“Far North Queensland Branch thanks State Council for its past advocacy to the Department of Education on Motion A24 (2022) which seeks to extend eligibility criteria for the Living Away From Home Allowances Scheme (LAFHAS) to include students, whose home address is in Queensland, and are enrolled in Years 1 to 12 at approved schools in all States and Territories in Australia. Our Branch supports the efforts of ICPA Qld to continue to lobby the Department of Education (DoE)on this issue.”
The Living Away From Home Allowances Scheme (LAFHAS) supports eligible Queensland families whose children need to live away from home to attend a state school or an accredited non-state school. However, under the current Scheme only those students enrolled in Years 1 to 12 at approved schools in Queensland or New South Wales are eligible for the allowances. This means that geographically isolated families living in Queensland who for various reasons including financial and mental health, have children attending schools in other states and territories, are not eligible for these allowances. The eligibility should be extended to all States and Territories of Australia.
To give a real-life example, a member’s child attended distance education in Queensland as a geographically isolated student from Years Prep to ten and is currently in Year 11 at a state school in Victoria. The student wanted to complete their Senior Certificate at a ‘face-to-face’ school, but the family could not afford boarding school, nor was it sensible for the student’s mental health and well-being to attend boarding school. A close relative living in Victoria offered for the student to board with them so they could attend their preferred state school in the catchment area.
This is positive for the student’s mental health and well-being as they have the supportive emotional environment of family, while completing their Senior Certificate of Education, and living away from home for the very first time. Unfortunately, the student’s family are not eligible for the LAFHAS, particularly the Remote Area Travel Allowance (RATrA), which would be an enormous support financially.
The annual entitlement under RATrA has a maximum allowance, so the distance the student travels between home and school during holidays is not a factor in determining eligibility (apart from meeting the residential distance criteria), but rather, where they attend school. Geographically isolated students and their families should have equal access to the LAFHAS, regardless of the State or Territory where the student chooses to attend school, particularly when the chosen school and living arrangement is the best fit for them to succeed and meet their mental health and well-being needs.
