“The Rudd Government has taken a sledge hammer in its effort to clean up the youth allowance system,” Senator Fielding said.

“The Education Minister has already admitted the government got their original youth allowance reforms wrong, when they were forced into exempting this year’s gap-year students from their proposed restrictions.

“It’s clear after this week’s inquiry that the Government needs to soften its ridiculous restrictions to the youth allowance system.

“Rural and regional students already do it tough enough, but the Government wants to penalise them even more by forcing them to delay their uni studies by two years just to qualify for youth allowance.

“I’m asking the government to seriously consider our 100 kilometre relocation clause, which was suggested by students to the Education Minister at a round table discussion organised by Family First.”

The 100km relocation clause would keep the current eligibility requirements for youth allowance for those students forced to move more than 100 kilometres away from home to study.

“A clever nation would be making it easier for our kids to go to uni not harder. But the Rudd Government’s proposed youth allowance changes are city-centric and force rural students to abandon their university dreams,” Senator Fielding said.

“It is already hard enough for rural and regional students to get into university with the extra cost of having to live away from home and now the government wants to put them two years behind their city counterparts.”