Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about a very serious problem concerning this and future generations of country students. These are year 12 graduates who seek to have a university education. At the commencement of my remarks I would like to present two petitions with over 850 signatories.

The petition read as follows—

To the honourable The Speaker and members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of Australia, draws the attention of the house to their opposition to the proposed changes to Youth Allowance criteria announced in the 2009 Federal Budget. These changes will mean country students cannot afford to live away from home to access Higher Education.

• Students with no prior experience or qualifications will be forced into a difficult job market and many will simply not find work for a minimum 30 hours per week for at least I months in a two year period as proposed.
• Most universities only allow students to defer for 12 months. Rural students needing youth allowance support through university, may be forced to reapply for their positions all over again as a mature age student. Universities only offer limited mature age places.
• There are limited mid year intakes.

We therefore ask the House to review the proposed changes so that country students can access university.

from 719 citizens

Petition received.

The petition read as follows—

To the honourable The Speaker and members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of Australia, draws the attention of the house its opposition to the current changes in Youth Allowance criteria, which will severely disadvantage country students living away from home to study in the following ways.

• Country students can not live at home while they gain qualifications- footing the cost of $15,000 to $20,000 to be at university
• Students with no prior experience or qualifications are forced into difficult job market and many will simply not find near full time work for the time and amount required.
• Most universities only allow students to defer for 12 months. Rural students needing youth allowance support through university, may be forced to reapply for their positions all over again as a mature age student. Universities only offer limited mature age places.
• There are limited mid year intake.

We therefore ask the House to review the proposed changes so that country students have the ability to attend university.

from 131 citizens

Petition received.

These are signatures gathered from my area of northern Victoria. The signatories are attesting to the fact that:

• Country students can not live at home while they gain qualifications- footing the cost of $15,000 to $20,000 to be at university
• Students with no prior experience or qualifications are forced into difficult job market and many will simply not find near full time work for the time and amount required.
• Most universities only allow students to defer for 12 months. Rural students needing youth allowance support through university, may be forced to reapply for their positions all over again as a mature age student. Universities only offer limited mature age places.
• There are limited mid year intake.

I want to back up those petitioners, men, women, grandparents, gap-year students, year 12 leavers and teachers themselves, with the actual data, which I hope this government will pay attention to, in relation to what is happening in regional Australia, particularly my area, about students’ aspirations for a university education. I am using data which has been generated by the state government, the Office of Planning, Strategy and Coordination and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. These are the reasons for not studying after completion of year 12 given by students in the Goulburn-Murray area of Victoria.

In the Goulburn-Murray area 47.8 per cent were not going on to study because they needed to qualify for youth allowance. That is 47 per cent compared to only 24 per cent in the state. Financial pressure on their families was a reason why 43 per cent were not going on. That compares to only 26.4 per cent statewide. The costs of study were stopping 45.9 per cent of the students going on, compared to only 31 per cent in Victoria as a whole. The cost of travel affected 26.8 per cent compared to only 20.9 per cent across the whole of the state. Too much travel—this was what was stopping students going to university—was cited by 23.9 per cent compared to only 22 per cent in the state. ‘They would have to leave home,’ 34.9 per cent compared to only 18 per cent for the state. ‘The course is not offered locally,’ was 45.7 per cent compared to only half that number across the state—22 per cent across the state.

The reasons students cited for leaving before year 12 in the Goulburn-Murray area were: ‘Financial pressure on the family,’ 40 per cent compared to only 21 per cent across the state—so double the number left school early because of financial pressures; ‘The cost of study,’ 30 per cent—30 per cent of students left school early because of the cost of study; and ‘The course is not offered locally,’ 33 per cent compared to only 12 per cent across the state.

Those statistics are bald. They are absolutely, obviously the reasons why we are so desperate as a coalition to have the independent youth allowance measures overturned—the measures that this government is trying to introduce, which will spell the end for even more country students who aspire to a university education. It is shameful that the government do not genuinely believe in social inclusion, in equal opportunity, in access to education for all. Just the other day the University of Melbourne chose to close down its agriculture course at Dookie, a regional college that has been operating in my electorate for over a hundred years. That is the sort of thing that is going on. So in the future agricultural students will have to go to Parkville, Melbourne, to study. They will not be able to afford to under this government’s new regime. Shame on this government.

Look at those statistics. We desperately need support for rural students who have the cost of education and living away from home. Why should Australians who pay their taxes in rural and regional Australia be denied an education? It will mean that future professionals, born and bred in the country, will be fewer on the ground. There will be even greater skills shortages amongst the health service professionals, teachers and surveyors. Country professionals will not be there in the future because they have not been born and bred beyond the tram tracks. They will be city based because that is where they did their studies and where they grew up. I say again: shame on the government. I would have thought they would have had a greater sense of social inclusion. Quite clearly, they have not. (Time expired)