Policy advocacy

The South Australian Government develops policies and legislation on an ongoing basis, many of which have an impact, directly or indirectly, on young people's lives. One of YACSA's roles is to provide advice on policy and legislation that affects young South Australians, on behalf of its membership. 

 

There are a number of ways in which YACSA carries out policy advocacy: through our yearly submission to the South Australian Government regarding the State Budget; through our policy platform, ( 316Kb) which outlines YACSA's position on many issues affecting young people and the youth sector; through media releases and through submissions and responses to Government consultation processes.

 

The YACSA Policy Platform is also downloadable here as separate pdfs covering the 32 policy platforms grouped under 7 areas.

 

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Policy support for members

 

YACSA’s Policy Officer is available to assist members with finding information or statistics related to youth affairs.  Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your information requirements, or to determine if you are a member. 

 

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FEDERAL BUDGET 2009

Some of the highlights for the youth sector of this year's Federal Budget are:

• Compact with young Australians ($277m over 4 years)

• Paid parental leave ($731m over 5 years)

• Funding to boost public hospitals ($64b over 5 years), enhancing rural health ($134m over 4 years) and an infrastructure boost to hospitals ($3.2b over 4 years) offset by means testing the Private Health Insurance Rebate (-$1.9b over 3 years)

• Nation Building Plan for the Future ($22b over 4 years) and a Clean Energy Initiative ($3.5b over 4 years)

• An increase in pensions ($14.2b over 4 years) and Youth Allowance Reforms (although the reforms will save $66m in 2009-10)

• Funding for a national partnership with schools ($2.59b over 4 years) and increased funding to universities ($1.3b in 2009-10)

• Compact with retrenched workers ($438m over 4 years) and a temporary training supplement ($52b in 2009-10)

Interested in finding out more?

Jennifer Duncan, Executive Director of YACSA, has prepared notes on the federal budget 2009. They can be found here ( 108Kb).

 

For those with an interest in a more extensive briefing, you can visit here to download the pdf of SACOSS’s “2009-10 Federal Budget Snapshot” and go to the ACOSS website here for a federal perspective on the budget.

 

Government sources:

Try the source www.budget.gov.au.