Generational politics of the future

Growing youth unemployment and Joe Hockey's sensible comments on the need for serious action to protect the Australian lifestyle help bring to the fore a key political issue.

Generational pressure is building and could become the driver of future political action. Realist young citizens see specific problems and possible solutions, while most political leaders avoid big issues or babble about theoretical solutions based on market fundamentalism.

Meanwhile, young people are being exploited in every conceivable way by older people. They have to pay full price for many things while subsidising 'seniors', including very wealthy people. They are saddled with big debts for their education while their elders have none. They get crappy underpaid jobs, if they are lucky, while people at the top get ridiculously high salaries for very little achievement.

Many are encouraged to waste years at university to get qualifications that will not result in a job or enlightenment, all for the benefit of the education establishment. For even simple tasks expensive courses must be undertaken as credentialism runs wild.

Buying a decent house is out of the question for many because governments enact policies aimed at pushing home prices ever higher to keep existing owners happy. Negative gearing advantages investors, forcing more young people to keep renting.

Shareholders are advantaged over employees in access to corporate revenues, and so again the young lose out.

Kids with well-off parents are led to hope they will inherit so it will all be OK. But their parents live into the nineties and spend most of it before finally departing.

All young people subsidize the pensions, health care and the untaxed ownership of the family home and other high-value assets of old people. But by the time they are eligible to take up such benefits themselves, the subsidies will have been abolished as unaffordable.

Both major political parties hold the moral line of the few powerful old religious types who dominate their power structures. The values of young people don't count because they do not decide pre-selections for winnable seats.

And that is the simple stuff. Governments refuse to take action on issues ranging from resource depletion, the environment, rapid population growth and low infrastructure spending. Paying now to prepare for a better future will only benefit the young and is too hard for simple minds to sell. It's so much easier to give vote-buying handouts to people for their support now.

Unless real action happens soon the cost of adapting to the new realities will be much higher, and guess who will be left with the bills?

When people under thirty finally wake up that their present and future are being sacrificed for the benefit of people who have had a relatively easy ride all their lives perhaps they will take action. But why have they done nothing so far?

Perhaps it's because they are thoroughly brainwashed by old-peoples' media, or they are too stressed and busy trying to stay sane and afloat in a tough world. Perhaps they focus so much on short-term pleasures because the longer-term realities are too grim to face.

For those young people who have attempted political engagement there has been another range of horror to confront. The Greens expect them to get emotive about the ideals of the old left that has taken over the party. Rational concern for new environmental realities has faded into the background. Now it's all about asylum seekers, whales and supporting the worst of the union movement.

The ALP expects belief in whatever the current leader thinks at that particular moment, which in turn will be decided by the latest polling or by big donors, which often means the beliefs of a few old and deeply conservative union leaders. The Liberals demand total faith in the idea that now they are in power nothing much needs to change, except of course the removal of any protection of working conditions, particularly for young workers.

The Whitlam and Hawke, and even Frazer, governments were elected with the drive of many young members and aimed to win young voters. But the stakes are much higher now and the existing quality of leadership much lower. Parties that once welcomed youthful enthusiasm now do their best to repel it. The conflict with current short-term pragmatism is too great.

Maybe a revolt will happen when the great crunch comes and young people see their futures declining even further, with job prospects crashing and government support cut. Perhaps they will then impose some realism on the national politics. There are plenty of things that need doing immediately, and ways to save money. There are popular policies currently ignored because they upset old vested interests. There are new means of communication that could make it all happen quickly. Hopefully there are people willing to take on the very real challenges of power.

In these turbulent times, full of opportunity for better lives, and of waves of crisis, there are many very big decisions to be made over the next decade. The younger people are, the greater their interest in seeing real action happen quickly.

People of all ages who want the best of Australia to survive will cheer on young realists as they make the changes necessary for prosperity and real citizenship in a very different world.