Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This week we are participating in the Youth Voice in Parliament campaign, championed by Ash, Gemma and the team at Raise Our Voice. Today's speech is from Yasmin Matar, a 14-year-old constituent from Cunningham, and these are Yasmin's words.

The proportion of Australian university students from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds has barely increased in over a decade. In 2008 it was recorded that 15 per cent of undergraduates were from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds, whereas in 2019 this statistic only increased by two per cent. Since 2010, the Australian government has invested nearly $1.5 billion in higher education equity programs, yet participation and retention rates for the lower-SES remain far below other students. So why hasn't this $1.5 billion changed anything? Let's look at this from the beginning.

These students aren't getting into uni because they need to complete high school. A study conducted by the NSW Department of Education showed that by age 19 only 61 per cent of lower-socioeconomic groups have completed year 12, compared to the 89 per cent of high-socioeconomic students.

How can we fix this? By incentivising the completion of high school and providing free university education, we can not only increase the percentage of low-SES students attending and graduating university but help lower-SES children exit the cycle of poverty. This will mean, instead of staying on welfare and depending on the government for support, they will have prospects to get jobs and be self-supportive.

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See this speech in context