National Service and Youth Development
12-month service for eligible 18-20 year olds with approved civilian and optional defence pathways.
On this page · Service and Youth Development
01
What changes, and what people should notice.
Operational reform
12-month service for eligible 18-20 year olds with approved civilian and optional defence pathways.
What Australians could experience
Paid accredited training, community placements and practical experience.
Intended, conditional improvements — not guaranteed outcomes.
National framework
One consistent set of rules and standards for service and youth development across Australia.
Regional decisions
Schools, training providers and regional employment offices stay accountable to the communities they serve.
Local delivery
Frontline staff and service points remain in communities; duplicated back-office administration is the target, not frontline capacity.
02
Strategy and proposed delivery priorities.
- 1
Establish a public baseline for service and youth development: laws, regulators, service locations, staff, contracts, information assets and spending in every jurisdiction.
- 2
Develop system-specific national standards and safeguards around the specific reform proposed — 12-month service for eligible 18-20 year olds with approved civilian and optional defence pathways — and test it against the stated protections before it is adopted.
- 3
Pilot the model in representative metropolitan, regional and remote settings, with results published before migration is considered.
- 4
Transfer functions only with lawful authority, workforce consultation and verified uninterrupted service; keep frontline delivery regional and local.
Learning & Work group priorities
- Inventory duplicated registrations, licences and credential checks across jurisdictions.
- Design mutual recognition and national registers before any authority is consolidated.
- Protect worker rights, industrial obligations and local autonomy through every stage of transition.
Public register · proposal status, not a delivery claim
Evidence and the next decision gate.
No system-specific evidence bundle is published or verified here. No approval, funding decision, authorised transfer or completed delivery is claimed.
Prerequisites before a design or pilot decision
- 01Earn a federal governing mandate; an election result at another level does not confer national powers.
- 02Publish independent legal advice on constitutional authority, affected laws and any state or territory agreement required before changing institutions or transferring functions.
- 03Establish a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction baseline for National Service and Youth Development, consult affected workers and communities, and publish the lawful options before deciding whether to proceed.
- 04Assess service continuity, regional access, workforce and the stated protections (Constitutional review, conscientious alternatives, accessibility, worker non-displacement) before any authorised design or pilot.
- 05Publish independently reviewable transition and ongoing costs; keep estimates, purchaser effects and gross scenarios separate from verified net savings.
Next decision gate
If a federal governing mandate is earned, publish the National Service and Youth Development baseline, legal options, consultation findings and independently reviewable costs. Only then decide publicly whether to proceed to detailed design or an authorised pilot; no transfer or rollout is implied.
A proposed gate is a condition for a future decision, not evidence that the decision has been made.
Supporting evidence to publish
These are evidence requirements for this proposal, not completed research or verified findings.
Legal and institutional baseline
Map the laws, decision rights, regulators, providers and intergovernmental responsibilities that apply to National Service and Youth Development; identify constitutional questions and any required consent.
Service and outcome baseline
Publish baseline and annual data on access, processing time, safety/quality, regional equity, complaints, gross efficiency, transition spending and verified net financial impact for national service and youth development.
Cost and feasibility assessment
Validate the addressable baseline and these cost drivers — Not a savings-led system: participant pay, supervision, travel and training are major costs. — then publish transition, parallel-running and ongoing costs separately from benefits.
Safeguards and consultation record
Document how the stated protections will be tested (Constitutional review, conscientious alternatives, accessibility, worker non-displacement), who was consulted, and how service continuity and regional equity will be monitored.
Official source starting points
These public bodies may hold relevant baseline material. Links do not mean that evidence has been collected, independently verified, or that any body endorses S38.
Extended policy
Twelve months of paid service, between 18 and 20.
A proposed 12-month universal service requirement to be completed between ages 18 and 20, subject to constitutional and human-rights review. Compulsory implementation must not be presumed legally available.
Civilian stream 1
Environmental restoration
Civilian stream 2
Disaster preparedness
Civilian stream 3
Nonclinical community support
Civilian stream 4
Vocational and infrastructure projects
Optional pathway
Defence-related pathways by choice only
Defence-related service is optional. No participant is directed into a defence pathway.
Participant protections
- Paid allowance or wage, insurance and injury cover
- Safe accommodation, transport and accessible placements
- Independent safeguarding, complaints and appeal rights
- Deferrals for education, health, disability, caring obligations and hardship
- Genuine conscientious and accessible alternatives
- No displacement of ordinary paid employment
- No unqualified participants in clinical, emergency or safeguarding roles
Gate · Begin with voluntary pilots, independent evaluations and parliamentary scrutiny. Any compulsory program requires legal authority, safeguards and an approved funding case.
Four tests before any rollout
Test 1
Direct fiscal requirement
Cohort size × all-in unit cost, plus establishment capital, accommodation, supervision, insurance, safeguarding and transport. Publish annual recurrent spending separately from efficiency claims elsewhere.
Test 2
Economy-wide and social assessment
Include delayed work or tertiary study, foregone earnings, employer and volunteer displacement, accredited-training productivity, disaster resilience and community outcomes. Noncash social outcomes are not Treasury savings without defensible valuation.
Test 3
Legal and rights gate
Assess constitutional power, proportionality, equal treatment, conscientious alternatives, disability access, paid-work protections and independent appeals. Universal implementation is conditional, not an existing legal certainty or entitlement.
Test 4
Independent pilot evaluation
Compare participants with matched nonparticipants on employment, qualifications, health, wellbeing, service quality and long-term public costs. Publish findings before considering compulsory rollout.
Annual direct budget sensitivity — program cost
Adjust a hypothetical cohort and direct unit cost. This is new expenditure, never a saving, and is kept separate from every gross-efficiency scenario.
Hypothetical annual direct cost
$8.75bn
Before establishment, capital, supervision, health, safeguarding and opportunity costs.
Cohort and unit-cost grid
| Cohort / unit | $20k | $35k | $60k |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150k | $3.00bn | $5.25bn | $9.00bn |
| 250k | $5.00bn | $8.75bn | $15.00bn |
| 350k | $7.00bn | $12.25bn | $21.00bn |
Document cost cases
- 200,000 × $25,000$5.00bn / yr
- 250,000 × $35,000$8.75bn / yr
- 300,000 × $45,000$13.50bn / yr
These are hypothetical direct-cost cases, not official population, enrolment or funding estimates. Full establishment, capital, administration, supervision, training, health, safeguarding and indirect economic costs must also be assessed.
Evaluation: Evaluate foregone earnings and study time, wage effects, volunteer displacement, skills credentials, employment transitions, social returns and community outcomes. Count only demonstrated offsets.
03 · proposed, not commenced
Phased rollout.
Years 1–2
Baseline and design
Inventory relevant laws, regulators, service locations, staff, contracts, information assets and expenditures; identify overlaps with adjacent systems; consult affected workers, communities and users.
Years 3–5
Standards and pilots
Develop system-specific national standards, safeguards and secure interoperability; pilot the proposed national service and youth development model in representative metropolitan, regional and remote settings; publish evaluation results.
Years 6–10
Controlled migration
Transfer functions only after required approvals, establish regional delivery capability, migrate records and credentials, train personnel, operate parallel systems where necessary and verify uninterrupted service.
Years 11–30
Improvement
Expand capacity, retire duplicative administration only where demonstrated, modernise platforms, reinvest verified efficiencies and review outcomes at five-year intervals.
04
Cost drivers and financial status.
- proposed systems
- 38
- preliminary illustrative gross scenarios
- 11
- uncosted
- 27
- verified net impact not available
- N/A
Cost drivers · Not a savings-led system: participant pay, supervision, travel and training are major costs.
New expenditure program
This is a recurring expenditure program, not a savings forecast. For illustration only, 250,000 participants at $35,000 annual direct cost each imply $8.75bn per year, before full establishment costs, economic opportunity costs or offsetting benefits. Actual cohort size and unit cost must be established.
Before any estimate is published
- 1.Define the addressable expenditure baseline
- 2.Cost every year of transition
- 3.Estimate ongoing operating costs
- 4.Identify service benefits separately
- 5.Reconcile overlap with other systems
- Illustrative gross
- Modelled potential before costs; not realised or independently audited savings.
- Uncosted
- No defensible savings amount is available.
- Purchaser saving
- A reduction in customer bills that may be offset elsewhere; not automatically a net national gain.
- Program cost
- New expenditure that must be reported separately from efficiency claims.
- Verified net — not available
- Independently audited realised cash savings less all incremental recurring and transition costs. No verified whole-program net amount exists.
05
Protections and risks.
System-specific protections
- Constitutional review
- conscientious alternatives
- accessibility
- worker non-displacement
Risks to monitor
Monitor service disruption, privacy, workforce impacts, unequal regional access and unintended consequences.
Democratic authority
Legally assess and obtain constitutional, referendum and any applicable state-consent approvals before institutional abolition or irreversible transfers.
National standards, regional delivery
Set consistent rights and technical standards nationally, with regional decision-making, accessible service offices and local frontline delivery.
Independent institutions
Protect courts, electoral bodies, integrity agencies, regulators and police oversight from partisan direction.
Uninterrupted public services
Protect emergency services, benefits, licensing, schools and healthcare throughout migration. Dual-running is a cost to plan for, not a reason to put continuity at risk.
Financial integrity
Report cashable savings, noncash efficiencies, transition spending, new operating costs and service outcomes separately. No government-wide net savings claim is established.
Participation and equity
Protect accessibility, remote communities, First Nations interests, worker rights, privacy, independent complaints and review.
06
Outcome measures to establish.
Publish baseline and annual data on access, processing time, safety/quality, regional equity, complaints, gross efficiency, transition spending and verified net financial impact for national service and youth development. Baselines come first; targets will only be set once independent baselines exist.
Access
Who can reach the service, where, and how quickly — including remote and assisted access.
Baseline: to be established
Processing time
Elapsed time from application, referral or call to decision or service.
Baseline: to be established
Safety and quality
Incidents, clinical or technical quality indicators and independent inspection findings.
Baseline: to be established
Regional equity
Differences in access and outcomes between metropolitan, regional and remote communities.
Baseline: to be established
Complaints
Volume, resolution time and independent review outcomes.
Baseline: to be established
Gross efficiency
Administrative cost changes before transition and new operating costs are subtracted.
Baseline: to be established
Transition spending
Every year of parallel running, migration, workforce, legal and technology expenditure.
Baseline: to be established
Verified net financial impact
Audited cashable savings minus recurring and transition costs.
Baseline: to be established
Living policy status
This page is part of a living policy library. Strategy papers, consultation responses, independent costings and delivery evidence will be added here as they are prepared. Nothing on this page reports completed delivery: the Party does not currently hold government, and every phase below is proposed.
- Policy foundation · published
- Strategy paper · forthcoming
- Independent costing · forthcoming
- Consultation report · forthcoming
- Delivery evidence · forthcoming