State Member for Robertson Dr Gordon Reid (right) and Education Minister Jason Clare chat with Kincumber Public School students about how Parliament works. The visitors also fielded questions about Star Wars, showing off their Darth Vader and Ewok socks. Photo: @JasonClareMP.
The Federal Government will extend rebates to help school students visit Canberra.
This follows an improvement in visitor numbers last year, when nearly 89,000 schoolchildren visited Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial. The Parliament and Civics Education Rebate (PACER) program has been credited for the 39 per cent increase on the previous year.
PACER supports students financially so they can visit the nation’s capital and experience its democratic, historical and cultural institutions first-hand.
Education Minister Jason Clare said he wanted more Australian students, wherever they lived, to do this, which was why the rebates were introduced.
“To see and feel our history at the War Memorial and Old Parliament House, and see it being made in the new Parliament,” Mr Clare said.
“That’s why the Albanese Government is offering rebates for schools to make it more affordable to come to the capital.”
Thanks to the successful pilot program, outer-regional and remote-area schools, along with disadvantaged ones, are eligible for additional rebates for this year.
For example, for a student in a remote, disadvantaged school within NSW that’s 500-999 kilometres from Canberra, it would cover from $45 to $157.50. But a student from a very remote, disadvantaged school in the Northern Territory more than 3000 km away could be entitled to between $510 and $2040.
All schools travelling to Canberra this year will have additional funding applied, including those that have visited previously. For more information, visit PACER.
