STREET TALK

You are meant to feel guilty today. Because, the word of the day is ‘homeless’. The number of homeless teenagers on our streets. The newspapers are full of it following the release of the National Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homeless – which is hardly English but that’s not the point.

There are 22,000 teenagers who are homeless. Living on the streets. Living in squats. Sleeping in parks. And we are told ominously that figure has doubled in the past twenty years.

Well, that’s 22,000 presumably from all over the country and the population has gone up a bit in the past twenty years. And if I sound a bit callous and not totally sympathetic it is because of the mixed messages  coming out of all this.

Take the Herald Sun today for example. The Salvation Army’s Major David Eldridge, who chairs the Commission, has written a feature about youth homelessness. He says:
‘ Some Australians view young homeless people with suspicion and even fear—the aggressive beggar on the street, the young ‘dole bludger’, ‘street kids’ stealing or prostituting themselves for drugs. These images often find their way into media reports. They do not accurately reflect the complexity or tragedy of  the real-life experiences of homeless young people’.

They don’t? Maybe Major you should read Page Eight of the same edition of today’s newspaper.

Annilise Walliker spent a night on the streets with the Salvos. One of the youths she interviewed was Austin who calls himself ‘an aspiring actor’.

He says ‘When I first started having to rob people I felt really guilty, but now it’s just something I have to do to survive. People don’t even look at us when we ask for money. They think they are better than us. We’re people too. We need money to eat and live.  We just can’t get it as easy as they can’.

I guess working for a living is easier than just stealing money from other people.

Austin’s mate Jimbo is on bail for armed robbery and another one they call ‘Scarface’ thinks hold ups are fun on quiet nights. He says ‘It’s like  ‘What are we doing tonight boys? Let’s make some money’.

In all the stories nobody seems to talk about even wanting a job, let aline trying to get one. In The Australian 19-year-old Darren King says he has the same dreams as other Australians: home, car and family’. No job mentioned to acquire tat. Maybe he’s hanging out for a bit of the $1 billion a year for the next ten years that the Youth Commission wants from the taxpayer.

What missing from all these sob stories is the harsh fact that many of these teenagers left home at 14 or fifteen because they couldn’t stand the rules or disciplines imposed by their parents. Some, sure, came from broken homes and some ran to avoid physical and sexual abuse.

But one group not mentioned, who should share any blame, are the do-gooders and civil rights activists in Government departments who encouraged kids not happy at home to exert their legal rights at 14 and leave. Even told them how to apply for benefits for no work.

Great start to a life isn’t it?

Tuesday, April 8, 2008You are meant to feel guilty today. Because, the word of the day is ‘homeless’. The number of homeless teenagers on our streets. The newspapers are full of it following the release of the National Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homeless – which is hardly English but that’s not the point.

There are 22,000 teenagers who are homeless. Living on the streets. Living in squats. Sleeping in parks. And we are told ominously that figure has doubled in the past twenty years.

Well, that’s 22,000 presumably from all over the country and the population has gone up a bit in the past twenty years. And if I sound a bit callous and not totally sympathetic it is because of the mixed messages  coming out of all this.

Take the Herald Sun today for example. The Salvation Army’s Major David Eldridge, who chairs the Commission, has written a feature about youth homelessness. He says:
‘ Some Australians view young homeless people with suspicion and even fear—the aggressive beggar on the street, the young ‘dole bludger’, ‘street kids’ stealing or prostituting themselves for drugs. These images often find their way into media reports. They do not accurately reflect the complexity or tragedy of  the real-life experiences of homeless young people’.

They don’t? Maybe Major you should read Page Eight of the same edition of today’s newspaper.

Annilise Walliker spent a night on the streets with the Salvos. One of the youths she interviewed was Austin who calls himself ‘an aspiring actor’.

He says ‘When I first started having to rob people I felt really guilty, but now it’s just something I have to do to survive. People don’t even look at us when we ask for money. They think they are better than us. We’re people too. We need money to eat and live.  We just can’t get it as easy as they can’.

I guess working for a living is easier than just stealing money from other people.

Austin’s mate Jimbo is on bail for armed robbery and another one they call ‘Scarface’ thinks hold ups are fun on quiet nights. He says ‘It’s like  ‘What are we doing tonight boys? Let’s make some money’.

In all the stories nobody seems to talk about even wanting a job, let aline trying to get one. In The Australian 19-year-old Darren King says he has the same dreams as other Australians: home, car and family’. No job mentioned to acquire tat. Maybe he’s hanging out for a bit of the $1 billion a year for the next ten years that the Youth Commission wants from the taxpayer.

What missing from all these sob stories is the harsh fact that many of these teenagers left home at 14 or fifteen because they couldn’t stand the rules or disciplines imposed by their parents. Some, sure, came from broken homes and some ran to avoid physical and sexual abuse.

But one group not mentioned, who should share any blame, are the do-gooders and civil rights activists in Government departments who encouraged kids not happy at home to exert their legal rights at 14 and leave. Even told them how to apply for benefits for no work.

Great start to a life isn’t it?

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008