“Although the Government has advised that the current arrangements and rules for Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY remain in place, the fact that they intend to bring the legislation back to the Parliament early in 2010 is causing a great deal of confusion and uncertainty.
In spite of the fact the Coalition supported the bulk of the proposed changes to Youth Allowance, including changes to the parental income thresholds, Minister Gillard refused to address the Coalition’s concerns regarding the removal of the ‘gap year’ for young people who must leave home to attend University.
“The removal of the provision would have meant some students who in good faith committed a year to earning enough money to qualify, would not have been eligible to receive independent youth allowance having worked that year,” Mrs. Hull said.
“The Coalition is fundamentally opposed to retrospective changes to the legislation. It would punish many young people for trying to do the right thing, particularly those from rural Australia, who were following the rules in place at the time.
“What is also distressing for students is that Julia Gillard also decided to abolish Commonwealth scholarships without having an alternative in place.
“We are now faced with the outrageous situation where there are no Commonwealth relocation allowances and no scholarships for students to apply for upon acceptance of their university place over the next few weeks.
“The current arrangements and rules for Youth Allowance remain in place, however both students and parents are starting to panic because they don’t know what to expect from the Rudd Government this year.
“We sincerely hope that when parliament resumes, Julia Gillard finally puts the needs of students first and takes responsibility for this mess,” Mrs. Hull said.
(End)
For further information please contact Lucy Spora on 02 6921 4600.