Darren Chester MP

February 4, 2010

Thousands of regional university students face an uncertain future because the Federal Minister for Education has failed to clean up the mess she created with her failed attempt to change Independent Youth Allowance.

The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has urged the Minister to split the controversial bill and immediately provide scholarships and new income thresholds for students seeking income support.

“We will give the non-controversial aspects of the bill a red carpet ride through Parliament if the Minister is fair dinkum about providing certainty and support for regional university students,” Mr Chester said.

“There is no reason whatsoever for the uncertainty and delays from the Minister’s office. She continues to play politics with the lives of young Australians when she could split the bill and have the non-controversial aspects of her legislation in place this month.”

Mr Chester said the Rudd Labor Government had taken the unusual step of taking out paid advertisements to warn students who finished Year 12 in 2009 that it intends to press ahead with its proposed changes that would make it more difficult for regional students planning to undertake a gap year to achieve independent status.

The government has placed advertisements in daily newspapers which warn students that changes proposed in the May 2009 Budget had not been approved by Parliament but would be considered again “early this year”. The advertisement states:

“Students finishing Year 12 now and considering taking a gap year before going to uni should be aware that the current arrangements would change if the government’s legislation is approved.”

Mr Chester said the uncertainty over future Youth Allowance arrangements was causing additional stress for students as they planned for the future.

“The advertisements are an admission by the Labor Government that it has made a mess of its proposed changes and students can’t plan with certainty for 2010,” Mr Chester said.

“Fixing the Youth Allowance debacle should have been one of the government’s highest priorities when Federal Parliament resumed this week but the Minister has failed to take any action.

“The changes which were first proposed by the government and were rejected by all opposition parties were unfair because of the retrospective treatment of gap year students.

“There needs to be a greater commitment to levelling the playing field between students who attend secondary school in regional areas and their metropolitan counterparts.

“Last month a Senate Committee inquiry made eight recommendations including the implementation of a Tertiary Access Allowance worth $10,000 per year for students forced to move away from home to attend university.

“The State Parliament made similar recommendations in 2009 when an inquiry, which was led by a Labor MP from Ballarat, found that all students required to move away from home should be entitled to greater financial support.”