Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a big call to say that one issue is the biggest issue I have come across in parliament, but in this situation I can make the call because I can say that the Rudd government’s changes to Youth Allowance have been the biggest issue I have come across in nearly 11 years of being a proud member of this parliament. I speak not only of that but also of the gap year students who decided to work this year to earn the income which would have qualified them for the independent youth allowance under the old rules. Instead, the Rudd government has doubled the amount of time they must work to earn the benefit, to at least 30 hours a week over 18 months, denying thousands eligibility. I can use the analogy that this is like changing the AFL grand final at half-time and saying, ‘You’ve got to play the second half in Perth in five minutes time,’ and of course it is impossible.

These current gap year students have already made study decisions based on the existing Youth Allowance rules. The Rudd Labor government has now pulled the rug from under these current gap year students. The changes to Youth Allowance in effect punish all students who are currently on a gap year, having taken the decision to defer their studies in order to meet the workforce participation criteria they were told about at school last year.

My office has been inundated with letters, emails and contacts from rural and regional students, parents and school councils who believe the changes have been made without regard to the effect on country students whose families sacrifice tens of thousands of dollars to allow their children to study in the city. The changes to the eligibility criteria will require students to defer their studies for two years. As a result, many will not bother with tertiary studies, even if they could find work in the current environment. They do not have the luxury enjoyed by city students of being able to stay at home when they study. They do not have that choice.

It is a fact that the specific circumstances of rural and regional young people have not been adequately considered by the Rudd government. A recent Labor dominated Victorian parliamentary inquiry has agreed with coalition concern about Minister Julia Gillard’s Youth Allowance changes that will stop many students from rural and regional areas from accessing university education. The chair of the parliament of Victoria’s Education and Training Committee, Labor member Geoff Howard, said of Julia Gillard’s changes in his introduction to the report that the committee was:

… concerned that the specific circumstances of rural and regional young people still have not been adequately addressed. Already, many such students defer their studies to meet eligibility criteria for income support and this route to financial independence is set to become even more difficult under the new system.

In a particularly scathing passage on pages 177 to 178 of the report, the committee argued:

… the Committee believes that the removal of the main workforce participation route will have a disastrous effect on young people in rural and regional areas.

The report also said that the changes:

… will have a detrimental impact on many students who deferred their studies during 2009 in order to work and earn sufficient money to be eligible for Youth Allowance.

This is from a Labor chair and a Labor committee.

The changes will prevent rural and regional students from being able to go to university next year because, while their parental income may be too high for them to qualify for youth allowance as dependants, it often is not high enough to subsidise them living away from home, given student rents in Adelaide and Melbourne of $15,000 a year. I demand of the Rudd Labor government access to youth allowance for rural and remote students who have to leave home to attend university. I demand that we do not disadvantage these students—the best and brightest that come from the bush. (Time expired)