Students in limbo after youth allowance changes defeated
Many young people will now have to wait more than twelve months or even longer before the Government gets around to addressing the inequity in the current youth allowance system.
Last week the Government announced that they would review the provisions for regional students wanting to access independent youth allowance by July 2011 with a view to make changes sometime after January 2012.
A Coalition amendment would have allowed inner regional students to access youth allowance under the same criteria as rural and remote students from July 2011, but it was defeated in the House of Representatives today.
Labor, the Greens and Independent Members for Denison, Lyne, and New England did not support equal access to independent youth allowance for students in their electorates.
The Government’s plan to bring in changes sometime next year means an entire cohort of students who finished school in 2009 and are in the middle of a gap year will be left in limbo indefinitely.
There are no guarantees that provisions enacted after 2012 will be retrospective allowing these students to ever apply for independent youth allowance.
While the Coalition applauds the Member for O’Connor, Tony Crook who has consistently supported all attempts to remove regional inequity, it remains disappointing that this measure was not supported by other regional independents.
Yesterday, the Senate passed another Coalition motion which also called on the Government to enact this amendment. We will not be giving up on our efforts to ensure regional youth have equal access to independent youth allowance.
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