Rural families and in particulay our youth will be potentially impacted by the proposed changes to the Youth Allowance as announced in the recent Federal Budget. In numerous attemps to quantify the amount of income support that our students would be eligible for with the Centrelink Youth & Students line, the infomation is not available, It is one thing to announce new combined taxable income levels, it is another to annouce the amount of income support.

Julie Gilllard needs to answer the questions rural families want to know. How can the Government advertise that nearly 70,000 more students will be assisted with greater financial support when the Government cannot release the figures. How has this Government calculated the figures, are they hiding the facts?

I am really worried about the changes in the budget to the youth allowance for 2010. I'm doing my gap year to earn 18,000 and now my plans for next year are a really big concern for me. My major concern is the altering of the educational contractual arrangement with students undergoing the gap year. I see that the greens have called on the government to increase the youth allowance and to enforce new criteria consistently from 2011 so students aren't caught short. I hope that you will also support the greens and all potential students of 2010!

City students are able to remain at home, with little financial change to their family whist they attend University. Country students, apart from a very few regional centres, have to relocate to the metropolitan area in order to pursue tertiary study. This means establishing a separate residence or attending university residential colleges, which is a significant additional expense to a household. Few “middle Australian” families could afford the $350 per week cost associated with living away from home for rural students to attend university. As a result the participation rates of rural students, who are already under represented in tertiary study, will significantly decline. Once again, country people are being disadvantaged.

I understand that families earning more than $42,599 do not qualify for the youth allowance as well because we are well off.
Well I hate to be the one to burst the goverments balloon but a family of four living on $45,000 is not well off.
Now add to this we live in rural australia (Riverland) where jobs are few and far between how is a student leaving year 12 going to find a job for 30 hours a week for 18 months? Why bother even going to UNI?
It seems we have no water, no jobs, no growth, and now no future for our children...."Well done Rudd and Co!"

Even as a common garden variety teacher it has been a huge strech from a single income to support my son in Sydney for a term while he (luckily )eventually found a job in his gap year.
I couldn't possibly support him for an entire uni degree.In addition he was not eligible for any job search allowance.
I can't believe a labour govt is making it more difficult for country kids to get to uni-sounds more like dumbing down the bush than creating a clever country.
I know there were people abusing the system but how about subsidies/allowances for country kids?-it might even encourage families to move to the country!!

The Bradley review of higher education has dudded country tertiary students. Bradley trumpet's the need to provide more equitable access and retention of regional and remote students to higher education. It bemoans the inequities that currently exist in the system, then it turns around and recommends the shut down of the main method of by which country students can qualify for independent Youth Allowance and therefore get to University. There were no recommendations in Bradley's review as to how country students should be assisted once the scheme was closed down, indeed there was no recognition of the costs to dislocated country families in supporting their students from a distance.

The government has adopted the cost saving Bradley recommendations without doing their homework - without stopping and thinking through the consequences and ramifications of these recommendations on regional and remote students beyond being cost saving measures. If it saves the government money it must be good - is this the bottom line? Are country students futures being sacrificed by this government because of the government's failure do even scratch their heads on this issue. This is poor leadership and bad governance.

Why did the government need the Bradley comments on students incomes? Labour's own Trish Crossin had already completed a Senate Sub-committee report into Student Income Support in 2005 which did a great job of highlighting the issues. Why not act on that? I suspect that Bradley simply wrote the report that governbment wanted her to write. In the paraphrased words of Sir Humphrey Appleby 'don't conduct a review unless you already know the outcome'.

This government must think that we are a bunch of mugs in the country, there are not many labor votes here and they certainly are not working hard to win the hearts and minds of country voters with this current muppet show episode. And maybe they don't care. Julia Gillard, when asked about this question shows little compassion for, and consciousness of country students, and instead of having a good hard look and fixing the flawed and broken Youth Allowance system she goes for the easy option. Kate Ellis won't return our calls and Mr Rudd ignores us

We don't need another inquiry, we have seen plenty of them, and we know how to fix the problem - provide every country tertiary student, if they live more than a distance of say 100 k's from their place of study, (which makes impossible for them to get to Uni every day) with full Youth Allowance. We not asking for a free ride, but some semblance of equity with our city cousins.

If we have to have to have another inquiry then bring it on, but get it away out of the cities and consult with country students and their parents.

The Rudd Government has unfairly and retrospectively removed 2 eligibility criteria for Youth Allowance that thousands of 2008 school leavers are currently working very hard to achieve (in very difficult economic times). My son has been accepted into a rural university - the only offer for his degree he was able to obtain, so while we are based in Sydney, he has to leave home and move to the country for his opportunity for a university education.

My son was advised by Centerlink to take the Gap Year and work to earn the 19K plus required to prove independence. He is now working very hard to achieve this. His plans/dreams have been shattered by the Rudd Governments mistake of making the changes apply from Jan 2010, when he and his thousands of peers who were also advised to do this by Centerlink will not be eligible until May 2010 at the earliest. The university will only let him defer for one year. He may not be accepted into his course in 2011 if he has to let his position for 2010 go.

Please do not forget the many young people from metropolitan Australia who attend rural/regional universities for their tertiary education. They also require food and shelter to survive! They help provide employment, health and vitality to those country towns lucky enough to have these institutions (eg Armidale, Bathurst, Orange, Wagga in NSW)

To Whom It May Concern
Please do not change the rules for Austudy. I made decisions that will affect my life on the rules that were in place. It is totally unfair and un Australian to put new rules into action when myself and thousands like me were doing what was necessary to be eligible for austudy and with the new rules puts all our futures in jeopardy.
I completed year 12 in 2008, I worked extremely hard to achieve my results so I would be able to enter University. Reality hit when I realised it would be financially impossible for me to attend University this year.
My only option was to take a gap year and earn the $18500. I deferred my course and was fortunate enough to find casual work.
I live in rural NSW and have to live away from home to attend UNI. It is impossible to commute.
We are the future of Australia why is the Government making it impossible for us to achieve our goals. Is UNI going to be only for the elite or rich what happened to the Smart country?
How are we going to gain full time employment with no skills and unemployment in the region I live one of the highest in Australia? It will be near impossible.
Please rethink this decision as the consequence it has on me and many others like me is catastrophic. My uni course cannot be deferred for another year which means I lose my place. In the long term not changing the rules will pay off for the government.
Do not abandon the youth we are the future.
Casey Fisher

I think that it is clear that Julia Gillard and Co have absoloutely NO IDEA what it is like to move to another town to study. It is difficult to find a place to rent at an affordable price, as my sister is finding out. She has discontinued her studies because it is impossible to rent, travel, buy food and study on such a low wage. The rental market in Melbourne is the tightest it has ever been.

They should definately put themselves in the shoes of the students who need this rent assistance. Could they continue their way of living if they were forced to survive on the youth allowance? What if they had to continue doing the job they have now, for no wage, and then work to support themselves? What has to be sacrificed? How do you manage?

If I didn't get youth allowance during my study, I could not have finished it. I would not be a teacher now, teaching music at a rural high school, doing something I love. I would still be working the deli counter for casual rates, thinking that that's all I have a right to expect from my life.

Thanks for nothing, Julia.

I think you will find that the Rudd government is mainly doing this as part of a not very well hidden agenda to ensure Australian children don't get an education.

Instead, they are busily training up overseas students in our TAFE colleges and Universities, thereby robbing our children of tertiary places and jobs.

For many years, both State and Federal Labor and Coalition governments have also sought to break the back of the public education system, so that privatisation can occur.

In Queensland, they have done this by withholding adequate funding and downgrading discipline. Instead of building new schools where they are desperately needed, amalgamations of existing schools and the building of superschools is occurring.

I am told this is also the case in NSW and ACT - and very likely throughout the rest of the country.

The Federal government led by John Howard starting giving out 2/3 of the building funds to the private sector educating only 30% of the students, which in effect has given them 4 times the opportunity to build new classrooms/schools.

Private sector schools have been bleeding parents dry for their 50% share of building costs ever since.

I have met private school parents who say they are now having to pay $22,000-$25,000 just to educate one child.

I think any student aged over 18 should have full access to the Youth Allowance at the Away From Home rate, regardless of where their parents live.

Why should young people be considered adults for voting and decision-making purposes, but as children for educational purposes?

For decades, both Coalition and Labor governments have been quite happy to allow children as young as 12 to rebel against their parents and live elsewhere with financial support from the government, which is quite wrong.

It doesn't make any sense to me to empower underage minors financially, while kicking adult students in the guts.

My child too will be affected by this seemingly thoughtless decision. I have run James Cook University in Townsville and was advised that you CANNOT defer a course for more than 12 months. So therefore this means that our rural students from now on will not be able to defer in order to apply for Youth Allowance. The disadvantages and costs are HUGE!

My daughter will also be affected and now doesn't know what to do if the changes go ahead. She worked full time from when she finished school to starting Uni this year, she continues to work one day a week and plans on working all the next summer break to earn the amount to prove independence. She made the decision to start uniand not have a gap year by living at home commuting two and a half hours each way to Uni and living on her savings, earnings and a first year schlorship. The changes don't take into account family circumstances, we have 4 children 3 at Uni and one an apprentice. My daughter made plans and decisions based on the requirements of YA, what options does she have now if the changes go ahead. I urge everyone concerned to rethink and not leave these young people like her disillusioned with the governement.

Dear Senator Joyce,
We wish to add our voices to the outcry - particularly from country people - regarding the recently announced changes to the Independent youth Allowance provisions.
Could we please tell you our story - a not uncommon one in our area!
We are a middle-income family with both parents working, one part-time. We are professional people, both self-employed. We are also employers of over 15 people in our local area.
We have 3 children, one of whom was enabled to complete a degree living away from home (7 hours' drive) purely because he was able to qualify as "independent" by working 6 part-time jobs in his "gap" year. He did NOT sit around or travel for fun in this time! He worked very hard to earn the money needed. Fortunately for him he is now out of Uni and working on his career.
Our second child is currently studying a double-degree at Uni (6 hours' drive from home). She worked 3 jobs including a traineeship (12 months), to earn her Independent status. She did not travel or party all of her gap year either! She will now be RETROSPECTIVELY deprived of her Independent Youth Allowance.
Please note:
- neither of our children would have qualified for their Independent status under the proposed new criterion (ie 18 months' working for 30 hours per week).
- neither of our children would have been able to attend University without severe hardship to our family, if they were dependent and our income was taken into account.

Our third child is currently pursuing a gap year - he had a chance of earning the required amount under the existing rules, by working 2 jobs and selling some of his own graphic design work. He has attempted to find full-time work, or at least more work than he has, but the economic downturn, the drought, and the very nature of where we live (rural town, tourism income which is seasonal) has made it impossible. Consequently he WILL NOT qualify under the new provisions.
- the Labour government has indeed "moved the goalposts" for our son, 6 months AFTER he left school and commenced trying to qualify for independence.
- the Labour government has indeed "moved the goalposts" for our daughter, 2 1/2 years AFTER she left school and 18 months after she DID become independent.

There are a number of points that are important here:
1. Rural areas DO differ from city ones in terms of the availability of employment, especially 30hr per week jobs for school leavers. Most of our young people must work a number of part-time jobs, with the majority of hours being available over the summer months.
2. Rural families want to provide educational opportunities for their children, but tertiary options are not available locally, or are extremely limited.
3. Many of these young people (who incidentally voted for the new government in great hope of a more compassionate and youthful focus!) are now very depressed, their dreams ruined by a thoughtless policy, which seeks to "punish" them and their families for living too far from the major population centres. Many young people of our own acquaintance will now NOT be going to University at all.
4. The result of this new policy may see families who value their children's educatuion having to leave rural areas for good. Once again, rural Australia will suffer the "brain drain" as parents who have professional qualifications, or run businesses (also employing country Australians) must uproot themselves so that their children can have an equal right to the education they deserve.
So much for promoting an educated Australia and upskilling our rural communities!
Apparently the government's reason for the changes is that it is attempting to prevent students from earing the required amount to become independent, then living at home while studying, and receiving a full independent payment.
Therefore, our suggestion is simple:
FOR ALL STUDENTS WHO MUST LEAVE HOME AND ATTEND A UNIVERSITY MORE THAN 1 1/2 hrs FROM THEIR HOMES, REINSTATE the provision where a student can earn the required amount ($19,500 for 2008 school-leaver) in the 18 months after leaving school and become independent of parental income.
This will mean that only students who must leave home to study can use this provision, (unless they are forced out of home by circumstances - this is a seperate category).

Please please please remain strong in your support of our young Australians, especially those in remote and rural areas. It will not be forgotten by the voters of tomorrow.
Vivienne and David Freestone (Pambula NSW)

I really cannot believe that this decision has been made. It would be nice to think that the government elect would assist the young people of our country who are working hard to achieve their goals in life. These young people who will one day become our leaders, our doctors, our teachers etc. Or will they? Under this government and this decision it is clear that the support and the desire to educate our children is just not a high priority. Does this mean bringing in more 'qualified' people from overseas when our children cannot afford to gain degrees in their own LUCKY country. Shame on you all. These young people are the next generation of our wonderful country and you have let them down, you have shattered their dreams. It's absolutely disgraceful. You have not only let down the young students wanting to go to university who were counting on the youth allowance but you have let down the nation as a whole. The government has made the decision for the vast majority of students that they will not attend university. Students that have deferred and been working hard to meet the criteria to receive payments are now left devasted. I really cannot believe that the leaders of a great country like ours could get it so wrong. These changes must never become a reality.

In consideration of the parlous state of education in this country, we all need to think about the contribution of lack of discipline in our homes and schools.

Parents who try to make their children do as they're told are now labelled Child Abusers.

Respect for authority figures (parents, teachers, police) has been taken away and with what effect?

Good teachers have left the education system. "Suggestions" and "choices" have replaced "rules" and "obedience". Children have learned to ignore adults, and their education has suffered.

Then the government pays teenagers to rebel and leave home, instead of providing tertiary education.

Why would the government want to educate our children, when they can offer them as slaves to a global government?

Yes!! I am in year 12 right now, and we too have been forgotten by the changes!!!

MANY UNIVERSITY PLACES CAN ONLY BE DEFFERED FOR A YEAR!!!!

This is the worst thing about this is that under the new criteria, you have to work for at least 18 months to qualify for youth allowance.

HELLO?????????????!!!!! If we do that we LOSE OUR PLACES AT UNI!!!!

Under the old system you just had to earn $19500 or so in a period of 18 months. I was planning to take a year off, earn this money, take my place at uni and then support myself for 6 months for the payments to come in.

Now if i try and gain eligibility for youth allowance, I WILL LOSE MY PLACE AT UNI!!!! HELP!

I think the changes are unfair on the ones that have already planned ahead if they change the ruling then it should not the ones that finished school a year ago and were responsiable enough to plan ahead and have already defered a year already. They cant defer again or they lose their spot they worked hard to get the marks and the place at uni, then work hard a full year in the workforce only to have it ripped away from them. Its alright for Mr Rudd he can afford to pay for his kids too go to uni we cant. M son has sacrificed his family by living 1100 kms away from home and working so he can go to uni next year now its all for nothing. I am really pissed off its disgusting.

Kevin Rudd too has forgotten the sacrifice of New Zealand it seems over the last WW11 Conflict. Yes Kiwis have been sent home back to NZ after losing their jobs in the current economic crisis. Thousands or possibly tens of thousands of families forced to go home or face starvation.



The majority of New Zealand Citizens finding themselves unemployed through either job loss, or even work injury cannot access Centrelink unemployment benefits or any other form of financial assistance.



Regardless of your circumstances, children starving no home due to no money to pay the rent. The Australian Government has used the immigration act through via the Visa section to disallow all benefits to New Zealanders. Further ensuring they can never gain citizenship for them and their children forever. Australians do however get welfare in NZ



Mean spirited? LEST WE FORGET? Indeed we have in the land of a shrimp on the BBQ.



KIWI GO HOME !!!..

Gee, that's terrible, John.

I'd much rather Australia employed its New Zealand cousins and allies than people who come here from countries where slavery and poverty are practised.

Lots of excellent people have also had to return to Europe and the UK - even before the recession hit. Some were highly trained and worked in professions with a shortage of Australian workers (e.g. nurses).

On the education issue, has anyone ever wondered why our Year 12 students here is Brisbane get A WHOLE DAY OFF school every week?

Is it so they can go to work while their studies suffer?

Is it so they can become involved in drugs, sex and alcohol while their parents are at work - instead of getting assignment work done?

Does this have anything to do with the fact we now have the second worst education system in Australia, after the NT?

In recent times, I have seen students of very high potential giving up school for very ordinary, low paid jobs.

Victoria has 45,000 Indians in its TAFE colleges and Universities.

When my second son did his IT degree here in Brisbane at the QUT (1993-1995), half of the faculty were from Asian countries.

Is this telling us anything?

I so admire Barnaby Joyce for standing up to the major parties. I come from a farming background in NSW and feel soooo much for you all. I agree with you. Isn't it funny that it seems to be being made harder for Australian born young to get places at UNIs while the overseas people, who pay alot more are having them saved to make more money. From the last comment they are perhaps having to hire so called skilled immigrants to work there only because they can speak the %#*! language. Dont forget the number of medical Doctors who we have trouble understanding who are having to fill jobs in our system. GEE. Do you think that is as we are not giving Australian young much chance to gain the training at UNI to fill these positions. I guess a $ biased Government is happier when they look in their wallet.Pity about what is happening to Australia. ESPECIALLY THE DECENT ONES IN THE BUSH. I JUST WISH DECENT PEOPLE LIKE MR JOYCE AND MR FIELDING PLUS SOME SMART COUNTRY WOMEN WOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE MORE CONTROL OVER AUSTRALIA BEFORE WE GET PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN. I have another story of lack of justice in this country. But that's another story being passed over by lazy State Govt.

06/06/2009


(Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes)

My name is Jeremiah R and I am gap year student planning to go to university in 2010. I graduated from Darwin High School (NT) in 2008. I am one of many students disadvantaged by the new independent youth allowance (IUA) laws that will take place on the 1 January 2010.

After being told in January 2009 that I can receive independent youth allowance if I earn 19000 plus, I started a registered business teaching breakdancing to young school children. I started working at Gloria Jean’s in hopes to earn 19000 to qualify for Independent Youth Allowance.

I have been accepted into Griffiths University (Gold Coast) to study next year and I have booked accommodation for my period of studies. I have even book flights in July to check my University and the Gold Coast out. After balancing out the books I have earn 10000 dollars, which is half the amount to qualify for Independent Youth Allowance.

However, the changes in Independent Youth Allowance mean that I cannot longer receive independent youth allowance base on the earning 19000 plus, 18 months after leaving school. Instead I must now work 30 hours a week for at least two years to qualify for IUA.

However, the laws come into affect 1th January next year, but there is a catch. You must start studying fulltime at University before 1 January 2010 for the new laws not to affect me. This means students that graduated in November 2008 that have earnt 19000plus must be enrolled fulltime at a university before 1 January 2010. However since most Universities courses start in March next year, many 2008 graduate students (including myself) that took a gap year in 2009 will miss out by two months.

To me this means that I can either start university next year without Independent Youth Allowance or defer another two years and work 30 hours a week for the new criteria.

I cannot start University without independent youth allowance. Therefore I am forced give up my position for my course at University and my accommodation and work until I meet the new criteria.

Also, as a small business owner (ABN: 27 221 022 632), how am I going to prove the amount of hours I put into the business to make it functional? Can researching, Paperwork or travelling be consisted as working hours? I can easily prove the amount of money I have earnt through invoices and my tax declarations.

Now these laws are going to force me to quit my business because I cannot find 30 hours of work per week (even if I can make the 19000 plus). This to me is unfair since I have invested a lot into this business including my time, effort and money.

I believe that the new laws should be introduced no earlier than 1 July 2010 because students like me that graduated in 2008 will miss out just by two months. It is unfair for us gap year students to be told that if we earn 19000plus we will qualify for independent youth allowance and have this promise broke. After months of planning and organising our future at University I am now force to forfeit my position at University to meet these new criteria, thus stuffing up what I have carefully planned so far.

After all Kevin Rudd's election promise was to start an educational revolution, and so far he has been disadvantaging future University Students. Please keep me informed.


Please keep me informed.

Jeremiah R

For some years my son has been working towards his goal which is to become a doctor working in the area of rural, indigenous and tropical medicine. As JCU is the only university offering such a course (if successful) he would need to support himself whilst studying in Townsville (we live in Melbourne).

When considering this possibility he was advised by Centrelink that deferring his tertiary studies for 12 months while working to satisfy the (now) $19,500, would enable him to achieve Independent Student status on Youth Allowance, payable after 18 months from when he exited school. An important consideration given that he would be required to support himself for the duration of the 6 year course.

The knowledge that Youth Allowance was potentially available to him enabled him to plan his long term study, university choice and accommodation arrangements. In short, it made going to Townsville to study a realistic possibility, and this became his goal.

He was fortunate to be offered a place at JCU, and relieved to be allowed to defer, so that he could complete a GAP year (in the UK). We now understand that the government proposes to change the ground rules for qualification for Youth Allowance on 1/1/10; effectively meaning that our son will no longer qualify; which will almost certainly mean that he is no longer able to take up his university place.

We would like to know why the government has chosen to make these changes retrospective. Why disadvantage a cohort of students and their families who implemented plans based on Centrelink advice with no lead in transition period? This appears most unfair.

We appreciate that changes to Youth Allowance may be necessary, but for the sake of our son, for rural families, and for so many others who have planned their futures based on the advice that they were given, we ask that you do all that you can to have the Government delay the implementation date to after May 2010 to enable 2008 students who met the original wages criteria to be considered fairly.

Sarah

This wouldn't be the first time that the federal government has hit the population with retrospectively applied legislation.

Yes, you people must ensure that Kevin Rudd realises that he has indeed created an "educational revolution".

While he continues to educate large numbers of overseas students in our universities and TAFE colleges while allowing Australian students to miss out, Rudd could end up with the kind of revolution he isn't expecting.

Please contact "A Current Affair" or a similar program, and make sure all Australians know about the gross discrimination which our students are suffering. Also contact the papers.

The government clearly wants to make you live with your parents. Their secondary agenda is to ensure that as few Australian students as possible have access to a tertiary education.

If they're raking in huge sums of money from full fee paying students from overseas, they should have plenty of money in the kitty to support Australian taxpayers' young adult children.

fez5stars:

You could try putting all of your travelling time, research and paperwork hours into a ledger, detailing dates and times.

Yes, keep the invoices, tax declarations and anything else you may have that might be useful.

You could give Centrelink a ring for clarification of their requirements. Then write to them and ask again. An answer in writing is worth far more than any phone conversation.

Also write a letter of protest to the Minister, citing discrimination. Perhaps you could also get your federal MP to draft a petition opposing retrospective legislation.

If he's a Labor MP, maybe he won't do it. But it really is quite easy to draft your own petition and get others to sign it. You could also try an on-line petition.

Good luck with it.

My daughter works three jobs. She chose to have a gap year in order to earn the required amount of money so she could get Youth Allowance. We are only modest wage earners and have two other children. So far this year she has earned around $10,500.00 and it looked positive that we would reach the target. The thing which makes me really angry is that I phoned Centrelink shortly after the Budget, only to be told WRONGLY that she would still qualify. It was only after I read more in the paper that I phoned them back to be told that NO she would not qualify. It would seem that the staff at Centrelink are not so well informed themselves. I have today written two very strongly worded letters to our local members pleading with them to have these changes amended so as not to disadvantage this years students. As other people have written, how can you change the rules of the game halfway through. Many gap year kids would have gone off to UNI. if they had known that the goal posts were going to be moved unfairly. They would be one year closer to having their degress finished. We will really struggle without this allowance, I feel very stressed about the whole situation. What incentive for these kids is there. The government want people to work and so these poor kids work their butts off for what reward. The thing which is most unfair is that they have changed the rules half way through. Please everyone keep up the protests, we must not let this slip through under the radar!!!

As other comments have said, it is so unfair to disadvantage this gap years students. They made informed important decisions about their future at the beginning of this year, and the option to have a gap year and earn money would not have been taken lightly. It is a big ask to earn this amount of money, they don't sit around twiddling their thumbs. They should be congratulated for having a go, rewarded for their efforts, not forgotton with the stroke of a pen. Lets all hope that some common sense, decency and compassion will prevail and this decision will not be passed in parliament.

In defence of Centrelink employees, if the federal government is still doing what it did in 1986, we should not be surprised if the wrong information is being given out over the phones.

Back then, people manning the mini-budget hotline were not even given the new information to read before the phones started ringing off the hook.

Added to that, since they were short a telephonist, I was seconded from the Debt Recovery Unit to advise people on changes to pensions, benefits and allowances. I wasn't even familiar with the current status quo, let alone any changes.

In my section, life was more about trying to claw money back, using a toothless tiger.

Thank you Barnaby Joyce for supporting young adults in trying to get an education under dysfunctional Youth Allowance rules and inadeqate income thresholds. I live in the country and my eldest daughter attends university in our regional town. She is 20, a fully autonomous adult, whose only means of financial support is the Youth Allowance (living at home rate of $244 per fortnight as she cannot afford to live anywhere else while a full time uni student) and 12 hours of part time work to supplement that inadequate youth allowance amount. Youth Allowance is a misnomer as she is neither a child nor a youth any longer. She is an independent adult in all ways and under all government legislation, except the terminology of Youth Allowance legislation. She receives no financial support from me, her sole parent, as I am on a single Carer Pension as my youngest daughter is disabled. Twenty year old adults in full time study should be eligible for the independent rate of Youth Allowance where their sole parent is on a pension. She has to work part time to earn money to support herself as $244 per fortnight is not enough and then her youth allowance is reduced because the earnings threshhold of $236 per fortnight is too low (and will not be increased (Maybe) until 2011). That does not offer any help for another 18 months, by which time she will be finished university. And on top of that she has to pay tax on the youth allowance, thus reducing it to amost nil. She needs help now, not in 2 years time. The rhetoric of wanting young Australians from low socio-economic backgrounds to get a degree is not backed up by this current dysfunctional and inadequate Youth Allowance legislation. Most young adults are finished uni by 22 years of age. The age of independence needs to be set at 18 years of age now, the same as legal adulthood, especially if their parent is on a pension.

The Labour Government is not serious about the Education Revolution.

Firstly make millions available for extra University places and then discourage studetns from going by cutting the Youth Allowance. This is a recipe for disaster in Higher Education.

A wise person once said a good teacher will get results holding classes under a tree. So what is the Rudd Government response.

Computers available for every student, which will make students better able to use computers but all of the research into education outcomes that I have seen says using computers reduces the effectiveness of teaching. So big waste of money.

Building a lot of buildings, which will not add to how effective teachers are at doing their job.

The real answer for better education is teacher and curriculum development.

Curriculum needs to be targetted and not flit from one genre to the next. We must move away from the modern trend of students teaching themselves through classroom assignments.

Teacher skills need to be supported and development encouraged.

I do not understand what the government expects rural students to do. Where do I find this job that employs me for 30 hours a week? It doesn't exist. After spending two years completing the HSC could the government please give the young people some hope? Because at the moment it seems the only option we are presented is to join the Defence Force.

Well there has been a very strong drive in recent years to get young people into the Armed Services. Maybe this is part of the plan.

We have 4 daughters, born in four years. As we live in rural Queensland we have insisted that each of them work a gap year, make their $19,000 approx., save as much as possible to pay for the first six months of accommodation at uni in Brisbane and hang in there until they are eligible for youth allowance to kick in the middle of May during their first year. Each has also had to seek out work to pay for any extras, as youth allowance barely covers basic living.

One of our daughters has finished uni and started work this year, two are still at university in Brisbane and the 4th is in her gap year, well on target to make the required amount to qualify for youth allowance.¬ Or so we thought!
We are shocked to find out that the government has changed the rules mid-stream for these kids and their parents – with no phasing in period that accommodates those stuck in the system. The Centrelink website has yet to be updated and still displays the old rules.
No one in Centrelink or government can tell us for sure what the new rules are or will be.
Our 4th daughter will be dangerously close to averaging 30 hours a week since she left school in November 2008, to when uni starts in mid Feb 2010, by doing a defence force gap year with lots of overtime, but I don’t think you are allowed to average the hours. It seems that you have to have actually worked at least 30 hrs each week of 18 months.
If these kids had known the new rules, they may have had a small chance of meeting the requirements in time to start 2nd semester 2010. Most of them have no chance and are facing another year at least (provided they have averaged 30 hrs/wk this year). By this time, of course, they will have lost their place at uni, and their OP status! And will have to apply as mature-aged students.

Some of them would just as soon have preferred to start uni in 2009 without any financial support, as start in 2010 without any financial support!

The real government agenda, of course is to exclude everyone but the very poor from any form of youth allowance at all, with no possibility of ever qualifying over the course of their degree. (It is extremely hard for young kids to get a consistent 30 hours-a-week work. Most work in their age group is casual.)

Youth allowance has basically been transformed into ‘mature age student allowance’ for those who are old enough to have had full time regular jobs.

Does the government want no rural kids to go to university? If you can’t live with your parents, you can’t go to uni until you are ‘old’! (That is 22 years old, when most kids have finished their degree!)

We all know many yuppy families living in cities, whose children have enjoyed all the benefits of living at home and receiving youth allowance – for many it has been a ‘party allowance”. They will be affected very little by this change. Their children will still go to university, regardless.

Country kids won’t!

There is a very big difference between the cost of keeping a kid at home and keeping them at a distance. Rural kids at university usually have no cars, no way to get to work if they could get a job, no network to find jobs or establish housemates in a flat, no buffer-zone that exists in the family home for all the hidden extras.
Living on campus, whilst very expensive, often ends up the cheapest (most successful) option, for the first year at least, until they can establish a network in the city.
What are country kids to do now? Now they are not even eligible for rural youth accommodation allowance, until they qualify first for youth allowance. – Which is virtually impossible?
Even the politicians give themselves a relocation allowance every time they have to leave home!
Unlike the old days, there are very few scholarships available based on merit. Those that are available usually offer around $4500. This is about 1/3 of what it costs to keep a kid at a distance.

The government boasts about filling more university places than ever. What does this mean? Filling them, like a business, with full-fee, up-front HECs-paying, profit-making foreign students?!
.
Rural kids will be replaced by full-fee paying overseas students and the government will boast that the ‘education revolution’ has been successful and quote statistics that don’t do the appropriate breakdowns – they will reap the lucrative profits associated with not funding our local kids, but receiving funds from overseas students.

P.S. Is this really a Labor Government?

well, if a high income is considered 40k, i live in the city and my fathers income is to high for me to recieve full youth allowance, i get 70 a fortnight and with that they expect me to travel 20 mins back and forward every day to look for a job, price of petrol i would be scraping for food, my father may earn a bit but by the time he pays everyday living we are hard up. i ask wise employment if i could do a course because i had a job lined up bit they said no dont oay 4 that stuff.. well if they wont pay 4 a course how am i suppose to do anything.....
nice one rudddddd

I have just one child qualify for YAL as independent (worked for 18 months and earned 75% of award rate). My next child has received the devastating news that she will not qualify for YAL due to the proposed changes for 2010. She is now required to be out of school for 2 years and worked for 30 hrs per week for a period of 18 mths of those 2 years. It will be enforced that is 30 hrs per week for every week of the 18 mth period - the same as it is enforced as 15 hrs per week for 104 weeks under the current criteria. This means you do not even apply for uni as you would have to defer for one year, forfeit your place for the following year and then try and apply again - meaning it is the start of 3rd year post secondary school before you start tertiary education. By that stage, you might as well wait until you are 22 years old and be indpendent on age. The Rudd government has made an abhorrent mistake in penalising the class of 2008 with this decision. This decision, if implemented, should be for January 2011. After all the class of 2008 have already deferred studies to work and earn enough to qaulify. It is them that are being penalised. How does it effect me? We are considered metro for the point of location BUT it takes at least 3 -5 hours daily return commute to attend their uni locations. Living on campus is not an option for our children when they don't receive YAL. As independent YAL, they have options and families do not have to go broke to help our children achieve their dreams. Rudd - MISTAKE - BIG MISTAKE - This is the class of 2008 who have the right to vote you in or out at the next elections. Voice your protest now!

After reading most of these comments ..I am appalled !!
I came from the country years ago and settled just 1/2 km from a well known Uni. My children dont attend Uni at present but may in the near future...gosh they dont know how lucky they are !
My heart goes out to the teens caught up in this, yet again stupid policy introduced by the Rudd govn.
I have no confidence in the Labor govn...they are a total bunch of amateurs!!
The "high profile people" that have become our "government reps" havent got a clue how to run this country and certainly dont give "a hoot" about its people.
Yes it seems all others are put before their own people ..including our NZ cousins ..who should be equal with us.
Thank God for Barnaby ..keep the fight in the arena !!

I am a parent of an 18 year old who worked hard in Yr 12 in 2008 in order to get into the university course he wanted. He achieved this and then decided to defer so that he could work and become eligible for the youth allowance. He will have to live away from home to attend uni (4hours awaay)as we live in the country. There is no university here! Had he known prior to deferring that he is likely to miss out on the allowance, he would probably not have done so as there would have been no point. It is grossly unfair of the government to shift the goalposts and consider taking the youth allowance away from the kids who finished school in 2008. If this decision is deferred for another year at least the next lot of school leavers will know where they stand and will be able to make informed decisions about their future

I was the proud parent of an 18 year old son last year when he gained entery into university to study engineering. He had some casual work during Year 11/12 but this could not be continued after the start of uni.
We had to extend our morgage to buy a car and put it on the road for him just to get to uni as it would have taken well over 2 hours travellling on public transport one way just to get to a lecture. His first semesyer text books were over $500 and now we are paying him nearly $150 a week just to help him with petrol and other associated costs for his education!!
We earn well over the threshold for any assistance.....yet we can hardly afford to pay our running costs associted with our family and home. And we live very frugally.
How can a person that is able to go to war if called be treated like this!
Everyday I see families with small children getting income support...they have money to go on holidays, new cars etc.
My generation of women have had to work to keep the family affloat and are now paying large amouts of tax to provide younger women and families the prividge to stay at home with their children.
If I can't have any monies to help my child thru university then I want some of the $25,000 that my husband and I pay in tax back to help my family and NOT everyone else's!!

Can't the government see that the proposed changes to youth allowance are grossly unfair to rural kids? Kids who are truly living independently when they leave home to go to university and NEED money to survive.There is a huge financial difference between supporting a kid at home and supporting him/her away. Many simply will not be able to go without youth allowance.

No country kids at uni, means no future rural doctors, teachers, nurses etc. (We all know how hard it is to get city-grown professionals to move outside the 10km inner-city radius!)

By the way, when is the government going to tell the 2008 school leavers, currently slogging away in good-faith in their gap-year jobs what the new rules are?
The centrelink site still tells them they are eligible! As late as last week, worried kids in our town went into the local centrelink office to clarify the situation and were still told they would be eligible if they earned the $19,500 in 18 mths etc. etc.!
Are they to go ahead, use their savings so far, to book their first semester accomodation etc, ready for uni in February, only to be told in January that they are screwed?

As much as I do feel compassion for 2008 school leavers on "gap year", I feel that there are many more minority groups within the community who who will now fall between the gaps, such as myself. Labor has now made an attempt to support gap year students during the transition period, though this is still fraught with means tests which are rigid and biased. I completed my HSC in 2005, since then I have pursued what the Australian culture values and traveled and worked around the world, all the while financially supporting myself. I have well exceeded the previous means test salary requirements though I do not meet the 30 hours of work per week for 18 months requirements as I was regularly on breaks traveling.

But that's not all of course, I have been undertaking a part time tertiary preparatory course this year to qualify me to enter university next year. Though without youth allowance I know I cannot work enough to support myself throughout my challenging degree.

Also, I think that there is this ridiculous attitude within the community that if you live in a city, you live with your parents. I live in a city where there is a university but I choose to move to Sydney to attend the university of my choice. Staying in my parents house in the city I currently live in is not an option,that is unless I want to be deemed clinically insane within the year. Some may find this hard to believe (insert sarcastic tone)... but being 22 years old and being told I should live with my parents is an atrocity. Ive lived around the world, earnt in excess of $60 000, vote (Unfortunately for Labour, though maybe now I can retrospectively change that), drink alcohol, can get married, can buy a house, could be the CEO of a company if I pleased, though somehow im not stamped independent by the governments new standards?

In short, my two year plans of attending University next year are also shattered. Ill now wait even longer and in the meantime Ill take my tax paying dollars to another country until this government deems me an adult.

Barnaby
Please don't give up on this issue.
If the current 2 year requirement stays re Youth Allowance we will be looking to re-locate to Melbourne where we have 3 children studying and the 4th. in Year 12 this year. In the new scheme, if you don't qualify for YA you don't qualify for any other allowances - is this fair? Our daughter renting in a share house of 5 in Melbourne pays all of YA in rent. My friends' daughter pays nothing - she lives at home. Another anomaly - if your area in the country is covered by Exceptional Circumstances you will get YA automatically -if your parents are farmers - regardless of income. If you are not farmers the means test is applied. Is this fair?

While I understand the situation of country students (I was bought up in a town of less than 1000 people and had to move to the city and work several years before I could afford to attend university) the government seems to have forgotten entirely the city students they have betrayed by changing the rules for those already undertaking a gap year. My son is working hard full-time so that he can move next year to attend university. While we only live an hour and a half from the University this would still mean three hours travel a day if my son was to stay at home (more likely four hours as the public transport never runs on time). Furthermore, it seems to have escaped most people that city accommodation is very expensive and we do not all live in big houses. My children share bedrooms (which they also use to study). This was difficult enough when studying for the HSC but would be even more difficult when studying at university. My son took a legitimate option to turn down a scholarship and work for 12 months to qualify for youth allowance, allowing him to live close to the University (saving three hours travel time a day) and also to have his own room in which he could study. The fact that the government could make the changes effectively retrospective is unreasonable. There is no guarantee that my son will be offered another scholarship next year and he has already paid a non-refundable deposit for on-campus accommodation. Thus in effect he is out of pocket several thousand dollars after making a decision based on centre link advice. As I said while I understand the country students’ situation, it should not be assumed that city students are not affected. I strongly support country students having better support to attend university however the rules should not have been changed in a retrospective manner.

I am too a rural student about to complete my HSC.
I have been asked to attend a Senate Committee hearing tomorrow in Canberra to discuss my concerns and needs. They are all similar to the concerns listed above. I will try my best to get us rural and regional students to University. Dont give up everyone, i should be studying for my HSC but have to travel for the day. Everyone needs to stay dedicated

This allowance was given to a DoCS child who was performing excellently in private education , a Manly surf life saver was working part time and about to be a model , WANTING FOR NOTHING.
DoCS INTERFERED AND GAVE HER $380 per fortnight that she now wastes of smokes and is now a complete education failure. DoCS POLICY ISTO RETURN A CHILD TO THEIR MOTHER IRRISPECTIVE OF DRUG USE.
GRANDFATHER

My daughter is wishing to enroll in a Bachelor of Nutrition course at university. As she lives in Hobart and the Tas uni does not offer a course in this area she will have to travel to the mainland to study. If the course were offered here, she would happily stay at home, work part time and affordably be supported by her parents. However she does not have this choice available to her if she wants to become a Nutritionist. As we are hard working middle class citizens and have a reasonable combined income, she will not qualify for a youth allowance unless she works full time for 18 months. This assumes that she will be able to find full time work and will require her to defer a course for at least 18 months. This also assumes that the course she will hopefully enroll in will allow deferment for that amount of time. Supporting a student in another state is a very expensive business even if they are able to work part time as well. Surely there is a fairer system where students who cannot study a course in their own state or region because it just is not offered can get some support as well!!!

I am a 23 year old student on Youth Allowance, and I have a brother who will find his next year moving from a regional area to the city for uni very difficult. Moving away is his only option if he is going to study in his chosen field. However, despite taking a gap year, there is no chance he'll get Youth Allowance with these changes, despite the fact he'll have to move 14 hours drive from home to go to the uni of his choice. In any case, I do not think that the Student start-up scholarships are a suitable alternative to the Commonwealth Accommodation scholarships. I agree that something needs to change; I've been struggling as an independent student living off YA and the small amount I am allowed to earn for the past 2 years, but I don't think the proposed changes are the answer. Please, do what you can to make education for rural and regional young people feasible rather than a real struggle, by making sure the Youth Allowance changes help us rather than hinder us.

What happened to our rights to free education as stated in the constitution

I've got to say I am furious that you have failed to pass the bill allowing the changes. As the system stands now, my son is eligable for $4443 this year in youth allowance and rent assistance. Under the new scheme he would be eligable for $16420. And yes we are country people. Please tell me how he is supposed to live in Melbourne on less than $100 a week.

for our youths sake. Pass the bloody bill!!!!!!!!!

I've got to say I am furious that you have failed to pass the bill allowing the changes. As the system stands now, my son is eligable for $4443 this year in youth allowance and rent assistance. Under the new scheme he would be eligable for $16420. And yes we are country people. Please tell me how he is supposed to live in Melbourne on less than $100 a week.

for our youths sake. Pass the bloody bill!!!!!!!!!
and now I have entered this and find you will only put up comments with your approval. Bet a weeks wages you dont post this one

I live rural and went straight to university from school. I have not made the 19000(made around 8g) so i am not independent. My parents earn too much for me to get any kinda of dependent income and yet with other 2 other kids and heaps of debts can't afford to pay my rent. So i am just screwed racking up 4hours a day in travel to uni. I can take the other alternative and work to pay for my accomodation, which then means life is a combination of study, work and pills to remain awake along with bad marks. F%$^ you centrelink.

I am reading only the negatives re gap years and seeking independence. But have you all forgotten about the enormous amount of dependent children that are missing out on their youth allowance because of the opposition to the bill? The changes to thresholds will allow more children to stay dependent but receive the allowance. We are a family , both working with an income of $75000 total. We have 4 children, 18, 16 and two close to 16 year olds. My daughter has just commenced today her O week away from home. Yes she is a country kid!!
We encouraged her to follow her dreams and this meant going to the city to study a course not available in the country anywhere. We did this with the new changes in mind. She is now in a position that we are panicking about. The new legislation would have meant she could receive the scholarships to assist her with books and relocation, also a fortnightly allowance to help her pay rent and live. We would still have to help a bit but without it we are trying to work out how to come up with about $500 fortnight to help her. We don't lead a fancy life, we just live and support our children. The new youth allowance reforms were the only way she could move away and study her course. Why did you oppose it?
There are many more students missing out right now because of this than those missing out because of their gap year incomes. Look at the bigger picture and have a heart. Stop playing politics with kids lives.

Dear Mr Joyce,

Hello there. Whilst the changes will mean that some regional students will need to work for an additional 6 months full time to be eligible, the parental income test will have a far greater threshold, meaning those who really do need support from centrelink, regional AND metropolitan, can and will get it. My parents earn over the current amount, but cannot afford to support me financially at all. So, because of your bloody politics, when I could have actually had some moola from Jan 1 this year, I am instead living off the $40 odd a week that I earn in the Army Reserves.

Cheers, mate, and say hi to all of your friends in the Senate for me.

Rohan.

Hello, Just wanted to comment that our son is in his 3rd year at University doing a double degree over 4 years. We have applied for every Scholarship available to him and NOTHING!! He receives $468 Youth Allowance per fortnight and out of that he pays $402 per fortnight living on campus, which in turn leaves him with $33 per week to live on! Food, Uni Books, Transport, Clothing etc, etc, etc. Pitiful! We help him out as much as possible but with our other son currently in Yr 12 and looking to go to Uni next year too, our so called savings will be $0 before we know it. These new Scholarships need to be put into place ASAP to help people out who are in a similar position to our son/us - we have to live, eat, wear clothes etc as a family too. Don't you politicians understand..............It's bloody hard!!