Budget 2018: Unis get a research boost but students locked out of budget
As the chaos of budget night reached its climax (and parliamentary parties full swing), Olympia Maselos was doing some celebrating of her own.
The Canberra student had just turned 22. But, looking through the "presents" from the Treasurer this year, Ms Maselos confessed she was feeling forgotten about.
While the budget contained a new boost to research at universities, it had next to nothing set aside for its students or the vocational education sector.
Still living at home and struggling to find a job, Ms Maselos said she felt young people had been "deliberately neglected" in the budget.
She was pleased to see a substantial funding injection for mental health services nationally, but said the cost of being a student continued to climb, leaving many living below the poverty line.
"I think that warrants a response," she said.
"A lot of people are questioning at what point does [studying] become not worth it.
"As for affordable housing, I've invested in a good tent from Kathmandu."
Some of the few measures in the budget for the higher education sector include easier access to Youth Allowance for regional students, who will now have a lighter parental income test, and $1.9 billion over the next 12 years for a new National Research Infrastructure Investment Plan.
Research block grants were also renewed at the same level as 2017, $1.9 billion.
Ms Maselos said she was suspicious that student journalists had been shut out of the budget lock-up on Tuesday for the second year in a row.
While a Treasury spokeswoman cited "space restrictions" as the reason for the decision, university papers, including the ANU's Woroni, accused the government of trying to avoid scrutiny of its higher education policy.
The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, which had been given a spot at the lock-up for the past decade, was also denied space this year.
Chair of the coalition Katie Acheson said, while the overall budget position was improving, conditions for young people were getting worse.
"There's been a systemic removal of young voices in policy in the past few years, we lost a minister for youth and lots of great youth employment programs, we were de-funded as a coalition," chair Kate Acheson said.
"They seem to think shutting young people out of the room will silence them. Youth unemployment isn't going down, we're seeing record low housing affordability and spikes in youth homelessness. The longer these issues are ignored, the worse they'll become.
"Investing in jobs for young people today will ensure we can continue to pay for our aging population. Instead the government is trying to buy off the middle class with an extra $10 a week."