Government Misses the Mark on Changes to ABSTUDY, says NTEU
9 September 1997
The National Tertiary Education Union today pledged its support for a National Day of Action, organised by Indigenous educators to fight cuts to Abstudy announced in the May Budget. The Day of Action on Thursday, 11th September, will see rallies in all capital cities and many regional centres.
Abstudy provides financial support to Australian Indigenous students at secondary and tertiary level. The changes due to be implemented in January will, by the Government’s own estimate, result in over 3000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island tertiary students having their Abstudy benefits reduced or removed.
`We estimate that the actual numbers affected will be greater,’ said Dr Bob Morgan, Chair of the Union’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Drafting Committee and Director of Jumbunna Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney. `It’s clear, from figures provided by universities themselves, that the Government underestimated the number of students who are enrolled in courses comprised mainly of `away from base’ units. According to the Budget papers, students enrolled in these courses will no longer be eligible for Abstudy. Yet these are the very courses which are meeting the cultural and educational needs of Indigenous people, by allowing them to study on campus in concentrated `blocks’ while still living and working in their communities.’
`The Minister is hinting to individual institutions that these changes may be watered down, but we want the Government to reconsider the whole package and clarify the situation for staff and students. Indigenous participation in higher education is well below that of other sections of the population, and these changes can only make it worse.’
Dr Morgan’s comments were supported by NTEU President Carolyn Allport.
`As a Union, we are also very concerned about the flow-on effects on Indigenous employment in higher education,’ said Dr Allport. `If participation drops off as a result of cuts to student support, the Indigenous higher education units - where many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academic and general staff are employed, along with non-Indigenous staff - will also experience declining levels of funding. The results could be closure of career opportunities and job losses in some areas.’
Dr Allport said that the Budget changes pre-empted a recently completed ATSIC Review of Abstudy, and were totally unjustified.
`So far, the government has said nothing publicly about these changes, and it’s yet to release the ATSIC Report on Abstudy. They’re yet to offer the Australian people a justification for cutting support for Indigenous students, and explain to us how these cuts fit in with the findings of the Review already undertaken.’