August 25, 2009
Country students are being urged to email Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard after she gave the first signs that she is likely to renegotiate her position on Youth Allowance.
Ms Gillard yesterday met with students in Canberra in what she described as a “formal listening exercise.”
Reports today suggest the Minister will delay the changes so that students who finished year 12 last year and deferred their studies this year to qualify for independent Youth Allowance will not be disadvantaged.
The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has been an outspoken advocate for students, presenting more than 50 case studies to the Minister to highlight the disadvantage being caused by the Youth Allowance changes. Mr Chester also presented a petition to Federal Parliament of more than 5,000 signatures, calling on the Government to protect current gap year students.
“These students acted in good faith, on advice from Centrelink and their careers teachers, when they decided to defer their studies for one year and work to qualify for independent Youth Allowance,” Mr Chester said.
“Many have told me they cannot afford university without receiving the independent rate as they had planned – effectively their university dreams were being ripped from under them,” Mr Chester said.
Mr Chester called on Julia Gillard to “do the decent thing” and immediately announce that she would not change the rules on gap year students mid-way through.
“Julia Gillard might call it a “formal listening exercise” but she has refused to listen to backbenchers from across Australia as we told and re told stories from our local communities during the past three months,” Mr Chester said.
“She gagged debate in Parliament last week when we again tried to convince her of the disadvantage these changes would cause.
“It is time for Julia Gillard to stop playing politics with these students’ future and give them the certainty to pursue their university career.”
Mr Chester urged Gippsland students and families to send emails directly to the Education Minister this week to reiterate the urgency of their situation.
“Supporting those students who have already been accepted into university and cannot attend because of cost barriers, that is the first step,” Mr Chester said.
“Looking to the longer term, we need to review the level of support more generally for regional students.
“I’m told by local school teachers that students are becoming despondent, knowing that because of these changes to Youth Allowance they will not be able to afford to attend university.
“There needs to be greater recognition of the additional cost that is borne by families from regional areas supporting a student through university.
“We need to invest in developing skills of regional students to assist with skills shortages in areas like medicine and engineering.
“It is well documented that we have shortages of doctors, nurses and engineers are we are more likely to address this situation if we train local people who have links to Gippsland.”