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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Wednesday, 10 March 2004) . . Page.. 1034 ..

I am working so I can afford to study, but working drastically affects my attendance and revision. It feels like my job is full time and university is casual.

Another said:

Youth allowance is not enough money and we are penalised in the extra hours we work through higher tax. Surely, you shouldn’t be penalised for earning extra money, when youth allowance is not very much at all.

And finally:

It is hard for me to be as committed to my university work as I would like to be. Mainly because I find work commitments a burden, but it essential for me to work in order to attend school.

These quotes sum up perfectly the struggles today’s university and other students face, and it is not just the students who are suffering. Australia as a whole will pay the price if more and more students are forced to dedicate less time to their studies. All nations depend increasingly on three critical elements: new discoveries, highly trained personnel, and expert knowledge. Australia’s universities have a primary role in supplying two of these and are a major source for the third.

It is reasonable that students should pay some part of the costs for their tuition, but the enormous public benefit that we all share in an educated work force should not be taken for granted. We cannot afford to waste even a small fraction of our talented youth but, at the moment and in the future, if Howard’s higher education package remains in place, many of our youth and the advances they can bring to our society will be wasted. And why? Because they cannot afford to study.

The federal Labor Party is fully aware of the detrimental effect this will have on Australia in the future, so it has announced that, if elected, it will reverse the 25 per cent fee hike and replace it with properly indexed university grants. These grants will ensure that the Commonwealth provides universities with enough funding to keep up with the costs.

Federal Labor has also said it will extend rent assistance to Austudy students, therefore increasing fortnightly payments by $90, and will also lower the age of dependence from 25 to 23 years. This means the large majority of 23 and 24-year-old students who are not currently receiving government payments because of their parents’ incomes will be eligible for payment.

This will help reduce the burden for Australian students, but it is dependent on the federal Labor Party being elected. That is why it is imperative that we apply pressure now on the Howard government to review and reassess the student support system. I urge all members of the Assembly to support my motion.

Debate (on motion by Mrs Burke) adjourned to the next sitting.

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