The Quiet Crisis in Financial Literacy: Why Australia's Kids Are Falling Behind As I sat through the recent Parliamentary Friends of Financial Capability event at Parliament House, surrounded by lawmakers and experts from both sides of the aisle, a pressing issue became clear: Australia's lack of a national financial literacy strategy is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
This systemic failure threatens the very fabric of our economy and society. Eight million five hundred thousand Australian adults – nearly half of us – lack basic financial literacy.
We've allowed ourselves to fall behind countries like New Zealand, Ireland, Finland, and some US states that have made financial education a mandatory part of their school curricula.