Student assistant payments: Cook defends not means testing applicants, saying ‘Maserati mums’ won’t apply

Roger Cook has suggested wealthy parents in Dalkeith need not apply for the next round of student assistant payments, while defending the State Government’s decision not to means test the scheme. The Premier was marking the start of term two at Rivervale Primary School on Monday, when he was grilled over universal access to the $89 million program and whether so-called ‘Maserati mums’ needed the money. “We don’t have access to people’s taxable incomes because we are a sub-jurisdictional government,” Mr Cook told reporters. “We do want to see targeted relief for Western Australian families. We know that under the WA student assistance payment, people have to apply for it. Applications for a new round of student assistance payments, worth $250 per secondary student and $150 each for kindergarten and primary students, opened at midnight on Monday morning. By 9am, more than 6000 applications had been made via the Service WA app. “I would be encouraging those families who experience cost of living pressures to make sure that they access this important payment.” Rivervale father Chris Lee was on hand for Monday’s announcement and said he would be spending the money on an extracurricular art class and new sneakers. “School shoes fall apart quite regularly, because kids just destroy them,” he said. Mr Lee was not concerned about wealthier families getting equal access to the scheme. “It’s fair that all children get the same, equal opportunities for education, irrespective of where their parents are,” he said. The inflation rate has fallen to 2.7 per cent in WA but the Premier was reluctant to set an end-date for financial support and wouldn’t rule out a third round of student payments, if the cost-of-living crisis lingers. “We’ll judge that when we get to it,” Mr Cook said. “That will depend upon the circumstances for WA families. That’s why we’ve always said we are always open to more cost of living relieve where we see a need and, to date, we’ve provided over $1.3 billion in cost of living relief.”