[Greens-Media] Hanson-Young: Greens call on Government to turn Youth Allowance rhetoric into action in wake of roundtable

[Clark, Gemma (Sen S. Hanson-Young)]

Sunday 23 August 2009

Greens call on Government to turn Youth Allowance rhetoric into action
in wake of roundtable

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Deputy Prime Minister's Youth
Allowance roundtable on Monday should spur the Government to back the
Greens' amendments to the proposed changes to student income support.

The workforce participation eligibility criterion used by many young
people from rural and regional areas to qualify for the independent rate
of Youth Allowance through a 'gap year' is scheduled to end on January
1, 2010, due to May Budget measures.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for Education, said the Greens
will move amendments to the Youth Allowance eligibility criteria to
better support students from rural and regional areas who have no choice
but to leave their parents' home to pursue higher education.

"At a minimum, current gap year students working towards qualifying as
independent via the work eligibility criteria should be accommodated, by
the cut-off date being amended to January 1, 2011," she said.

"The Greens further recommend that a new eligibility criterion be
created to accommodate geographically disadvantaged students, who can
adequately prove to Centrelink that they have had to move out of their
family home to go to university or TAFE.

"For months now the Greens have been calling for the Government to
reconsider their rash decision to block thousands of young people from
qualifying for the independent rate of Youth Allowance that they have
already been working towards, and hope that Monday's roundtable signals
a willingness to better accommodate students' needs.

"The Greens have been standing up for the young people affected by the
proposed changes to Youth Allowance since Budget Week, hosting the first
delegation of gap year students in federal parliament so they could
raise their concerns directly with their representatives, visiting
students, parents and teachers in regional towns to hear their stories,
and moving for a Senate Inquiry.

"The thousands of signatures on the Greens' petition is just a sample of
the families affected by the proposed changes to Youth Allowance, and it
is heartening that the Government has finally started to listen to them.

"The Greens are glad that the plight of current gap year students and
aspiring students from rural and regional Australia is finally being
heard by the Deputy Prime Minister."

The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee's Inquiry
into Rural and Regional Access to Secondary and Tertiary Education
Opportunities, established by Senators Hanson-Young and Nash, is due to
report back by 29 October 2009.
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/rural_and_regional_educ
ation/tor.htm

Media contact: Gemma Clark on 0427 604 760