Sliding scale an option for visa school fees
The Barnett Government is considering using a sliding scale to determine how much 457 temporary work visa holders with more than one child will pay to send their children to State schools.
The change is one of several being looked at by the Government as it tries to finalise the criteria for the unpopular Budget measure, which was to raise $120 million over four years by slugging 457 visa holders $4000 per child in school.
Planning Minister John Day, on behalf of Education Minister Peter Collier, told the Legislative Assembly yesterday that the Government was looking at options, including hardship provisions.
Any watering down of the fee, which is set to come into effect next year, will leave a hole in the Budget.
Mr Day was responding to a grievance raised by Opposition Leader Mark McGowan, who detailed the plight of Carlisle couple Tamara and Greg Kearney and their 14-year-old son Nathaniel.
The Kearneys moved to Perth four years ago from the US and both work for the Association for the Blind WA producing resources for blind and vision-impaired people.
Mrs Kearney, who is blind, said they could not afford the $4000 fee because they worked for a charitable organisation and were not on high incomes.
She said they felt like easy targets because they could not vote.
"It is not plain to me the justification for that," Mrs Kearney said.
"I understand there's a desire to increase the Budget but as far as the moral justification, I don't know why we should be levied this cost."
Mr Kearney, who has specialised skills in converting print media into braille, said they already paid taxes so they felt they were being charged twice.
He expected many 457 visa holders would send their children to non-government schools because of the fee, so the Government would not see the money.
Mr Day said the Government should not be building policies based on "one or two examples" and pointed out that many of the schools with the highest percentage of 457 visa holders' children were in affluent areas.
He said NSW and the ACT had similar charges, but they had exemptions for lower income earners.
Mr McGowan said the policy was "cold and heartless".
He accused the Government of targeting 457 visa holders because they could not vote.
Mr McGowan said it would be fairer to waive the fee for families who were already living in WA but it would still be harsh on future 457 visa holders who were not on high incomes.
"I don't think it's fair for people who came to Australia on a certain set of understandings and have their children in school to have the goalposts shifted," Mr McGowan said.
He said businesses needed to do more to oppose the fee, which would affect their workers.
