a wonderful organisation that have had a very strong voice to the government on the matters that you care about the most. And interestingly Isaac, when we had our Senate Estimates a few weeks ago, we asked the Office for Youth, whether they had engaged with young people about the recent tax changes that will affect you all, and the answer was no. They hadn’t even asked any of their bodies, and that is the Office for Youth, the Youth Advisory Groups, the National Youth Summit, or Youth Meets Parliament. They had only engaged with young people on the topics that they wanted to talk about, which was climate change, mental health, and foreign policy. So it’s interesting that the government says that they’re in your corner for young people, but at the same time, not allowing you to have a voice on the things that matter most.

ISAAC MULCRONE

It is interesting because you speak to young people on the streets and they have perspectives on different things at a government level, and they feel like they’re not being heard, despite Mr Albanese saying repeatedly he’s all about young people and wants to hear from them. If you could give a score out of 10 for the Federal Government’s engagement with young people, what would you give them?

ANGIE BELL

Well, I would say they’re always after the headline, and actually it’s all about spin, so I would give them a very low grade. What I would say is we need to listen to young people on the things that matter most to them. And what young people are telling me is they want to talk about cost of living, housing, and the economy. And some young people, of course, are saving small amounts of money for some crypto or some shares, and now they’ll be taxed higher by the government on those very small amounts of money than they wouldv’e been taxed before, so it makes it harder for young people to get ahead, and I don’t think that’s right, Isaac.

ISAAC MULCRONE

Just, just to press you, what is that score out of 10?

ANGIE BELL

I’ll give them a big fat zero.

ISAAC MULCRONE

You know what, I saw that coming a mile off.

ANGIE BELL

Well, what else am I going to say? Really,

ISAAC MULCRONE

Yeah, it’s a very good point, very good point indeed. Angie Bell, thank you for your time, this morning. We appreciate it.

ANGIE BELL

Thank you so much Western Australia,

ISAAC MULCRONE

Our pleasure Angie.