The Federal Opposition says the Government can no longer ignore demands to roll back some of its changes to Youth Allowance eligibility criteria.
The Government changed the criteria for students accessing the support payments, making a distinction between those who live in outer regional areas and inner regional areas.
The Opposition says the new system makes it harder for students in larger country towns to access university.
The Lower House has already passed a motion calling on the Government to scrap some requirements for young people living in inner regional areas.
The Coalition also appears to have the numbers for Senate legislation to reverse the changes, after securing support from independent Senator Nick Xenophon.
Nationals Senator John Williams says the Government is now very isolated on the issue.
"There's been a majority vote - I think it was 73-71 - when this request for the inner regions went through the House of Representatives," he said.
"If we can get the majority vote through the Senate then surely the Government must act, when both houses have voted for the inner regions to be included in the old scheme."
Senator Williams says the Government will pay at the ballot box if it ignores both houses of Parliament.
"You cannot govern without regional seats, so if the Labor Party's going to disregard those people in larger centres, the inner regions, preventing them from getting a tertiary education, then they'll simply pay at the polling booth," he said.
But Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans says the Government's package directs more support to students from low-income families.
He says the Coalition is walking away from an agreement on the legislation and its policies would cost more than $300 million.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/28/3102625.htm?section=justin
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