Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Scullion says, ‘Not enough.’ I have just gone through your appalling record when you were in government. We are actually improving the system now and you say it is not enough. Well, why didn’t you do something in government? You would not do it in the lead-up to the election because it was going to cost you $300 million. Now, from the safety of opposition, it is, ‘Doesn’t matter what it is; doesn’t matter what it costs. Let’s just do it.’ It is so irresponsible and it is why you will be over on that side for a long, long time.

I also take it that the Nationals are criticising us for fixing the previous student support regime, which saw the participation of young people from low-SES backgrounds, including those from regional and rural communities, languish at around 15 per cent, against the population share of 25 per cent. Is that what you are criticising us for? Are you criticising us for properly targeting assistance to those who need it, for changing the previous youth allowance arrangements so that assistance is going to those students most in need? That is what the reforms do.

We are reforming youth allowance, including the creation of new scholarship payments, lowering the age of independence, an increased threshold for the parental income test and a tighter workforce participation test to target students who are genuinely in need of assistance. They are all good reforms. I do not hear anyone criticising them. Is that what the Nationals are actually criticising us for doing? Are you criticising us for directly benefiting over 100,000 students on student support, including students from inner regional areas, as more young people will be eligible for youth allowance as dependants? Most people who previously had to prove independence will now be able to access support automatically. The proportion of students from regional, rural and remote areas receiving student income support has increased under the new arrangements. Regional and rural students have had their support increased under these reforms—increased—all because we got rid of the rorts.