Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I. move amendments (1) to (3) on sheet 6094:

(1)    Schedule 1, item 3, page 4 (line 23), after “(10B)”, insert “, (10BA)”.

(2)    Schedule 1, item 3, page 5 (after line 4), after paragraph 1067A(10B), insert:

(10BA)    This subsection applies if the Secretary is satisfied that the person is required to live away from home and has had to relocate a distance of not less than 100 kilometres from their main place of residence to attend a higher education institution.

(3)    Schedule 1, item 5, page 6 (line 20), after “(10B)”, insert “, (10BA)”.

These three amendments deal with retaining the existing pathway to access the youth allowance by students who have to relocate more than 100 kilometres. This is to ensure that those students can relocate. If these amendments do not pass, then people in regional areas that are not covered by the amendments that the coalition and Labor have agreed to—these people that have to shift more than 100 kilometres—would miss out and therefore would have to hold off their studies for two years.

These amendments have the same effect as the amendments I put forward back in November, so this is nothing new. It is to make sure that regional areas and even people in the city area that have to shift away from home to get to university are looked after. It is to make sure that the old rules, the old criteria, for youth allowance still apply. This is at least some way of enabling regional areas to not miss out and to make sure they get to university and to make sure they are not treated like second-hand citizens.

Unless this amendment is passed, students in towns such as Ballarat, Bendigo, Sale, Shepparton, Traralgon, Wangaratta, Warrnambool and Wodonga will basically have to qualify for youth allowance and therefore have a two-year gap rather than just the one year. So I commend these amendments to the Senate. I am hoping that there will be support to make sure that students in regional areas at least have some support if they have to relocate some distance to get to university.