That ICPA (Aust) advocate to the relevant bodies for a ‘Capped Student Fare’ for rural and remote students attending educational institutions within Australia who need to travel between their home residence and the educational establishment they attend.
Students who fall into this category should be able to book tickets—by air or road—at any time of the year without being subject to fare increases caused by peak tourist seasons, holidays, limited availability, or other factors that cause ticket prices to fluctuate.
Currently, some geographically isolated families, whose children attend schools interstate or intrastate, have their travel costs covered or coordinated. This includes travel from home to the nearest airport and onward to the school. There are existing policy mechanisms—such as ABSTUDY— that demonstrate how such systems can function. However, ABSTUDY does not cover airfares for all eligible students, and its support varies by case.
In Western Australia, capped student airfares are available through a government-supported booking agency. Additionally, the Department of Education provides assistance to Indigenous students with flight and travel arrangements.
We propose that this existing framework—used by agencies like ABSTUDY to book and secure student travel—be expanded to cover all geographically isolated families. At the very least, this should include access to capped student travel fares between a student’s home and the educational institution they attend.
Case Study:
A family has a child at a boarding school in their nearest capital city, over 1000km from their home. Return flights back to this family’s nearest town at the end of Term 1 2025 for the school holidays cost the family $725. This same flight is costing the family $1,096 for the end of Term 2 2025 for the school holidays, with the flight cost increasing by over $370 due to Term 2 holidays falling within their region’s tourist season.
