Gary's Speeches

Student - Youth Allowance Changes

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The changes to the youth allowance that passed through the Senate last week have left most of the students in my electorate who intend to go on to tertiary education feeling completely abandoned. They have been terribly let down by the former Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation, the Minister for Regional and Rural Development.

The minister has sat back and done nothing to assist country students who are now classed as inner regional and will be treated exactly the same as capital city students. These students will now be forced to work 30 hours a week over 18 months under the new rules that apply to eligibility for youth allowance.

The new agreement, which passed through the Senate last week after intense negotiation by the federal coalition, was a major backflip that gave students in outer regional, remote and very remote areas access to youth allowance under the old rules, meaning they only have to work 15 hours a week over two years.

In my electorate of Narracan Erica and Rawson are the only two towns that are classed as outer regional.

On many occasions in this house we have heard the minister brag about her initiatives to stem the dropout rate of country students from tertiary study, and yet she has done nothing to influence her federal colleagues on behalf of country Victorian students on this issue. Just like the minister's increase in TAFE fees, which is really having an adverse impact on country students, this change in youth allowance is another blow and a disincentive to take on further study. I challenge the Minister for Regional and Rural Development to do something positive for country students instead of sitting back and watching their educational opportunities disintegrate because she just does not care.