Treacherous attack on Abstudy

The National Union of Students, the National Tertiary Education Union 
and indigenous groups have condemned the outrageous decision of Federal 
Cabinet late last year to abolish Abstudy which provides special assistance 
to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

"The abolition of Abstudy is an act of treachery, not national 
reconciliation", said National Union of Students (NUS) President Rose 
Tracey. Ms Tracey said Abstudy was crucial to enabling indigenous students 
to access university education.

Federal Education Minister David Kemp said Abstudy would continue through 
1999 and the new arrangements would come into force in January 2000. 
Indigenous students would then have to register for the means-tested Common 
Youth Allowance (CYA).

"Benefits payable to indigenous students will be the same as those paid to 
non-indigenous students", said Kemp, arguing that it would be non-
discriminatory.

"All Australian students are entitled to equal educational opportunities", 
Kemp went on, continuing a government line of burying the the fact that 
indigenous people are the most discriminated against and disadvantaged 
section of Australian society.

As Wendy Brabham, Director of the Institute of Koorie Education, pointed 
out: "We can never — and should never — forget the continuing impact of 
the past 200 years. To merely state that we are now in a position to offer 
everyone equality of opportunity and access simply fails to acknowledge 
history."

The proposed changes will have a serious impact on most indigenous 
students.

The Common Youth Allowance is no substitute for the kind of support 
provided by Abstudy.

In financial terms many students would be more than $60 a fortnight worse 
off. But Abstudy is not simply about income support, it's a scheme targeted 
to increasing indigenous people's participation in tertiary education.

"Abstudy has been a major factor in encouraging and enabling indigenous 
students to access and participate in higher education", said Wendy 
Brabham.

Abstudy was introduced by the former Gorton (Liberal) Government in 1968.

Without assistance that is specifically-targeted at indigenous students, 
their participation in education will decline with predictable social 
consequences.

Right-wing push

The abolition of Abstudy is consistent with the Coalition Government's 
attempts to extinguish native title and land rights and its plans to 
dismantle the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

Philip Ruddock, who mockingly goes under the title of Reconciliation 
Minister, has defended the Government's abolition of Abstudy. Adding insult 
to injury, he claimed it does not "suggest that there is lack of commitment 
to the reconciliation process."

The truth is that it is an attack on Aboriginal rights and that flies in 
the face of reconciliation.

The Government's aim is to abolish all special indigenous programs — 
housing, health, education — part of the wider extreme right-wing agenda 
of the likes of the forces behind the One Nation Party.

The Indigenous Education Consultative Body said the Government axed Abstudy 
to appease those who wanted Aborigines kept poor, uneducated and 
disempowered.

Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal President Sharan Burrow told 
The Guardian that "As a country, we should be absolutely committed 
to assisting Aboriginal education, as Aboriginal retention rates are so 
low."

Coinciding with the abolition of Abstudy, the Northern Territory Government 
has announced it will scrap Aboriginal language classes in schools. It will 
replace these classes with English-as-a-second-language classes.

Sharan Burrow described this as a crime: "Educators know it's essential to 
maintain literacy in the mother tongue if literacy in a further language, 
such as English, is to be achieved."

Educators have called on the Senate to block the Government's plans.