Mission Australia Survey

The Youth Survey 2023 is now open. Now in its 22nd year, it's the largest online survey of its kind in Australia and provides an important annual snapshot into the experiences and views of young people aged 15-19.

Take the survey, or share it with a young person so that their views are heard. 

Open from March – August.

Be Part of History

 

A world-first study tracking the health and wellbeing of Victorians, from birth to old age, has delivered a recruitment milestone of more than 90,000 participants. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s GenV, one of the world’s largest-ever birth and parent cohort studies, has seen 35,000 babies (90,000 newborns, mothers and fathers) sign up. GenV is recruiting across every birthing hospital in Victoria.

GenV Scientific Director Professor Melissa Wake
GenV family: mother Saada, son Ali, baby Mya, Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas

GenV Scientific Director Professor Melissa Wake said the project aimed to better understand and treat the causes of modern health problems such as obesity, asthma, autism, food allergies and mental illness. “Families that take part in GenV will make a difference to the future health of generations to come,” she said. GenV aims to help solve the complex problems facing children and adults and provide the opportunity to better predict, treat and prevent many different conditions. “Even in its start-up recruitment stage, GenV is already meeting this goal at a speed and scale that might not otherwise have been possible. Collaborators are already testing out new screens that could detect infections and syndromes in the newborn period, providing data on the long-term safety of vaccines in pregnancy and supporting a new registry for children born with hip problems.”

Every baby born from October 4, 2021 to October 3, 2023 is invited to join, along with their parents, no matter where they live in Victoria or what language they speak. Participants can sign up to the study in person during their birthing hospital stay or at any time thereafter via a simple, guided online process.

The recruitment team has recorded 70 languages, including Auslan, during the opt-in process. More than 6700 families in GenV do not primarily speak English at home.

Thrive by Five from Jay Weatherill, Director

Up to 101,620 women would join or rejoin the workforce if the Childcare Activity Test was abolished - and our economy would get a $4.4 billion boost! These are just some of the incredible findings of a report by Impact Economics and Policy that was recently released. The report shows that the Activity Test is preventing parents, usually mothers, from joining or rejoining the workforce, and makes one thing very clear; it’s time for this confusing and complicated “test” to be abolished. I’ve heard stories from mums who would like to return to work or work more days but can’t, from parents who wish their child could have more days in early learning but don’t qualify for the subsidies needed to make it affordable, from families who are fearful of inadvertently running up a debt with Centrelink when their hours at work change. The Activity Test is a major barrier to families accessing early learning – in fact, its contributing to 126,000 children missing out on critical early childhood education and care, including single parent families – who are 3 times more likely to have children limited to 1 day a week of early learning and childcare. Parents have to update their activity regularly with Centrelink to ensure they are not overpaid – a nightmare for busy parents with changeable hours. The Activity Test actually discourages people from finding work.


As the new report shows, scrapping the test will benefit women, families, the economy and most importantly, children. That’s why I want to hear from you. Because while facts and statistics are critically important for making the case to scrap to the Activity Test, it is real stories from real people that change hearts and minds. Will you take a moment to share your story about how the Activity Test is affecting you or your family? Click here to tell us now.

Adviser Robyn Byrne OAM

This is a report on the meeting I went to with Minister Ged Kearney about the issues single women are facing in housing, income and what happens when you have an operation and go home to no home support. Minister Kearney is in the process of establishing a reference group — with Ward as its chair — to meet regularly and capture perspectives, from different demographics, on being an older single woman.

Donna Ward says there's a 'singlehood penalty' for women like her. Australia-first research backs her up.

Ms Donna Ward shared her experience at a Melbourne meeting hosted by Ged Kearney, the federal assistant minister for health and aged care, to discuss the challenges faced by single older women without children. Ms Ward says "the air was wet with emotion" at the meeting, with some women reporting to her after that they were hearing their experience being publicly articulated for the first time. At 68 years and single, Donna attracts a lot of assumptions.

People around her tend to assume, for example, that she's separated or divorced (she's not), has grown children (she doesn't) and that a single income easily covers the cost of single living (it doesn't). Ms Ward feels that the social and financial implications of being an older single person are not seen, and they're not discussed. There's "a distinct prejudice" against single, older women, she argues. She calls it the "singlehood penalty". "We're living in an economy now that depends on two incomes to maintain a roof over your head, food on your table, clothes on your back," she tells ABC RN's Life Matters.

"We don't have the ability to reveal this life so that people's assumptions can change … so people can understand what this life is like … So that we can be seen and embraced as part of the Australian society."

Single women are 'squeezed from both angles’ as both employers and families viewed them as more flexible with their time. ‘Women who live alone aren't rare. Roughly 16% of Australian women currently live in single-person households, and that number is set to grow’ says Dr Myra Hamilton, associate professor at the University of Sydney's Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research. "The projections suggest that roughly one in four women of reproductive age today won't have children," she says.

Dr Hamilton also says there are big misconceptions about older single women in Australia, one is that they must have enjoyed uninterrupted careers because they don't have children. But 2020 research she led into older single women without children contradicts this. Of the 45 single older women Dr Hamilton interviewed, two-thirds had experienced extended career interruption — often because of caring responsibilities. "Older single women without children are much more likely than any other group to do the caring for an older relative, or a relative with a disability or chronic illness," Dr Hamilton says. The research also showed that employers see single older women as more available and expected more from them at work, being asked to stay late, than they did of parents with children.

Housing for single older women emerged as a huge issue among those in Dr Hamilton's research. "Older single women are the fastest growing group experiencing homelessness in Australia," she says. "Even those that did own their own homes reported feeling very insecure and precarious because they were on one income. They reported struggling to continue paying rates and strata fees and upkeep to their properties … and [they had] a sense that if something went wrong, without the cushioning effect of a partner, they could very quickly wind up without a home. …They expressed a very strong fear about growing older and not knowing who'd be there to support them in the future," she says. "Many were very worried that they would be forced to move into a residential aged care setting before they were ready."

Ms Ward has written about her experiences in She I Dare Not Name: A Spinster's Meditations on Life. She considers herself financially privileged; but even she has watched her personal wealth diminish in the current cost-of-living crisis and after recent hits to her superannuation as a result of the COVID pandemic. "I just think, 'Oh, my God, if I'm feeling this, what is it like if you're financially vulnerable?" In December last year, issues around single living are, she says, beginning to gain traction. Ms Ward feels that finally discussion about the challenges of single living is beginning, including at the level of federal parliament. "Having a cultural conversation is the only way we're going to change prejudice and misconceptions."