Jones pledges to raise tuition subsidy

Education Minister Kate Jones’ announcement of an additional increase on top of the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) was met with a loud applause at the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) state conference at Cloncurry last week.

It comes on top of seven per cent one-off rise in addition to the 3.2pc CPI increase for 2015, announced by the previous government’s Education Minister John Paul Langbroek at Longreach in January.

This brings a combined 12pc additional increase to the Remote Area Tuition Allowance over two years.

In 2016, the maximum yearly allowance would increase to more than $3600 per primary student, $5200 per secondary student and up to $7400 for students with a disability.

Ms Jones said from this year eligible Year 7 students receive the same secondary rates as Year 8 to 12 students under the Living Away from Home Allowance Scheme, in recognition of the Year 7 move to secondary school.

She said the announcement was in recognition of the “severe drought that has affected so much of Queensland”, adding that the government were committed to finding ways to ease pressure on families.

“As we continue to go forward we’ll look at providing support at a higher level if that’s what’s continued to be needed as well,” she said.

The additional increase was a long-serving campaign of the Queensland ICPA, championed by immediate past president Andy Pegler who thanked the minister for her listening ear.

Ms Jones, whose electorate is Ashgrove in Brisbane, said seeing the challenges faced by isolated families made her she appreciate the access she had to educate her children.

“You heard from Andy (Pegler) saying I’ve got a very busy job and sometimes it can be daunting,” Ms Jones said to conference delegates and guests.

“But I was brought down to reality about what a challenge it was when I met with a number of parents around a table in Charleville and Barcaldine this year, some of which I see in the room here today, about the challenges you face in providing education for your children.”

Ms Jones said she did “genuinely believe” her job as Education Minister “is to make sure that every child no matter where they live, no matter where they come from, no matter what their parental income is, has the opportunity to the best possible education we can provide.”

“That has to be the number one goal of the Education Minister in Queensland.”