Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

He is shaking his head in despair and disbelief, thank you, Senator Sterle. It is interesting to note too that the intent of the remaining independent criteria is actually not to target—you might be interested in this, Senator Ronaldson—our regional students. The department said to the inquiry last Thursday:

The intention is to reflect that people who have been in the full-time labour market for a few years, who later form an intention to study, can return to study. Their independence—

has been

as a full-time worker over a sustained period of time …

The remaining independent criteria are not even targeted at our school leavers, so the government is taking the whole lot away. It will still exist, of course, but with the lack of jobs and the deferment of two years what student is going to be able to utilise that to gain some access? What has the minister put in the package to target the rural and regional inequity? Nothing. Not a thing. Nada. Zip. This government simply does not care about regional Australia, and we are seeing it time and time again. I certainly believe the issue of a tertiary access allowance has to be addressed.

We have seen the issue of the inequity between metropolitan and rural and regional students starkly. There is no argument. We know that the costs are around $20,000 a year more. If we are serious about making sure that our rural and regional students have every opportunity to get to tertiary education then we need to get serious about providing them with the funding. This should not be about dollars. This is about access for our students, who are the future of this country. They need to be able to have every opportunity they possibly can to go on to tertiary education whether they live in metropolitan or in rural and regional Australia. It should not make any difference. This parliament has a requirement to assist them to do that for the betterment of the future of the country.