Economic pressure to join army reserve
By Angela Walker
PERTH -- The federal government's scheme to recruit more students into the Australian army reserve illustrated the inadequate levels of AUSTUDY payments, Rachel Ball from the UWA AUSTUDY Reform Action Group told Green Left.
Against a backdrop of an under-funded education sector and increasing student poverty, Prime Minister Bob Hawke launched the Ready Reserve scheme on October 2.
“The scheme, which pays students a wage on top of a full AUSTUDY benefits, recognises that students cannot live on AUSTUDY payments alone and are unable to supplement their benefits with part-time work in the current recessionary climate”, said Ball.
Students have been campaigning for reforms to the AUSTUDY scheme aimed at bringing payments into line with unemployment benefits, in addition to lowering the controversial age of independence from 25 to 18.
The last federal budget restricted AUSTUDY payments to students from very low income families. Students from families with incomes above $28,000 will be adversely affected by the changes in 1992.
However, it appears that students will be able to avoid strict means testing if they join the Ready Reserve scheme.
“This move is clearly discriminatory, given the current cutbacks to AUSTUDY and the fact that the majority of those who benefit will be male students”, stated Ball. “It appears that the government is quite happy to follow the American model of a user-pays tertiary education system and military `scholarships' for those who can't afford the fees.”
