Thousands of regional students slugged by Rudd’s Uni rip off, Senate reveals

Tough questioning in Senate Estimates on Thursday prompted education bureaucrats to concede 3000 students undertaking their gap year work have been caught up in the Rudd Government $1.8 billion axe to Youth Allowance. “Although the Department estimated a figure of 3000, it was clear from the vague responses given by the public servants and the Minister that no analysis had been done on the negative impact on regional Australia,” Senator Nash said. “The consequences are serious. The Government should have done its homework, and it should now rectify its mistake instead of just sitting back and accusing the Nationals scare mongering.” “The Senate Estimates revelations show that far from running a scare campaign, the Nationals recognise this as a real problem and are working constructively to fix it.” The Budget’s $1.8 billion funding cuts tighten the qualification criteria for the Independent rate of the Youth Allowance and slash accommodation allowances. Senator Nash said both changes particularly disadvantaged students from regional areas. “The new requirement is that students work at least 30 hours every week to become eligible, but since much of the work available to students in regional areas is seasonal, they will struggle to qualify. “That is why more than 300 people have already signed the online petition at www.uniripoff.org.au.” “The public servants were unable to give regional breakdowns of the number of students caught up in Labor’s Youth Allowance net, but as I said in the Senate, 3000 is 3000 too many.” “The fact Labor’s few MPs from regional Australia, including Justine Ellit (Richmond), Janelle Saffin (Page) and Mike Kelly (Eden Monaro), have remained silent proves they are more concerned with their careers in Canberra than the welfare of families in their electorates” Senator Nash concluded. Contact: Murray Lees, media adviser, 0417 406 338

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