Glebe Youth Service Submission to the
Federal Government's Review of Military Policy

The Glebe Youth Service has as its aim to serve the needs of 'at risk' youth in the inner city of Sydney. We are in the privileged position to see the results of various Government policies on the social fabric of this country's biggest city.

We, for example provide 30 meals a day in Glebe in the midst of one of the best-known café districts in the city. We see at first hand family disintegration, drug abuse and various symptoms of the disregard of the youth needs in this city. We see a law system, which has draconian anti-youth component and encourages punitive rather than positive approaches to solving youth issues.

We know that the Federal Government is running down education, which is the most necessary service for the young in this society not just in Glebe, but across the country. We also know that the Government is 15 th in spending on education in OECD countries. This is out of 17! We know from other studies that we are one, if not the richest country in the world. We also know we are 9 th in OECD country in levels of youth poverty, with 1 in 8 in danger of being homeless.

The Glebe Youth Service runs at a deficit of $30,000 per year and is under staffed by at least one full time worker. We have been trying to put together the renovations for a youth centre valued at $400,000 for over 5 years. In other words we are poorly equipped with inadequate funding for a youth situation which is very serious. The young of Glebe and the country received a double whammy by being under valued in society because of their income level and their services are being run down.

The prospect of doubling spending on military equipment to over $20 billion will mean that other agencies will have to have their budgets cut to find the money for this massive expenditure. Military equipment does not automatically bring security. Security is a much wider concept that includes the social fabric of society. A country's security depends also on its care for all its citizens. If citizens do not feel valued and their potential realised there will be little to fight for and we see at first hand the disillusionment of youth.

Instead we say decrease military spending and spend more on social needs such as education and youth services.