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

What is extremely disappointing is the fact that those amendments that the Greens thought were absolutely fine and terrific, and worth supporting just a couple of days ago, apparently, now have fallen by the wayside and are no longer worth supporting. That is what is extremely disappointing. This is about the future of our students in this country. The government have brought us a set of legislation that will have significant impacts on students right across this country, not just our rural and regional students but also our city students. For some reason, this government simply have no understanding at all of how their changes are going to affect rural and regional students. That is not just the point of view of coalition members on this side; it is because we have been listening to families and students right across the country. There has not been an issue before the chamber in a significantly long period of time that we have had this kind of feedback on from the community. People are desperately concerned about this.

This government and now the Greens are choosing to ignore it. If this legislation is allowed to go ahead there is no way back because these rural and regional students will have the avenue taken away from them. The government are only leaving one criterion for students to access independent youth allowance. Guess what the department told us? The department said, ‘That actually is not even targeted at those students.’ You might be surprised to hear this colleagues: it is actually targeted at people already in the workplace, not those students finishing school this year. If those students finishing school this year fall outside of the current legislation, which is highly possible, they have no other avenue to get any kind of assistance. While rural and regional students are facing an extra $15,000 to $20,000 a year compared to metropolitan students, it is appalling for this government to not give them another avenue to access some financial assistance. The government should be ashamed. They should be ashamed that they are putting our students in this position.

What we are saying is that those students currently doing their gap year should all be covered. I do not know how any senator in this place could say that it was fair for those students who, in good faith at the end of last year, took advice from school counsellors and Centrelink who told them, ‘This is an appropriate avenue for you to use,’ and they cannot now do it. The minister managed to do a backflip, pushed by—