“O Week” was “No Week” for concerned students |
1st March, 2010 |
Thanks to Education Minister Julia Gillard, tens of thousands of Australian students are starting university and not knowing if they will ever receive Commonwealth scholarships.
Labor’s tricky behaviour on scholarships and the Independent Youth Allowance has demolished its claim to be creating a positive “education revolution”.
“Just a week ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said 150,000 students would be in limbo if the Senate did not pass her Bill in time for the start of the university year,” said Nationals Leader, Warren Truss.
“Yet the week went by and the Senate waited for the Bill to arrive so it could reinstate the scholarships that Labor axed and fight to overturn the changes which had cut off eligibility for the Independent Youth Allowance to so many. But it never came.
“For terribly concerned students and their parents, Orientation Week has come and gone and now the first day of uni has arrived, with no resolution to this critical issue.
“Julia Gillard could have fixed this problem last year, by accepting the Coalition’s compromise to split the bill and pass the scholarships into law. That would enable any changes to the youth allowance to be debated later.
“Instead, the now discredited Education Minister chose to play politics and try to wedge the Coalition. Sadly, it is students and their parents who are paying the price of Labor’s vicious game-playing.
“It is time for the Prime Minister to apologise again and fix the problem,” said Mr Truss.
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