Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a petition containing some 1,495 signatures, which are additional to previous numbers that I have presented on this matter. It relates to the Youth Allowance.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House to the Rudd Government’s changes to the workforce participation criteria for establishing independence under Youth Allowance by removing the following two eligibility criteria: that the recipient worked part-time for 15+ hours per week for two years or more since leaving school; and the recipient earned, in an 18-month period since leaving school, an amount equivalent to 75% of the maximum rate of pay (in 2009 this requires earnings of $19,532). The effect of this change is that eligibility criteria for the Independent Youth Allowance will retrospectively require participants to complete 30 hours work per week over a 18/24 month period compared to earning $19,532 over 18 months.

This means a student who has complied with the previous rules but not worked 30 hours per week will have lost the credit for their effort and must start again thus losing 2 years before commencing a University Course.

These proposal further disadvantages young people whose place of residence is beyond daily commuting distance from a University and thus must fund their total accommodation costs over and above the other direct costs of such an education. That working 30 hours per week while attending University is virtually impossible in more intensive courses.

We therefore ask the House to change the criteria so that rural and regional students are not disadvantaged.

from 1,495 citizens

Petition received.

This particular lodgment brings the total of signatures I have received on this petition to approximately 13,000, and they have been registered from all over Australia. This has resulted from the fact that I published a pro forma petition on my website which people could copy if they chose to and so meet the criteria of this parliament, whereby all petitions must be in writing and conform with the rules of this place. That so many people have chosen to do sign this petition—in the first instance 6,800 signatures arrived at my office in Albany, not the most convenient location, within 10 days of the petition being posted—should be a message to all involved as to the grave concern about this problem among people in rural areas, including in a significant number of seats held by the Labor government.

I am aware now that the Minister for Education has made some changes to the retrospective aspect of the legislation, but in fact the legislation that she has now presented to the House still contains areas of grave difficulty for people in rural communities. In expressing a view on this matter, it must be always understood that if you reside in the smaller communities in the rural sector, work opportunities for graduating year 12 students are limited. What is more, there is very seldom anything available other than seasonal work, which the present arrangements accommodate. You can work hard over, for instance, a seeding period, a harvest period, a shearing period or whatever and accumulate funds to meet the criteria. But at the local grocery shop, the service station or somewhere of that nature, it is virtually impossible for these young people to acquire 30 hours work a week. The debate will proceed in the House, so I will take no more of the time of this place other than to report that these signatures come from all over Australia.