Gillard to meet financially strapped students
JESS O'Callaghan, 18, is working four jobs but still does not qualify as financially independent under federal budget changes that have turned her university plans upside down.
A government decision to make it tougher to qualify for the youth allowance based on work history has left the high school graduate from Port Macquarie, on the NSW mid-north coast, with a place at the University of Melbourne next year but without funds to support her there.
"I was pretty disappointed in the lack of faith the government had in my generation, that they'd be able to slip it through without us noticing," Ms O'Callaghan said. "There's a tiny group of us who have been really harshly affected by the change."
She and other students who took a gap year to push their working hours and earnings to the levels required for youth allowance eligibility will meet Employment Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra today to lobby for a deferral of the January 2010 start date for the new criteria.
Her local federal MP, Rob Oakeshott, the independent member for Lyne, said it was unfair to suddenly set the bar higher, especially in regional areas with high unemployment where students struggled to meet the youth allowance work test but had to leave the family home to attend university.
"We don't have a level playing field around Australia where people can prove their financial independence," he said.
Ms Gillard was not available for comment yesterday, but she has stood by the $1.8billion savings measure, saying it is needed to fund an expansion of targeted student income support.
More students will receive Youth Allowance and other study assistance under the government's package, but that has been little comfort to the students who planned their studies based on one set of rules only to see them changed.
Today's meeting has sparked speculation Canberra could make concessions to avoid a Senate showdown on the legislation.
The Senate standing committee on rural and regional affairs is inquiring into the budget measure, with the Coalition, minor parties and independents expressing concern.
Labor MPs in marginal regional seats such as Eden-Monaro in NSW and Braddon in Tasmania will attend Ms Gillard's meeting, along with representatives of Universities Australia, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations and the National Union of Students.
NUS national president David Barrow said he did not want to see the rest of the government's student income support package undermined by a failure to address the problems of current gap-year students.
"The recent admission that there is a problem is a big step, and we hope we'll be able to discuss what's happening to students on the ground and demonstrate that change is necessary," Mr Barrow said.