Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I amend, in the terms circulated in the chamber, general business notice of motion No. 188 standing in my name for today relating to the eligibility criteria for independent youth allowance, before asking that it be taken as a formal motion. I amend part 1(b) by adding the words: ‘notes that the broad purpose of the review is to find a permanent solution to address the disadvantages that currently exists for rural and regional students in qualifying for financial assistance’. I now move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that the Government:

(i)

has admitted there is a problem with the criteria for independent youth allowance for inner regional students,

(ii)

has committed to bringing forward its review of the matter and notes that the broad purpose of the review is to find a permanent solution to address the disadvantages that currently exist for rural and regional students in qualifying for financial assistance, and

(iii)

has indicated it will remove the difference between the inner regional areas and the other regional zones for the eligibility criteria for independent youth allowance;

(b)

calls on the Government to bring forward its timetable for resolving the matter and, in particular, ensure that:

(i)

the review is completed and funds to pay for the measure are secured by 1 July 2011,

(ii)

that the current eligibility criteria for independent youth allowance for persons whose homes are located in Outer Regional Australia, Remote Australia and Very Remote Australia according to the Remoteness Structure defined in subsection 1067A(10F) of the Social Security Act 1991 also apply to those with homes in Inner Regional Australia from 1 July 2011, and

(iii)

all students who had a gap year in 2010 (that is, 2009 year 12 school leavers) and who meet the relevant criteria qualify for the payment; and

(c)

sends a message to the House of Representatives informing it of this resolution and requesting it concur.

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

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

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

Based on the motion before us from Senator Nash, the Greens will support this motion; however, we are of course quite concerned that any type of review of the youth allowance eligibility criteria for access from rural and regional students must be something that deals with the overall inequities and the disadvantages. We want to make sure that the government does this review with a view to having a permanent solution and not just cherry-picking based on the motions and various different bills that come before them.

We have been dealing with this issue for over two years now. It is time that the government comes up with a comprehensive permanent solution to ensure that rural and regional students are not disadvantaged. What Senator Nash is putting forward is calling on the government to fix the current inequity, but it is only a short-term fix. The government must accept that by the end of this year they need to have some new legislation on the table for a long-term solution.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the support of the Greens for this motion and concur with the remarks made by Senator Hanson-Young. It has been very clearly on the record from the coalition that this particular motion only fixes a current inequity as it relates to the independent youth allowance criteria. The coalition is also very clearly on the record from before the previous election as believing that there should be a full review into the youth allowance arrangements and a full review into financial assistance for rural and regional students.

Question agreed to.