Queensland mother Sally West has two things giving her a buzz this week.
Not only is her Year 12 son, Harrison, graduating, but he’ll have one less hurdle to jump in pursuing further education, thanks to the removal of the Family Assets Test for Youth Allowance, passed last Thursday.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s actually been passed,” said Mrs West, who is the president of the Arcadia Valley Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) branch.
“It’s going to help so many people right across regional Australia having children going off to university.”
Mrs West and her husband run a 4046-hectare grain and cattle property, Southbend, near Arcadia Valley in the Central Highlands.
When Queensland Country Life spoke with Mrs West at the ICPA state conference in September this year, she was very concerned how Harrison would “struggle” to balance study and demanding work commitments, to afford living away from home, if changes to welfare legislation weren’t passed.
Mrs West said the victory was “a game-changer for tertiary education” and hopes it will “open the floodgates” for more wins by ICPA.
It's really a game-changer for tertiary education.
- Sally West
“It’s a step in the right direction for recognition for remote and rural families to getting some equality for their kids,” she said.
