Youth Allowance Review fails regional students, Crook
Author: Tony Crook
Published on: 20-September-2011
Federal Member for O’Connor Tony Crook MP has condemned the Federal Government for ignoring the concerns of regional students and their families as part of the Youth Allowance Review due to be tabled in Parliament this week.
Mr Crook said the recommendations of the Review offered no changes to assist regional students living in O’Connor when accessing higher education.
“The current Youth Allowance criterion offers no flexibility for students who for one reason or another fall outside the box.
“The Federal Government has missed a real opportunity to address the issue of access to Youth Allowance, and has seriously let down our regional students by failing to address this one-size-fits-all mentality.”
Mr Crook said some of the State’s brightest young minds were being disadvantaged by the current Youth Allowance criterion.
“I spoke with a student who was Dux of her high school in 2009, yet she has been unable to attend university due to the significant financial barriers involved with moving away from her family and living in the metropolitan area.”
Mr Crook said emotions would be running high as a result of the Review outcomes.
“Regional students and their families have been waiting in limbo for the past six months for the outcome of this Review, and I can only imagine the disappointment they must be feeling.
“I have had parents on the telephone to my office in tears because they could not afford to help their children attend university. Breaking the bad news to these families will not be easy.”
Trish Leake, a mother from Pingelly, said she was incredibly disappointed with the Review outcome.
“The Youth Allowance system, as it stands, utterly discriminates against regional families,” Ms Leake said.
“It continues to disadvantage our regional students - forcing them to be less educated than their city counterparts - and has profound social impacts on regional Western Australia.”
Mr Crook also condemned the Federal Government’s decision to abolish the Rural Tertiary Hardship Fund.
“This fund was a last-chance for regional students to access a one-off payment to help them attend university, yet the Federal Government is abandoning this scheme.”
Mr Crook acknowledged that inner-regional students would gain from the Review.
“Students living in inner-regional areas of WA will be able to access Independent Youth Allowance under fairer criteria from January 1, 2012.”
Mr Crook played a key role in negotiations with the Federal Government earlier this year to bring forward a Youth Allowance Review to address the concerns of regional families.
See this article on the member's website