Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on behalf of regional families with children either attending university or planning to undertake university studies in the future. I have spoken many times in the past about the issue of student income support and I can report to the House that, unfortunately, it is still an absolute mess. As students prepare for 2012 and start making plans to move from regional areas to cities, sometimes in very distant locations, there is an enormous amount of uncertainty and confusion for these students as they try to access student income support. That is causing a great deal of frustration, not only for the students but for their parents, their teachers and the careers advisers in secondary schools throughout regional Australia.

I make the simple point that it just should not be this hard to get a fair go for regional students. The problem with student income support and the confusion and mess that exists today were created by the Prime Minister in her former role as the education minister. This Prime Minister has it within her power to fix the mess that she created with the system of student income support.

I recently had the opportunity to survey my electorate and put to my constituents the question of whether they were able to afford to send their children to university. It staggered me that only 22 per cent of Gippsland families said that they could afford to send their child to university. That is a remarkable figure. In this day and age, less than a quarter of the families in my electorate believe that they can afford to send their child to university. The survey also found that 85 per cent of people in Gippsland wanted the federal government to provide additional funding to regional students to cover the cost of relocating to study at university. I have put it to this House many times in the past and I have put it to the Prime Minister directly that, instead of tinkering around the edges with its current review of the system, the government should be totally overhauling the system of student income support to make it fairer for regional students.

I note the presence in the chamber of the member for Riverina, who has also been an absolute champion of this issue in his electorate. Quite recently, the Nationals Federal Council met and voted unanimously in favour of supporting a tertiary access allowance, which would provide support for all regional students who are forced to move away from home to attend university. The issue that has caused greatest concern for our constituents is the eligibility for independent youth allowance. The government has developed a system of lines on a map which has made it more difficult for students in the inner regional areas compared to students in the so-called outer regional areas. This confusion has resulted in a system that discriminates against regional students purely on the basis of where they live.

Under the Nationals' plan, which was passed unanimously at our federal council, we recognise the simple fact that students from regional areas forced to move away from home face significant additional costs, particularly in accommodation costs, in the order of at least $10,000 per year compared to students who have the option of staying at home and undertaking tertiary studies. The principle of the tertiary access allowance we support is to address this issue of inequity, the social injustice which exists. It is not about a welfare system at all in that regard. It is about levelling the playing field so that regional students have every opportunity to achieve their full potential, have the option to go on to tertiary studies and come back to our regional communities and help fill those skill shortages that currently exist in areas as diverse as engineering, health and law. There are significant skills shortages in regional communities that can be filled best by students who have grown up in regional areas.

This government, if it is fair dinkum about the education revolution, if it is fair dinkum about the issues of social justice and equity, has an obligation to start working with our regional communities and come up with a complete overhaul of the system of student income support rather than tinkering around the edges, which is what the Prime Minister did when she was education minister.

This is a topic which has been brought to the House on many occasions. I have presented petitions and I have provided dozens of letters to the Prime Minister on this issue. Most recently in my local newspaper, Latrobe Valley Express, on Monday, 12 September it came up as a comment again where a Moe resident and university student, Zara Dyke, said:

I just think the whole eligibility criteria needs to completely overhauled and changed ...

I tried to get Youth Allowance when before I went to university but because I was from Moe, I was not considered independent and was told only outer regional students were eligible.

It goes on. Monash University Gippsland Pro Vice-Chancellor, Helen Bartlet, said:

Eligibility for student income support should not simply depend upon whether the family home is classed as urban, regional, rural or isolated ...

I agree wholeheartedly. This government has it within its power to overhaul the system of student income support. It must deliver a fair go for students in regional communities. (Time expired)