August 18, 2009
Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard couldn’t even bring herself to say ‘gap year’ in Parliament yesterday when she was asked to justify her decision to change the rules on students who have already deferred their university studies for one year.
The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said the Minister was clearly embarrassed about the changes to independent Youth Allowance criteria, which will make it more difficult for students currently on their gap year to pursue their university dreams.
“These students on their gap year did nothing wrong. They followed the advice of principals, careers advisers and Centrelink officers and now Julia Gillard is pulling the rug out from under their feet,” Mr Chester said.
“When the Minister was asked in Question Time whether it was fair to change the rules midway through the year, the Minister couldn’t even bring herself to say the words ‘gap year’.
“Even though the question was specifically about fairness to gap year students, the Minister answered with 520 words and didn’t mention gap year students once.”
Mr Chester has previously told Federal Parliament that students were being denied natural justice.
“It is a question of fairness and a question of doing the decent thing by young people who have followed the rules as they existed at the end of the last school year,” Mr Chester said.
“How can we expect young people to respect our democracy and engage in the political process when their first experience after leaving secondary school is to get treated so appallingly by the Rudd Government?
“Even Julia Gillard’s state colleagues recognised in a report tabled in the Victorian Parliament that the proposed changes to independent Youth Allowance eligibility criteria would have a “disastrous effect” on young people in rural and regional areas.
“If the Minister is so confident that her proposed changes will benefit rural and regional communities, she should guarantee students on their gap year that they will not be worse off as a result.
“Given the Minister won’t even mention ‘gap year’ students in Parliament, it’s fair to say that she knows they will be financially penalised and the new income tests won’t make up for the reduction in the allowance that they will receive if they go to university.”