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  • Youth Allowance bill before parliament today

    21/02/11

    A bill that would make Independent Youth Allowance fair is expected to be introduced to the federal parliament’s House of Representatives today.

    The Social Security Amendment (Income Support for Regional Students) Bill 2010 was recently passed in the senate and will now be considered by MPs in the lower house.

    A vote is expected to be held to determine if the bill should be debated. But that depends on whether the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will back down, as reported in the media today.

    The reports say the government will overturn its Independent Youth Allowance laws.

    The Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education, Senator Fiona Nash, said the Coalition will wait to hear what the Government says during the Parliamentary debate before it’s convinced the Prime Minister and the Labor government are genuinely acting in the interest of regional students.

    “We can’t really trust this government. The Coalition wants the debate to proceed to get the Government’s commitment to a “backdown” clearly recorded in the Federal Parliament. This isn’t government by press release or press conference, let’s hear the government’s plan in the Parliament,” she said.

    “The Coalition will be very strongly arguing the same case as in the senate, that is ensuring the same eligibility criteria for the Independent Youth Allowance applies to all regional students.

    “The bill’s been deemed constitutional in the senate, and the support of the Independent MPs is needed for it to be debated and voted on, and passed in the lower House.

    “Regional students and their families deserve to have this bill debated in the House of Representatives.
    The technical question of the constitutionality of the bill can come after the bill has been debated.”
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