The economic squeeze hitting young Australians, many of whom are turning to One Nation. By Robert Gottliebsen in The Australian.
A great many normally affluent parents have seen the price of their dwellings in the $1.5m to $10m range fall by more than 20 per cent. They are ahead in their mortgage payment requirements, but the house price fall impacts confidence. …
If the children want to maintain spending, they will need to use more of their spare time working in casual jobs. …
Almost all enterprises in 2025–26 suffered an increase of about 10 per cent in business operating costs. Hiring freezes have spread around the business community. That means that it’s harder to get part-time work for young people, and the ACTU wants their pay rates increased, which will savage jobs.
And then, as we move up the age scale to post-university-degree young people, it has become very fashionable to save money with part-time work, augment it with some family cash, and head off overseas to enjoy life.
They then come home with no money but in the past, they could return and easily top up with casual work while spending time selecting the best organisation to start a career. Those post-university jobs are now harder to find.
Hiring freezes, as a result of cost rises and technology change, extend to new recruits, and while there is some hiring, it is restricted.
And so, after the freedoms of living overseas, young people are forced to live with their parents. They can’t easily leave because Chalmers has taken actions to boost already high rents much further. …
Those returning from travels in 2026 will be wondering whether Mum and Dad will be prepared to stump up future guarantees for their younger children, particularly if the parental dwelling is being used as capital for the family business.
Today’s younger generation is about to be taught a lesson that was not experienced by their parents. It was their grandparents who experienced tough times and falling property prices.
Most in the younger generation and their parents have tended to downgrade the importance of which party they vote into government.
It remains to be seen whether the current experience of the younger generation impacts their voting patterns, but from the opinion polls, it seems they are swinging to One Nation.
High immigration is making their situations worse, and it’s easy to understand — lower wages due to competition, higher rent and house prices, higher crime, and loss of culture.