“That ICPA (Aust) lobbies the Federal Government to transfer the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme from the portfolio of the Minister for Social Services to the Minister for Education.”
The AIC was introduced in 1973 by the then Minister for Education Kim Beazley Senior. It was an allowance to support geographically isolated children to access education. This announcement was, in fact, the first significant win for the newly established Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association.
In recent times, the AIC Scheme has moved from the Department of Education portfolio to the Department of Social Services portfolio, presumably because the assessment and processing of AIC claims sits with Services Australia.
This shift has meant that the allowance is now treated like a welfare payment and therefore the need to increase it is not a priority because for the most part, access to the allowance is not means tested. It is available to all families who fulfill the criteria.
However, the AIC is not a welfare payment. It is an education access payment for geographically students who do not have daily access to a school due to where they live. Even though the allowance is administered under the Department of Social Services, the scheme itself should sit under the Minister for Education to ensure geographically isolated students have access to an appropriate education regardless of where they reside. This is a right for all Australian children.
