I don't know that as a young person leaving home at 18, having an extra $200 in my pocket a week would have actually changed anything for me.

The latest proposal from The Opportunities Party is to introduce an Unconditional Basic Income for 18 to 23 year olds, which would, in leader Gareth Morgan's words, help young people get a start at life after leaving the nest. It would offset other benefits and student loans and allowances, but would have no obligations attached to it.

In the scheme of things the party would be pushed to get anywhere near implementing it, even if it managed to poll five percent and make it to Parliament. Once there, it's unlikely they'd find the numbers to pass the legislation necessary anyway. But it is an interesting debate.

While I'm no authority on the matter of UBI's, I am an authority on being a 'young person' post the Global Financial Crisis.

My parents haven't given me a cent towards my living costs since I left home in 2011, partly because they've never been in a position to do so and partly because they're believers in tough love and hard work. Leave the baby to cry in the cot and she'll learn to sleep through the night. And I believe, that if they had been in a position to give me $200 a week I'd be missing some valuable life skills.

I moved from small-town Coromandel to big-city Auckland. Living was expensive. I'd worked the whole summer to save money and I paid the first six months of my living-away-from home costs with those savings. Then as my savings were running low I got a part-time job, in some lucky stroke it was one in the field I was interested in, and I kept working that same job until the end of my degree.

Having that part-time job taught me time management, a good work ethic, and how to manage my money.

I believe for somebody like me, $200 a week would not have been a helping hand, but a hindrance - I know that I would not have got myself a job during university if I hadn't needed to.

But there are people out there who desperately need that $200 a week, and many of those have been highlighted in the families packages released over the past few months. National, Labour and the Greens' family packages all acknowledge there are many people who need a hand up.

I just don't see how adding a young-person's version of a pension, is going to have the effect Morgan thinks it will. At least not for somebody like me, who would have used the opportunity - no pun intended - to avoid a valuable experience.

Morgan said himself in his policy announcement that he and his mates don't need Super, because they'll spend it on a motorbike or a holiday. I don't believe every young person needs a handout.