Support needed for students stuck in Youth Allowance limbo, Crook

Author: Tony Crook
Published on: 28-February-2011

Federal Member for O’Connor Tony Crook MP has today called on the Government to support an amendment that will see students living in inner-regional areas have access to Independent Youth Allowance sooner before 2012.

Mr Crook said while the Government had acknowledged that inner-regional students were given a raw deal, students commencing university in 2011 would not benefit from the Youth Allowance reforms.

"The current Youth Allowance eligibility will see those students who took a gap year in 2010 going into university in 2011 without a fair level of support," Mr Crook said.

"These students are stuck in Youth Allowance limbo. They can’t qualify under the current unfair Youth Allowance criteria, and they are attending university too soon to benefit from any changes to Youth Allowance."

The amendment, moved by Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training, Christopher Pyne MP, calls on the Government to bring forward the eligibility criteria for inner-regional students to access Youth Allowance in 2011 under the same criteria as those students in outer-regional areas.
 
Mr Crook said he welcomed the amendment and hoped the Government would recognise the benefits of this proposal to regional families.

"I appreciate that the Government is working on reforms for students commencing university in 2012, but to me it seems unfair that a whole group of students have to miss out on Government assistance because they were born a year earlier," Mr Crook said.
 
"The discussion we had last week in the House of Representatives was about creating a fairer and more equitable youth allowance system for all, not just those attending university next year."

Mr Crook said the current situation needed to be rectified.

"Senator Fiona Nash recently passed a similar Bill through the Senate, and while I acknowledge that Bill was deemed unconstitutional, this amendment is clearly an opportunity for the Government to recognise the will of the House and ensure these necessary changes are made.

"I fully encourage the Government to support this amendment and deliver more equitable access to Youth Allowance for all regional students, whether they are inner-regional, outer-regional or remote."

Mr Crook said he had received a significant amount of feedback after last week’s Youth Allowance announcement, and said he planned to make a submission to the Youth Allowance review on behalf of families and students living in O’Connor.

See this article on the member's website