July 28, 2009
The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester is challenging the Federal Government to implement the findings of a State Parliamentary inquiry and provide income support to all students who relocate to attend university.
The State Education and Training Committee today released the final report of its Inquiry into Geographical Differences in the Rate in which the Victorian Students Participate in Their Education.
The inquiry, which is chaired by a State Labor MP, recommended that the Victorian Government advocate to the Federal Government that young people who are required to relocate to undertake tertiary studies be eligible to receive Youth Allowance.
“This report vindicates every protest and all 5,000 signatures on the Gippsland petition calling on the Federal Government to abandon its plans to make it harder for country students to achieve the full independent rate of Youth Allowance,” Mr Chester said.
“If the Rudd Government is too arrogant to listen to Gippsland students, parents and teachers, perhaps it will listen to its own State MPs who are also concerned about costs of sending country students to university.
“The proposed changes to Youth Allowance are poorly directed and discriminate against regional students who face higher costs when relocating to attend university.”
The report tabled in State Parliament today found fewer students in regional areas applied for university courses compared to metropolitan areas; and acknowledged that economic barriers were the main reason why less regional students attend university.
In his foreword to the report, the Committee chair, Labor MP Geoff Howard, wrote that he was concerned that the specific circumstances of rural and regional young people had not been adequately addressed in the Rudd Government’s proposed changes to Youth Allowance.
“It was the committee’s view, and it is also my view, that all young people who must relocate to undertake their studies should be eligible to receive student income support at a level which recognises the additional costs of living away from home,” Mr Chester said.
“There are many important recommendations in the report about increasing the aspirations of country students but until we address the fundamental issues of costs, university will remain a pipedream for many Gippslanders.
“It defies logic for the Rudd Government to place more barriers in front of rural and regional families when there is already a low participation rate in university courses due to the high cost of relocating to attend university.”
Mr Chester said the State Parliamentary inquiry also found that the deferral rates were three times higher in regional areas compared to the city.
“The already excessive rates of deferral in regional areas will only increase under the Rudd Government’s proposed changes to Youth Allowance and I am concerned that many students who defer will never return to full-time study to achieve their career ambitions,” Mr Chester said.
“When you consider the skills shortages in regional areas, we should be doing everything in our power to help country kids achieve their full potential.”