I don't support Abstudy either

So I stuck my hand up today and admitted, rather bravely, that I don't support Abstudy either. Yep, I lined up with the people dubbed by their own party as bigoted in saying that the 'positive discrimination' of Abstudy is, in my opinion, not a good thing, and should be ended.

I know, right? Progressive, gay marriage loving, environment protecting, refugee advocating, free internet defending, Malcolm Turnbull adoring me isn't enamored with positive discrimination? WTF?

This one isn't as academic as you'd think. I grew up in Moree. There is a pretty big Aboriginal population in Moree, and there were lots of Aboriginal kids in my class and some were my friends.

Moree is about as racially divided as it gets. And when it's not being famous for bad priests doing things to boys I think I shared a classroom with, it has made plenty of ugly headlines for plenty of ugly racial fights, riots down the main street and the like.

There are lots of good people in Moree doing lots of good things too – I'm not saying it is a bad place. Lots of Aboriginal leaders fighting the good fight, many quietly toiling away in a very burdened community, which draws in to it many of the troubled souls from surrounding communities that have no services at all.

Some of those local leaders have tought me good things – like there are times when you need cultural awareness and understanding. And there are times when the differences need to be respected, traditional owners acknowledged and elders deferred to.

But if you've got one set of rules for the black kids and a different set of rules for the white kids, there'll be trouble.

It's pretty simple. The baseline must be the same. It must be called the same thing. Everyone must feel like everyone else is starting from the same starting block, no one is cheating or getting a head start. Anyone gets a different deal or looks like they are getting special treatment – especially when it comes to money – people get jealous and suspicious… and then there's trouble.

You must have consistency or you just add to the cycle of mistrust of a system – and a Government – they already don't trust.

However well intentioned, the same principle applies with Abstudy. It's one rule for the black kids and another for everyone else, and that causes trouble.

I was convinced Abstudy was bad by an Aboriginal man talking about his daughter. It was about 8 years ago, but I still remember his argument like it was yesterday:

"We didn't ask for a special deal. She just wants to go to university, exactly the same as everyone else. How will she ever know if she earned her degree? Or if she really earned those marks, or only got them on some curve because the other kids getting less money had to work rather than study? We didn't ask for special treatment. She didn't come in here asking for "Abstudy" – she just wants the same."

Of course, what made his argument so memorable was that he was wearing a t-shirt with holes in it, poorly fitting shorts and cheap thongs in winter, and his forearm tan marks told me he worked long hours in high-vis gear, like on a roadside, and had probably never owned a watch. But his daughter was going to university as an equal.

I'm all for positive support mechanisms. Alternative entry and recruitment programs that seek out and support people who may not have considered or may not have otherwise qualified but would do well at tertiary study are crucial for extending the opportunity of education as far and as wide as possible. Specialist support units such as Oorala at UNE should also be funded to the sky to give appropriate support to help bridge the gap and help more Indigenous students in to and through tertiary study, as well as support Indigenous studies. And the more scholarships targeted at specific groups of students for whatever group needs to be encouraged to study the better.

But when you take the baseline financial support payment, and you make it separate, and different, you create trouble. Even without the vast majority of other students knowing about all the extra payments that go along with Abstudy. Yeah sure, the basic living payment is comparable with Newstart/Youth Allowance. Enormous differences in the extras and for things like the rates paid to people studying their masters or doctorates.

But even without the extras, it's still one set of rules for the black kids, and one set of rules for the white kids. And that means trouble.

Even if those rules were word for word identical and just the names were different, the suspicion would remain.

(Please note that I am choosing at this time to *not* start a rant about how utterly stupid it is that or system punishes those over 25 who chose to reskill rather than sit around unemployed for an insanely long period of time before returning to study by having much lower benefits with Austudy, or generally that we have lower benefits for study than unemployment.)

Did the Queensland LNP communicate their message most artfully and effectively? Well, they rarely get points for style, why start scoring now. I'm not really commenting on the specifics, I'm just saying that on the practical point I happen to agree. I don't think we should have Abstudy – I think we should have one support payment for students, whatever race you are and whatever you are studying, and that payment should be enough to enable you to actually live and focus on your study.

With so much discussion about issues in our social security system, perhaps it is time for a big overhaul, Henry Tax Review kinda style as opposed to current tiny Senate review on a couple of issues to do with payments currently in progress?