Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I will have to withdraw the amendment that I have circulated. That is because, as outlined by Senator Bob Brown, there is absolutely no way that this chamber can pass a piece of legislation and not even consider how it should be funded. It is not just irresponsible; it is simply giving false hope to those 40,000 students around the country who desperately want to see the changes outlined in this bill, including the improved elements of my amendment, so that they can get to university and have the support. This bill being passed by this chamber without proper analysis of how it will be funded is giving false hope to those students who now think that something is going to be done to give them the support. It will not be done because, as we have heard and as I outlined in my speech in the second reading debate and as Senator Brown has reiterated, both the government and the opposition have spent the very money that this bill was meant to be funded with. So it is false hope for students who have waited far, far too long for these really important reforms.

I think the coalition, the government and the Independents involved need to really think about the lives of the people that they are actually playing with here. If we are serious about giving the income support that is needed to students, the government must come up with a way of funding this and they must commit to acknowledging that there is a fundamental problem with the current system. We have not heard one word from the government today, yesterday, last month, the month before or in the two-year period that this debate has been going on to indicate that there is a problem. Well there clearly is a problem. We have been debating this for two years. For two years young Australians in the bush have been struggling to figure out what they can do to get themselves through university. Their families have mortgaged their houses. Some families, particularly those in the skilled workforce in country areas, have left country areas and moved into town so their kids could go to university, stripping important skills and resources out of those rural and regional communities. There is a problem and it is time the government acknowledged it. Unfortunately this bill will fail to deliver what should have been a solution because it is full of false hope. I withdraw the amendment.