Department officials today confirmed during senate estimates there is still no help for struggling cattle families in meeting their children’s education costs.
The effects of the Labor government’s temporary ban on live cattle exports in June are still being felt by families including those trying to educate their children.
The impact on education costs was raised weeks ago during a senate inquiry into the live exports, as well as the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) which has written to the Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, seeking assistance.
“Not only has the ICPA heard nothing from the Minister, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) today confirmed there is still no help for families who are struggling to pay for school fees or to home tutor their children,” the Coalition’s Regional Education spokesperson, Senator Fiona Nash, said.
Examples provided by the ICPA include:
- Parents with two children at boarding school are facing the prospect of having to bring them home to study via distance education or board in Katherine, which will be highly disruptive for their final years of school.
- Parents with one child doing pre-school via distance education and another younger child experiencing behavioural difficulties in the school room, are experiencing health concerns, which is in turn affecting their children’s education.
- Other parents are unable to afford and therefore send their two young children to school functions or trips, and can no longer save money towards their secondary schooling. The mother who home tutors the children found that the additional stress is impacting her ability to be an effective teacher, leading to poorer scholastic results.
- Parents with two children at university can no longer afford to support them. The money has had to be directed to cattle production costs without any prospect of income from the cattle. Both students have had to find additional work in order to supplement their meagre incomes.
“There are cases where the spouse, usually the wife, is now required to help with outside duties rather than home tutoring their children. Nor can they afford to employ help,” Senator Nash said.
“And we learn today during senate estimates that there is no immediate prospect of such help being provided to them.”
A DAFF official initially indicated families could use the $5000 and $20,000 business assistance payments to help with education costs. It was then retracted.
DEPT: I apologise to the committee for the error. As I did indicate we looked at overall pressures or recognise there would be overall pressures on businesses, school fees and those sorts of things were raised in discussions. I’m not sure that we did a particular specific piece of work of looking at those things and I think as I indicated earlier we wanted to provide assistance into the business and there was some potential for that to flow through to things like school fees and so on. But I was incorrect in the statement I made.
NASH: Just to make it absolutely clear neither the $5000 or $20,000 can be used for school fee payments for financial hardship
DEPT: Senator they are assistance for…
NASH: Yes or no
DEPT: …the level of receipts or anything required for the $5000 is virtually nil. The $20,000 is checked against receipts but essentially is business related
NASH: Ok so that’s a no, it can’t be used for school fees…ok, so that was a nod for Hansard. Very quickly then, also would I assume then that any costs for having to employ a governess for a child doing the School of the Air because the spouse was no longer able to be in the house, because of outside duties, because of the inability to pay for say a worker, that would not be..
DEPT: I would expect the direct costs associated with a governess …
NASH: …wouldn’t apply either (DAFF official agreed).
“The Gillard government inflicted this hardship on cattle families in suspending live exports and yet has done nothing to ease the stress by helping with education costs,” Senator Nash said.
“I can assure the government that these families will say the education of their children is just as important as their business.
“Providing immediate assistance is the very least the Gillard government can do.”
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