Coalition to Expand Youth Allowance

Media Release: The Hon. Warren Truss, MP and The Hon. Christopher Pyne, MP, 8 August 2010

The Leader of the Australian Nationals, Mr Warren Truss, and the Shadow Minister for Education, Mr Christopher Pyne, have announced that the Coalition would change the eligibility criteria for the Youth Allowance, to make it easier for students from regional areas to access the program.

Students who were from areas designated by the Australian Standard Geographical Classification as being inner regional, outer regional, remote and very remote, and who would be required to move away from home to access full-time study, would be eligible to receive the independent youth allowance where their parents’ combined income was less than $150,000.

Mr Truss and Mr Pyne argued that their policy would enable students in regional areas to undertake gap years between secondary and tertiary study. They also announced that the Coalition would establish ‘a new targeted program to support families with children forced to leave home for tertiary studies’.

 

 

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