Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously, the member for Murray, who is calling out about this, does not understand what she voted for. I will explain what she voted for. She voted for new transitional arrangements for kids who live at home. She voted for new transitional arrangements for kids who may well live in households of incomes over $300,000 a year. They may live in a city within walking distance of a university. She has voted for amendments for transitional arrangements for those kids to get full youth allowance—that is what she has done, justified in the name of country kids but nothing to do with country kids.

Of course, by standing in the way of this legislation, what the Liberal and National parties are voting for is no scholarships next year, because the Liberal and National parties have already voted for the abolition of the current scholarship scheme. What they are now refusing to vote for is putting in place the new scholarship scheme. That is, they are voting for no scholarships for kids next year.

Do members opposite realise what this will mean? In the electorate of the member for Sturt, 1,393 kids will miss out on scholarships if the coalition has its way. In the electorate of the member for Swan, 1,606 kids will miss out. In the electorate of the member for Herbert, 1,215 will miss out. In the electorate of the member for La Trobe, 751 kids will miss out. In the electorate of Wentworth, 1,121 kids will miss out.

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