MEDIA RELEASE

Government Taskforce – The Last Chance to Get it Right for Rural and Regional Youth?
For Immediate Release

Federal Government today announced the establishment of The Rural and Regional Taskforce and the provision of extra funding to the tune of $20 million to help reduce the barriers faced by young rural and regional students attending university.

CEFA CEO Jocellin Jansson said that Australia has set a goal of achieving a 20 per cent participation rate by 2020 for students from low socio economic and disadvantaged backgrounds, including geographical isolation. “The Government needs to take this opportunity to get it right and end the education participation gap,” she said.

Jointly announced by Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans and Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Simon Crean, the Rural Tertiary Hardship Fund commences 1 January 2011.
Senator Evans said the taskforce would provide advice and assistance to Government to enable young rural and regional students to attend university.

With tertiary education participation rates for rural and regional youth running at about 17 per cent as compared to 26 per cent for metropolitan youth, the time has come to get the issue of support for rural and regional students right. 
The Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEFA) sees this initiative as a welcome step in the right direction to redress the inadequacy of the Youth Allowance reform. 

In the last 18 months Australia has had the Bradley Review, the Youth Allowance debate, the rejection of the proposed Youth Allowance policy, the review of the proposed changes and finally its acceptance. This was despite the fact that students living in ‘inner regional’ areas, many of whom live two to three hours away from a university campus, were left out in the cold. 

Earlier this year a report was released from the Education Minister’s Department that showed regional and remote access and participation rates in higher education pathways had deteriorated over a five year period. To quote Rob Oakeshott MP, “If we have a quarter of the population disengaging in education based on geography then we have a national crisis on our hands.”

With limited information currently available about the new taskforce and directions of funds, CEFA is keen to establish whether or not this additional assistance will benefit inner regional students.

After too much debate on how to create a level playing field for all students, irrespective of their geographic origins, we hope that this latest initiative will deliver real benefits.  Real benefits that allow students the opportunity to reach their potential as it is widely known that those with a higher standard of education perform better in the labour market.

Contact Details
Jocellin Jansson
Executive Director
Country Education Foundation of Australia
Ph 1300 652 144
0427 595 050
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www.cef.org.au