The Isolated Children's Parents' Association (ICPA) Federal Council visited Canberra last week with some key goals in mind.
One of them was to be heard.
They did that with over 30 meetings with a range of people, including parliamentarians, in the nation's capital.
A focus in those meetings was the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) scheme.
More specifically, how the AIC basic boarding allowance is falling short of the needs of families in remote and isolated areas.
When the AIC was first introduced in 1973, the recommendation for the boarding allowance was for it to cover 55 per cent of the average boarding fee, ICPA president Louise Martin, Tambo, Queensland, said.
However, over time the amount families were getting, fell below that mark.
"Even though there was an annual increase, the annual increase was only indexed to the general CPI [consumer price index] and education generally rises more than the average CPI so we came to a breaking point for many parents," Ms Martin said.
The ICPA is calling for an increase in the basic boarding allowance of $4000 per child on top of the $9396 a family currently receives. That would see the total annual funding increase from $37,584,000 to $53,584,000.
"And then from there we would like to see that annual increase indexed to the education sub index CPI so we're not coming back to the table in another few years looking for more funding to bring it back to the 55pc," Ms Martin said.
Ms Martin said many parents are being faced with a tough decision when children get to high school age.
Boarding schools are the only option for many in remote areas and if it costs too much, families are sometimes forced to leave their communities.
Ms Martin said the loss of community members can have a flow-on effect in these towns.
"If you live in a small community, they might have a couple other kids so that means less kids in the primary school," she said.
"If they only have 10-11 kids in the first place, the future of that school looks precarious.
"Suddenly, you're losing active community members. So you get into this nasty cycle of people coming and going and it's very disruptive for small communities."
Federal National Party leader David Littleproud was one of the many people who met with the ICPA delegation in Canberra and backed their calls for an increase to the basic boarding allowance.
"The current AIC program has not kept pace with inflation and the Albanese government should review its current level in this year's budget," Mr Littleproud said.
Labor senator Anthony Chisholm, assistant minister for education and regional development, also sat down with ICPA members in Canberra.
"We're committed to helping students, who live outside of our major cities and towns, succeed at school and further their studies," he said.
"In addition to the support offered through the Assistance for Isolated Children scheme, we launched the Commonwealth Regional Scholarship Program on Monday. This pilot program allows eligible families across regional, rural and remote Australia to apply for up to $20,000 per year to assist with the cost of boarding school fees.
"This program will help students, no matter where they live, access the education they need to help them achieve their goals."
The Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme is managed through the Department of Social Services and the ICPA is hoping to sit down for talks with members of the department in the near future.
Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
