Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Some years ago the Avon community, along with the regional agricultural college, conducted a survey of the number of rural students who went on to gain tertiary qualifications. That survey showed that the transition to tertiary education for rural students was much lower than for their city counterparts. The reason for the survey was to explore ways to increase that ratio by removing impediments.

This is a common story in rural Australia, and I note with interest that the member for Grey recently reported that 18.8 per cent of rural school leavers in Grey attended university compared with 26.6 per cent from the city. There are a number of reasons for this, but the overwhelming drawback for country students was the cost for families. Those costs related primarily to travel and accommodation. Farm families are often asset rich and cash poor. For many farm families, the financial burden of tertiary education is an insurmountable barrier.

The changes the government is proposing to make to Youth Allowance will tighten the workforce participation rules so that from January 2010 students must work full time for a minimum of 30 hours per week for at least 18 months in the two years after leaving school. It is then that a student will qualify as ‘independent’ for the purpose of being eligible for youth allowance.

I have had sent to me today a letter from the Isolated Childrens Parents Association of Australia. It is a letter addressed to the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and it is from Jane Gloster, the Federal Secretary of the association. Ms Gloster says:

The intended guideline change, whilst looking to tighten access to Youth Allowance and not assist those who least need assistance, effectively will penalise a cohort which is actively seeking to increase its representation in higher education and are a group particularly in need of assistance. These are the students from rural and remote Australia.

The effect of this proposed legislation is illustrated in the case of a student in a country town 500 kilometres from the city who has worked hard to qualify for university entrance. Additionally, this student passed a selection panel examination for medicine and was granted a gap year to enable her to earn money to qualify for youth allowance at the independent rate. During the gap year it was necessary for the student to live away from home. Having worked hard to prepare for a gap year over the past two years, the student will now not qualify for youth allowance and so has little prospect of attending medical school next year. Another person wrote to me saying:

We are shocked to see the proposed changes to Youth Allowance for school leavers starting 2010. It has thrown current 2009 Gap year into total chaos for those planning to begin their University studies next year but with the proposed changes many will not. This is very unfair. It is very tough on young Australians if they have to leave home to study and try to complete a full time course. Regional students will be hurt most. Please give young Australians a chance to pursue their dreams and leave things as they are.

This is just a sample of comments from concerned families and students and, while there are some positive changes proposed in the legislation, such as increasing the parental income test, reducing the age of independence and relaxing the personal income test, the negatives definitely outweigh the positives for many students both rural and city. However, there are additional negative implications for students from rural and regional areas who aspire to tertiary education. The letter from the Isolated Childrens Parents Association says:

Many students have deferred their university entrance and joined the workforce assuming they would qualify for independent status under the current guidelines. The students will be ineligible for independence under the new guidelines that are set to start in January 2010. They have made decisions based on current guidelines and should be able to continue through with these decisions. It is unjust and inequitable to change the rules mid-stream.

The government should listen to the pleas of students and their parents and heed the call to at the very least grandfather those students who have prepared to enter university in 2010 by taking a gap year now. They arranged their studies according to government policies in place now and, unchanged, this legislation will have a dire effect on the future of many Australian students.