Threat to ABSTUDY a blow to reconciliation
14 December 1998
Reports that ABSTUDY is to be abolished are causing serious concern among university staff, who fear that Indigenous people’s participation in tertiary education will be compromised if they lose access to a targeted income support scheme.
Cabinet is reported to be considering a proposal tomorrow which would see Indigenous students accessing income support only through the Common Youth Allowance.
`If these reports are true, they reflect an appalling level of contempt for Indigenous Australians on the part of Government,’ said the Chair of NTEU’s Indigenous Tertiary Education Policy Committee, Dr Bob Morgan. `The Prime Minister gave a wonderful speech on election night about working towards reconciliation, but he is not listening to Indigenous people or considering their needs. He can’t have it both ways.’
Dr Morgan said that the proposal contradicted the recommendations of the Review of ABSTUDY undertaken by ATSIC in 1997, which argued for the retention of ABSTUDY as a separate scheme.
`This is because ABSTUDY has different goals from the Common Youth Allowance. It’s not simply about income support, it’s a scheme targeted to increasing Indigenous people’s participation in tertiary education. It is specifically targeted to the needs of Indigenous people, and has a range of conditions and supplementary benefits which reflect the circumstances in which many Indigenous Australians live,’ he said.
NTEU President Carolyn Allport pointed out that in 1997, the Government cut funding for ABSTUDY, and brought means tests for income support into line with AUSTUDY.
`This has resulted in an estimated 2500 higher education students having their benefits reduced or removed,’ she said. `Now, in the name of more `mainstreaming’, the Government is considering the destruction of a programme which has developed over years in response to the needs and circumstances of Indigenous people.’
`Indigenous people’s participation in higher education is well below what might be expected from their share of the population,’ said Dr Allport. `According to the most recent Higher Education Council Report on university profiles, they make up 1.25% of the student population, although they are 1.7% of the population aged between 15 and 64.’
`We should be putting forward options for increasing their participation, instead of pandering to the ignorance of those who see targeted programmes as somehow unfair to non-Indigenous Australians.’