Fed: Youth report highlights GST, refugees

00-00-0000
Fed: Youth report highlights GST, refugees

By Charisse Ede

MELBOURNE, April 12 AAP - Australian youth would remove the GST, change the refugeeintake and fix poverty if they were prime minister for a day, according to a Labor Partyreport launched today.

Most young Australians also were more interested in sport than politics and their greatestworry was school work, the report said.

The report, A Snapshot of Youth 2002, was compiled from a Labor Party survey of 2,000young Australians.

The young people were asked to state their main interests and worries, what they enjoyeddoing the most and what they would do if they were Prime Minister for a day.

In keeping with Australia's sporting image, most respondents nominated sport as boththeir main interest and their greatest enjoyment.

But almost a third of people said schoolwork was their biggest worry, followed by theirfamilies and parents, and crime and safety issues.

Abolishing the GST was the stand-out response to being prime minister for a day, withalmost nine per cent nominating it as the first thing they would do.

On another topical issue, some said they would increase Australia's refugee intake,while a smaller number said they would reduce it or expel the refugees.

"I would build more skate parks and bike jumps and since I've taken John Howard's jobI would send him to Afghanistan and he would not be allowed to enter the country," an11-year-old Victorian boy told the survey.

A 16-year-old Western Australian boy said: "I would make the world a more safer placeto live in and no violence to continue in the world and get Osama!".

Labor spokeswoman for children and youth, Nicola Roxon, said the report's findingswould be used to develop the party's federal policies.

Ms Roxon made a number of recommendations for specific party policies, including reassessingthe financial pressures on young people.

She said Labor must examine the adequacy and eligibility of the youth allowance, particularlythe independence test, youth wages and the impact of the GST.

"Given the heavy interest in sport and the identification of the need for further facilities,Labor needs to investigate a proactive role in this area," she said.

The report was launched at the Scienceworks museum in Melbourne as part of National Youth Week.

Labor leader Simon Crean said the survey was a good way for young people to get theirviews across to politicians.

AAP ce/clr/

KEYWORD: YOUTH LABOR