Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition has a strong history of supporting students who are working towards higher education and training. It was the coalition government, in fact, that introduced the extension of income-contingent loans to the vocational education and training sector back in 2007. We saw the need to ensure that all students pursuing a tertiary or vocational education were, through VET FEE-HELP, provided with financial assistance and places in a similar way to the assistance offered to university students. This intent also reflected the value the coalition places on the vocational education sector and the very valuable members of our community who choose vocational pathways to achieve their higher level training. These people will become important contributors to the workforce and the economy, particularly in regional areas. Our commitment to VET FEE-HELP is reflected in our intention to ensure greater equity between students in the tertiary sector and those who study vocational qualifications. As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, and as members in this chamber know, I feel very strongly about equity of access, specifically when I consider the issues confronting students in rural and regional areas. I will scrutinise the Higher Education Support Amendment (No. 1) Bill 2011 and every other piece of legislation that the government presents from that perspective.

I listened with interest to the previous speaker when he spoke about lifting barriers to participation and increasing participation. All I can say is that I wish the government would apply that rule to the students who have been defined as living in inner regional areas. I wish that the Labor government shared our strong value to ensure that all students have equity of access to financial support with their higher education and training, but we have seen the exact opposite. We have heard today that on at least five occasions the government has had the opportunity to reverse this decision. These are these great young people; these are not just nameless, faceless people who are affected by this decision. I meet them every day and I meet their families every day. They are great young people who live in regional and rural areas. They have no choice but to move away from their home. They not only leave their home but leave their home town, their friends and their families because they are passionate about studying or need to pursue their education or their courses.

Since the 2009 budget, that dark day in May 2009, the Labor government has discriminated quite directly against students from regional and rural areas right around Australia by changing eligibility requirements for independent youth allowance. This was quite deliberate. Effectively the government has decided that students from inner regional areas, for some unknown reason that I cannot fathom in all this time, do not deserve the same access to independent youth allowance as other students. What reason could there possibly be for this? I do not understand this. What on earth have these students and their families done so wrong? What have they done to deserve this treatment from the government? We have been bringing this to the government's attention consistently since 2009. What have they done wrong? These students cannot afford to commute—they physically cannot commute—to tertiary educational institutions, and they have no choice but to move away from home and incur the additional costs of living that go with this. They have no choice. These families are not wealthy, unfortunately. Evidence has shown that the cost of relocating is a massive financial barrier that is preventing regional students from undertaking tertiary study.

The other issue in trying to meet the criteria surrounding the inner regional definition—the 30 hours of work a week for 18 months—means they have to defer for two full years. If you are a young person living on a farm or in a very small community, how do you find 30 hours of work a week for 18 months and where? In these areas, it is seasonal employment for young people with their level of skill. It is extremely difficult, yet they are expected to find 30 hours of work a week for 18 months. That is virtually impossible. No part of my electorate is within practical commuting distance—some are 220 to 250 kilometres away. I constantly receive emails from people affected by this issue. Students currently on their gap year do not know if they are going to qualify and whether they have to work 30 hours a week for 18 months. Where are they going to end up?

One of the most appalling things I have come across is the lack of respect for the families and young people affected by this. I cannot believe the government have treated young people in this way. Families and students have poured their hearts out to the Prime Minister and the government on this issue. I received some information from one of the parents in my electorate and she said: 'What hope have we little people got? The government has no interest or understanding when dealing with the issues facing rural and regional residents.' This parent sent the Prime Minister an email on what is a vitally important issue to that family—whether their child can go to university and whether they had to choose which one can go. Their email, dated Wednesday, 17 June 2009, did not even get a read receipt—in other words, that someone had clicked on it to open it—until an email from the Prime Minister's office dated Friday, 6 May 2011. How do you think that made that family feel? Yes, they are in a regional area. Yes, they have a number of challenges. Does that mean they are less entitled? No, it does not and it should not if this government was genuine.

As the last speaker said, lift the barriers to participation. The government have had five opportunities since that time to lift the barriers to participation. I even have one young person in my electorate who has had to come back because they could not afford to stay away. The family thought that the legislation we put through this House would have some benefit and that the government would listen. So she began her tertiary education but she had to come back because the family could not support her. And I get families in supermarkets saying to me: 'What do we do? We have to choose which one of our children we can afford to send to tertiary education?' What is my answer, Mr Deputy Speaker? I know you would understand this very well. What do I say to these families? This government must give the answers to these families and do not take two years to provide a read receipt when families write with their heartfelt and genuine representation of where they are at.

I received another email from a lady who stated:

As a very proud parent of a child who has accepted into her chosen course of Occupational Therapy … I am now distressed to be faced with the uncertainty of her eligibility to qualify for youth allowance.

She will not have the opportunity to live at home like her fellow city based peers. We live in Busselton and for her to attend Curtin University she must live in Perth. It is over 250kms and she clearly cannot commute daily.

It will cost us at least $15,000 per year over 4 years before we even start to think about uni fees and books.

Like most country kids, she is taking a Gap Year to try to make as much money as she can … get herself set up … for the costly years ahead.

Obtaining full time or even desirable hours in part time work is proving … difficult in this … seasonal tourist town—

That is a practical indication. She goes on to state:

She has put her Resume to over a dozen resorts for casual cleaning—with one reply offering her occasional casual call in.

She has completed Austswim qualifications and built up to 14 hours per week swimming teaching.

How will she ever meet the 30 hour week employment criteria I ask?

She continues to seek further employment to make up hours, but we wonder how she can … juggle with an assortment of employers.

That is what she is up against. Another parent said:

I have two sons who are now studying at UWA and receive youth allowance and the Commonwealth accommodation scholarship. We live in the country and are not able to financially support our children away from home. My sons would not have the opportunity to study law and engineering without the financial support from the government.

She recognised the real cost of rent, food, clothing, books, computers, internet connection fees, electricity, telephone and travel costs. She said:

If they were able to live at home then many of these costs are covered by a family home including not having to purchase computers for the boys to use away. They have no choice but to move to the city for their study. And we are not financially viable enough to pay for their cost of education and living away from home.

This is a very real issue. If the government is genuinely concerned about offering greater participation it should fix this problem first. This is an ongoing problem and I have extremely desperate young people in my electorate who are just crying out for an opportunity. As we heard earlier, some of the figures that were raised do not reflect the falls in the numbers of young people in those inner regional areas who were not able to access independent youth allowance, and those figures certainly do not reflect some of the minor amounts of youth allowance that some are receiving.

Given that youth allowance is a capped scheme, I was quite concerned when I heard one of the ministers in here recently talking about extending the eligibility for youth allowance to those people who are currently on Newstart or who are 20 to 21 years old and living at home. If that is going to be the case there will be even less money in the system for those who are currently trying to access youth allowance. Unless the government is planning to put further funding into this capped program, I can see some real problems ahead even for those who are currently accessing youth allowance.

We certainly care about higher education opportunities for all regional and rural students, not just the winners and losers we have seen. As I said, on five occasions we have introduced opportunities for the government to change this and it is time that the government did so voluntarily. It should not fall upon the opposition to keep bringing this matter before the parliament. The people have spoken over and over again, and two houses of parliament have agreed to this, but the government persists with it.

The VET FEE-HELP measures will provide important assistance to young people and others right throughout my electorate. There are several education and training options in the region through private providers such as the South West Institute of Technology, the Margaret River Education Campus, with its collaboratively provided Centre of Wine Excellence, and Manea Senior College, which is unique in that it gives students the opportunity to combine their school programs with certificate or university studies by accessing the pathways provided by virtually co-located campuses at Edith Cowan University and the South West Institute of Technology.

There were 116,000 people enrolled in state funded vocational education and training courses in Western Australia last year; however, we know that there are skills shortages. The state government has increased trainees and apprenticeships by 21 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in the past 12 months, which was the highest growth in the nation over the past five years. I note that there were nearly 39,000 apprentices and trainees in training in WA last year. Given that there are $220 billion of resource and infrastructure projects either under construction, committed or under consideration, we need every well-educated, trained and skilled person.

There are indications that WA will need up to 100,000 additional skilled workers by 2017. I want to see as many Western Australians as possible take advantage of these opportunities. I note that the occupations priority list includes auto electricians, diesel mechanics, heavy duty mechanics, fitters, machinists, welders, metal fabricators, sheetmetal workers, plumbers, tilers, bakers and chefs. Given the challenges facing south-western Western Australia more generally, I hope that the measures included in this bill increase provider approvals and, in practical terms, provide greater accessibility for students to VET FEE-HELP and FEE-HELP. I am aware also that the state minister Peter Collier's top priority is to prepare Western Australians for the workforce by providing training opportunities and I note that the WA state government committed $33.4 million in this year's budget to fund over 12,000 training places—that is, up to 21,000 places over the last three years. We remain committed to ensuring that students pursuing vocational pathways are provided with financial assistance and I support this bill on that basis, but I make a last plea to this government. You really need to fix the inequity of inner regional students and allow equity of access to students from the south-west and other areas right around Australia to independent youth allowance.

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