In a win for students in ‘inner regional’ towns like Beaufort, Hamilton, Port Fairy and Warrnambool the Coalition’s motion aimed at ending the discriminative criteria for Independent Youth Allowance was passed in Parliament this morning.
The motion from the Coalition called on the Labor Government to support regional and rural students by reinstating the former workplace criteria for ‘Inner Regional’ students.
I welcome the Parliament’s support for the motion, in particular the support from the Independents and look forward to working with them to remind the Government of its promises and keep rural and regional interests firmly on the agenda.
The Independents joined the Coalition and recognised the discrimination the Labor Government is inflicting by giving access to Independent Youth Allowance to some regional and rural students but not to others.
However the Melbourne based Green’s MP Adam Bandt voted with Labor against the motion proving that Labor and the Greens, despite their hollow claims, have no concern about issues that are vital to country communities.
The Parliament has spoken and it’s the Labor Governments responsibility to listen and change the legislation to allow all regional and rural students the same access to Independent Youth Allowance.
We have the evidence that rural and regional students are far less likely to gain tertiary qualifications when compared to their city cousins and that gap is widening under the current Labor Government.
Our Government should be working hard to give more support, not less, to country students who want to gain a tertiary qualification.
On this basis I believe that support programs for country students need to be comprehensively reviewed to end the disadvantage our students face.
Today’s outcome sends a strong message to Prime Minister Julia Gillard that the changes she made while Education Minister were unfair and have seriously restricted the educational opportunities for rural and regional students.
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