David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are all familiar with the phrase, 'the tyranny of distance'. I think Donald Horne raised that term in one of his many dissertations talking about the tyranny of distance. Well, in the educational sense, I and seven million other Australians live in regional Australia. Access to education and successful tertiary education, in whatever field, will increase the potential of many individual regional and rural students. When you come from the regions, one of the barriers to achieving your educational dream and going off to university is not the HECS fee but the cost of relocating.

In my region, there are several universities that have a physical presence. We have Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie that will, hopefully, have a 5,000-student campus. The University of New South Wales has a medical school there. We have the Armidale university with a teaching campus, and we have the University of Newcastle with a teaching campus, both in Taree. We have opportunities, but unfortunately not every degree is covered in those regional opportunities, and that is the issue for many students in my region.

I know a couple of students who are at university in Adelaide, all the way from the east coast of Australia. They had to move to Adelaide to get the opportunity to do the course they need to do to follow their academic career. We have a few that go to Melbourne, many to Sydney, an awful lot down to Newcastle and a few up to Brisbane—north and south and west. But for many the opportunities to do a course are limited because of the financial barrier of relocating. If you want to go to university in Armidale, which has a much better cost of living than, say, Melbourne or Sydney, there is still a huge financial impost on your family, or you have to have incredible perspicacity, application and ability and a bit of luck to get multiple part-time jobs to build up a financial war chest to relocate yourself up to the Armidale university, if the course that you want to do is up there.

That is what I am trying to point out. It is not just the academic barriers. If you work and study hard you will get a good mark and you will get into just about whatever you want most of the time. But, if that opportunity comes up in a town far from you and you are not blessed to be living in a metropolitan centre where you can catch the 327 into UTS or down Parramatta Road to Sydney uni and live at home, cost wise, for the student and the family that is supporting the student, it is $25,000 a head. That is basically what it costs to set up as a student in Sydney when you factor in your relocation costs and your transport costs. Rents are absolutely ridiculous in Sydney. For some of the student accommodation there you have to pay $250 to get a little tiny room that would be used for luggage in the place that you come from. It is crazy. That is the actual barrier. People are worried about the HECS debt. You do not have to pay that back until you are earning money, and the government is paying for most of your tuition, even with the HECS component.

So I really welcome this legislation, which is going part way to addressing that problem. Youth allowance has been an issue since I put my toe in the water of the political conversation back in 2010. We had workshops trying to get policy changes with Senator Fiona Nash and subsequently Senator Bridget McKenzie, from Victoria. So many of my rural and regional colleagues have argued the case up and down the trail of committees that you go to and with various ministers.

I am so pleased that this legislation is here now, because it is going part way to address that financial barrier for many of the sorts of people who really should be trying to get some assistance, through changing the qualifications to get youth allowance. It is removing the family assets test and the family actual means test from the youth allowance parental means test arrangements. That sounds like quite a mouthful. It will come into force in July 2016. Also, from January 2016, maintenance income will be removed from the youth allowance parental income test. It is changing around the edges so that more people can qualify.

What does that mean in dollars and cents? It means that $262 million of federal taxpayers' money will be rediverted through these income tested arrangements. How many will benefit from this change? Potentially the changes in the family assets test will lead 4,100 additional dependent youth allowance claimants to qualify for the very first time. That will not solve every rural and regional person's dilemma, but it will certainly help a significant number of them. They estimate that the amount will be up to $7,000. If you are setting up in Sydney in shared houses, quarters, a college, student hostels or wherever you can get a room, that is a significant help. It means that it is much more achievable.

Removing the family actual means test will mean that another 1,200 people will get some assistance, but it is only estimated at $2,000 a year. But, again, any up-front payment will help you make that jump into living in a metropolitan centre—or for some of the students who I hope will come from the metropolitan suburbs, who want to move up to Charles Sturt University's new campus in Port Macquarie. They are hoping to have international students as well as metropolitan students who come up because they can get a really good education there. To relocate out of Sydney, out of Newcastle or out of anywhere to another town and to set up another domestic accommodation and support mechanism when you are dislocated from your family are the big issue.

Including all the FTB children in the family pool will also benefit about 13,700 families. It is a small amount, but, again, it is not be sniffed at: $1,100.

I commend this bill to the House. It is a good initiative. It is part way addressing the problem and the cost involved in the tyranny of distance in accessing education.

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