Broad happy with outcome

Member for Mallee Andrew Broad has described the Federal Government’s commitment to education outlined in its 2018-19 budget as ‘giving regional youth and students the helping hand they need’.

Mr Broad said the government was stepping up to provide regional youth with more access to youth-allowance support and higher education opportunities in small towns to ensure they had support systems in place.

He said following more than 50 letters of support from the community for a National School Chaplaincy Fund and strong advocating in parliament, the government had reinstated the fund with an ongoing financial commitment.

He said this would ensure regional schools could employ a chaplain to be available for students.

“This isn’t a religious funding scheme at all. This is someone in your child’s school who they can talk to about anything they like, from family, to their studies or future career path,” he said.

“It’s also taking a strong look at bullying in our school systems.”

Mr Broad said regional students could also expect to see improved access to Youth Allowance, with the Federal Government changing threshold needs for parental income.

“The new income criteria for independence will be increased to $160,000, with a further $10,000 increase for each additional child who wishes to go onto higher education,” he said.

“In the past this has been really tough for our youth, with many not dependent on their parents at all, yet have been knocked back due to parental income being too high.

“This is taking those situations on board and looking at how we can make it more accessible for everyone.”

Mr Broad said the government had also committed to increasing the number of Commonwealth Supported Places at regional universities.

He said the government would spend $14-million to open up more places for regional students starting a bachelor’s degree at university through a regional study hub.

“It is vital that if students across the Wimmera, Mallee and Mildura regions want to study at university locally, then we have spots for them, and we do everything we can to support that,” he said.