i am pretty sure it was about the same time that i finished high school (1997 ish) that it all changed over to having people deemed dependent on their parents until they were much older - for exactly the reason you said Pandora - EVERYONE finished highschool and went on the DOLE, irrespective of parental income. from memory when my brother finished school (95/96) you either went on Austudy or newstart (depending on whether you were going to uni or not) - my year it was youth allowance either way - and was dependent on what your parental income was.

actually, trying to remember properly, i was on youth allowance - job seeker - between the end of high school and start of uni (a few months) but it was still based on my folks income