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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Wednesday, 31 March 2004) . . Page.. 1389 ..

federal government, which I think has tackled the situation and is still moving forward in a positive way.

The motion also calls on the federal government to reassess the eligibility criteria for the youth allowance, which is up to 25 years; for Austudy, which is over 25 years; and Abstudy to make it easier for students to obtain these allowances. Again, I think that is a bit of a motherhood statement. There are things there that are constantly happening all the time. I think that I have clearly articulated that this morning.

Mr Speaker, I was pleased to see the following said in an article in the Canberra Times of Tuesday, 30 March:

There was an urgent need for more funds for the vocational education and training sector, according to a House of Representatives committee report issued yesterday.

I note that the chair of that committee, Kerry Bartlett, is a Liberal member who has made some very valid points and the recommendations made are certainly worth looking at and being talked through.

I commend Ms MacDonald for bringing this subject out into the public arena. Again, she really needs to check and make sure of the ALP record on some of those things. We really need to review vocational education and training in a very different light in regard to the way in which we train people for the work force. Many issues come into the debate and I think that those issues can only be addressed when the states and territories start to deliver on their part of the bargain, instead of continually negating or trying to negate the efforts of a federal government that is clearly committed to advancing vocational education and training in Australia.

MS DUNDAS (10.46): Mr Speaker, the Democrats are happy to support this motion, although we find it ironic that the motion is being put forward by the ALP which, federally, has voted with the coalition time and again against Democrat attempts to lower the age of independence for accessing youth benefits to 18 or 21, as opposed to where it sits today at 25. We have a ludicrous situation where young people are considered dependent unless they have earned $16,000 in the last 18 months or it is unsafe for them to live at home.

This motion calls on the federal government to review the amount students are paid through youth allowance, Austudy and Abstudy and reassess the eligibility criteria for those allowances to make it easier for students to get the support they need. I hope that Ms MacDonald is encouraging her federal Labor colleagues to look long and hard at their track record on this issue and that they will change their policy to recognise that young people need to access this support.

I have no problem with standing here and saying that ACT students are having difficulty meeting the cost of living, that they are living in debt and that the federal government’s youth allowance, Austudy and Abstudy payments are not high enough to meet the cost of living. I do that on the proud track record of what the Democrats have been working towards in the Senate for the last 20 years.

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