Make transport concessions available to all students in NSW
Petitioner:
Jet Hunt
| Member:
Leong, Jenny
| No. of Signatories:
21,061
| Date closed:
07/03/2024
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
Part-time and international students are ineligible for travel concessions in New South Wales. This represents a glaring inequity for tertiary students; all students deserve travel concessions. NSW is currently the only state that does not offer some form of concession or discounted travel to international students.
International students generate $3.3 billion dollars in revenue per year for NSW. Extending the travel concession program to international students would cost the NSW Government approximately $169 million per year. If international students could access transport concessions, they would not only be more likely to study in New South Wales, but more likely to engage in revenue-generating activity like state-wide tourism, retail, and paid employment.
Part-time students provide vital revenue to the state of New South Wales. These students have historically been excluded from the concession program because of the belief they are engaged in the workforce at least part time. However, the research does not bear this out: students who opt to study part time are overwhelmingly women, carers, and people with disabilities. These students are in dire need of support to complete their education. Travel concessions are invaluable in this regard.
Rising rents and extreme cost-of-living pressures are forcing students to live further away from campuses, and to choose between travelling to university or paying rent. Students need concessions now more than ever.
We the undersigned petitioners ask the Legislative Assembly to call on the Government to extend the transport concession program to all students, including part-time and international students.
