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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise to speak to the report that has been tabled today on the review of student income support reforms. I think many in the chamber would know that I and many of my coalition colleagues have a very keen interest in the release of this report and indeed in the broader issues surrounding students' access to education through youth allowance arrangements. In relation to the report itself, I will be making comments at a later stage when there has been an opportunity to go through it in more detail. One recomm­endation in it that strikes me is that, when it comes to independent youth allowance, students work full time for at least two full years. I think that is a retrograde step. It is obviously completely against the notion of trying to give regional students easier and better access to education; instead, this is a harder aspect that makes it worse for students. But I will explore that more at a later date.

What the report has done today is trigger the minister's response to a number of issues as they relate to the independent youth allowance. The minister, as part of the tabling of this report today, released the government's intention, when it comes to the independent youth allowance, to treat students in the inner regional zones the same as it does those in other regional zones. This is not something that is cause for any joy. While treating regional students the same, regardless of where they live, is obviously the right thing for the government to have finally done, not to treat them the same should never have been in the legislation in the first place.

I know that my colleague Senator Williams has been relentless in trying to make sure that we got a fair outcome for regional students. The coalition has been fighting for this particular outcome for inner regional students to be treated the same as every other regional student since March of last year, 2010, when the government brought in the legislation to treat regional students unfairly. On that very day, I and my coalition colleagues moved an amendment to do exactly what this announcement does today—to treat inner regional students the same as all other regional students. It was to do exactly that, and that was in March 2010. It was voted down. The only people who supported the amendment at that time were I and my coalition colleagues, not the government, not the Greens, not the Independents—no-one. Ever since then, we have taken every opportunity to give parliamentarians on both sides of this cham­ber the opportunity to treat inner regional students the same as every other regional student. That was denied at every stage from November last year, when I tried to get my private member's bill through. It asked to do exactly what the minister has announced today. That bill was not even allowed to be debated. Since then, we have had the private member's bill, which, thanks to Senator Xenophon, got through the Senate but was blocked in the House of Representatives. That bill did exactly what the minister has done today.

We see this change happening today, and for what reason? None other than the pressure that the coalition and those out in the community have been putting on this government to make that change, because what is in place is simply unfair—and everybody knows it. Quite amusingly, I note that the minister today says that this change is a response to his Labor colleagues, the Independents and the Greens. They did not say boo until the coalition kept pushing and pushing and pushing the government to make this change. There was not one indication that I could see on the public record from Labor senators or members saying, 'We want you to make this change, Minister.' Yet, he has come out today and made that claim.

Senator Williams interjecting—

Perhaps they were there behind closed doors, Senator Williams. But they certainly were not on the public record doing it. The Greens had every opportunity all the way along—over the last 18 months—to make this change, and they squibbed it. They walked away from regional Australia. We have finally seen this change today, yet we will wait and see what the legislation actually holds next week, when we finally see the detail, because I do not trust this government to get it right. But I hope they do, and I hope they finally treat all regional students with the fairness they deserve. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.