Pic source: farmonline.com.au BY Colin Bettles FARM assets will be cut from the Youth Allowance asset test from January 1 next year, delivering great news for farming families while boosting regional education, says Victorian Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie. Starting next year, the Family Assets Test and the Family Actual Means Test will be removed from…
Pic source: ampc.com.au The chairman of Australia's peak red meat industry body insists he has no knowledge of collusion among buyers and sellers of livestock. David Larkin from the Australian Meat Industry Council told a Senate inquiry into the sector on Tuesday that he has never heard of colluding in the beef marketplace. But Nationals…
Pic source: meatprojects.com.au BY Anna Vidot The Australian Meat Industry Council has fronted a Senate inquiry in Canberra to defend processors against claims of collusion and anti-competitive behaviour. The Senate's Rural Affairs committee is investigating the red meat processing industry, and producers' claims around a lack of transparent pricing information and processor consolidation leading to…
Pic source: ncsehe.edu.au BY Kate Thorburn COUNTRY students considered asset-rich but cash-poor are able to access youth allowance for the first time, after the eligibility test for the financial assistance program was loosened. A bill was passed in Canberra last week excluding farms and trusts from the eligibility test for youth allowance, which assists full-time…
Pic source: studiesinaustralia.com THE federal government needs to act quickly to address barriers facing rural and regional students, according to National party senator Bridget McKenzie. Last week saw the government pass changes to Youth Allowance eligibility, including removing the Family Assets Test and the Family Actual Means Test from the Youth Allowance Personal Test from…
Pic source: uwa.edu.au BY Andrew Trounson Access to Youth Allowance student support payments will be widened by new legislation dropping two asset tests at a cost to the budget of $263 million over four years. The measure will particularly benefit regional families who often face higher costs from having to move to attend university. It…
Pic source: uow.edu.au “For decades farming families have experienced unfairness in having their farm counted as an asset in their assessment for Youth Allowance. The Family Assets Test and the Family Actual Means Test, from January 1 2016, will be removed from the Youth Allowance Personal Test. This will give rural and regional families better…
Pic: ICPA members celebrate youth allowance changes. Source: ICPA/ABC Rural BY Anna Vidot The Federal Parliament has signed off on changes to Youth Allowance that will make it easier for rural and remote students to go to university. The Family Actual Means Test and Family Asset Test will be removed from the Youth Allowance Personal…
Pic source: businessfoundations.com.au Senator McKENZIE (Victoria) (17:09): I rise this afternoon to contribute to another senseless debate of legacy weeping by the Labor Party as they look over their failed tenure as the government of this country and their lack of investment and foresight and as they start to attempt to lay the blame for…
Senator McKENZIE (Victoria) (19:39): It gives me great pleasure as the Chair of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee to stand here and speak to the government delivering on the Senate doing its work. That is what is so exciting as a chair of a Senate committee—when we work very hard on some of…