Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Under the Howard government, Australians are paying more and more for a degree and more and more in mortgage repayments. These massive increases in university fees are forcing up the total debts faced by students and graduates by $2 billion a year, taking Australia further down the track of an American style university system. The new Senate estimates figures from the Department of Education, Science and Training show that university graduates and students will owe $18.8 billion by 2008-09.

The Minister for Education, Science and Training tried to spin herself out of trouble by saying that the massive rise in debt was due to rising student numbers. This performance of hers was repeated by the Prime Minister in question time today. But as the Sydney Morning Herald was quick to point out this morning:

However, figures from her own department—

that is, the minister’s department—

showed that domestic student numbers rose by just 0.2 per cent from 2004 to 2005 while the accumulated HECS debt rose by nearly $2 billion.

The minister’s attempt at fancy footwork and spin—the sort of spin we have come to expect from the Howard government—to hide these skyrocketing debts certainly fell very flat for one very simple reason: the facts do not lie.

Labor also welcomes the clause in the bill to clarify that a person who has had FEE-HELP recredited does not have their future entitlement to FEE-HELP reduced by that amount of recredited FEE-HELP. However, we will be seeking further details regarding the application of this change in the upcoming Senate inquiry into this bill.

Schedule 3 allows the universities to charge different students in the same unit different amounts of HECS and tuition fees. This does change the existing rule that the same types of students enrolled in the same course of study pay the same fees. Under the proposed changes there will now be wide discretion for the provider to set varying fee levels based on any factor they deem appropriate with only limited scope by the government to determine matters that are not appropriate. It is certainly the case that more detail on these prohibited factors needs to be made clear to both the parliament and the public. There may be cases where differential fee structures are used to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds through targeted fee relief based on location or mode of delivery. However, Labor would not support fee deregulation resulting in higher general fee levels and we will certainly be monitoring this during the implementation of these new provisions.

Labor does support the minor technical amendments in schedules 4, 5 and 7 and the creation of the new concept of winter schools in schedule 6. These winter schools are analogous to summer schools and allow students to study units intensively where academically appropriate and complete their degree programs more quickly. Labor supports universities undertaking new and innovative activities to provide a wide range of educational options for our students. Unlike the government, this forms part of an overall and cohesive policy agenda for Labor. Our higher education white paper, which I will mention a little more about later, contains a new funding model for universities, and one element of that is to provide specific funding for what we call ‘innovative activities’. The white paper targets accelerated degree options for students as one sort of innovative activity that we will pursue in government.

The changes to the procedures for accreditation and approval of higher education in external territories in schedule 8 is another matter that needs more information and more detailed consideration, which we will pursue in the Senate inquiry. The bill proposes to give the minister greater powers to determine matters in accordance with new ministerial guidelines for approval of higher education in the external territories. Labor is concerned to make sure that any approval and accreditation is consistent with the national protocols for approval of higher education providers developed jointly with the states and territories and endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. We believe that the new guidelines proposed by this bill should also be endorsed by MCEETYA.

This bill contains a series of unconnected and piecemeal amendments to higher education legislation in Australia. We do understand that there is a need for governments to make amendments like this from time to time but it does seem to be the case that it is all this government is doing in higher education. At a time when our university system needs serious attention all we are getting from the government is inadequate and, I would have to say, incoherent policy responses to the needs of our university system to diversify, innovate and meet Australia’s higher education needs. The government continues to fail to address serious concerns about standards and quality in our higher education system, putting at risk Australia’s high educational reputation and our fourth largest export industry.

While the government may have no future direction, Labor does. We have been doing some very serious policy work, setting directions for where our universities should be heading to make sure that they are ready for the challenges of tomorrow. To put it very simply indeed: our universities are much too important to ignore. In July this year I launched Labor’s higher education white paper entitled Australia’s universities: building our future in the world. That white paper sets out our new policy framework for higher education, research and innovation that is necessary to address Australia’s future needs. This nation-building reform will result in real choice and higher quality education and training for Australians and international students coming to this country. Lifting our universities up is central to a Beazley Labor government’s economic agenda to build a prosperous future for all Australians. Our white paper details how our education system must change.

There is no question that our universities are already different. We on this side of the House understand that simple reality, and it is time that the government recognised that this difference exists through more than mere platitudes. When the minister for education was new to her portfolio she was quick to claim the ownership of the diversity mantra. Interestingly, Minister Nelson did the same when he first took on the education job back in 2001. But saying it does not make it so. In fact when Dr Nelson was the minister for education he imposed a red-tape nightmare and funding straitjacket on our universities. So much for diversity! If this government really wants diversity in our higher education system it has to take action to make it happen. You do not go about dealing with these problems by just talking about them.

The first thing that needs to be done is to release our universities from the straitjacket imposed by Dr Nelson’s changes. Particularly as a result of the government’s 2003 changes, universities have been given less discretion to spend the diminished proportion of government funding they receive. In the 2003 Higher Education Support Act, the Howard government designed a straitjacket for universities. Every university is paid the same amount for each student, irrespective of differences in their missions and purpose, student mix and cost structures. The government’s insistence on funding every university at the same rate per student is the basic constraint on diversity in the system. So it is government’s own legislation that is creating the constraint. Universities are penalised if they enrol above or below their undergraduate enrolment quotas. They have no flexibility of operation. Without approval from Canberra, universities cannot move places from one campus to another, from one semester to another or across the funding clusters. They cannot change their range of courses. They cannot even change how they intend to use a piece of research equipment purchased through government grants without the written approval of the education minister. Talk about red tape!

True diversity can only be achieved through fundamental change, freeing our universities from this red tape and bureaucratic control. In Labor’s white paper we have proposed the changes necessary to allow our university system to innovate, to grow and to prosper. Labor will end government interference in the internal management of universities and reduce compliance and reporting burdens. Labor’s stronger focus on the quality of educational outcomes will loosen the Howard government’s excessive controls on inputs and processes.

Labor will fund public universities through a compact, negotiated to value universities’ individual missions and their different roles and circumstances. There will be a compact with four components of funding that universities will be funded for: education, research, community engagement and innovative activities. The education component is for undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs. Teaching cost relativities will be updated, reflecting clinical, laboratory/field and classroom teaching. Funds will include regional loadings and loadings for students with special needs. Within its funding envelope a university may shift places from low- to high-cost fields and from undergraduate to postgraduate level, or vice versa. The Commonwealth will of course safeguard courses of national priority.

The research and research education component will continue to operate as a dual funding system through national competitive grants and institutional block funds. Funding of places for research students will be provided only in those areas where the quality of research performed within the university meets high standards. Labor will support community outreach by universities, as we recognise that our universities are more than providers of education; they are very important members of their local communities, and that is particularly so in regional Australia.

As mentioned earlier, universities that undertake innovative activities will also be supported. This component is to fund structured activities additional to normal operations, to drive innovation and diversity within the university system. These would include knowledge transfer services to business and other groups, collaboration with other universities and institutions, accelerated study programs, and education or research aligned with the Northern Hemisphere academic year.

Each university will be funded for the first component but need not be funded for all four. Universities will determine their own priorities and shape their activities to suit their different missions. The excluded option is that of the ‘teaching only’ university. Labor believe that all academic staff must have the opportunity to conduct research, so our approach will promote improved responsiveness of universities to student demand and community needs. It will enable universities to focus on what they do best. We will restore rolling triennial funding to make sure that universities have certainty in their planning.

Our mission based compacts will facilitate diversification of the higher education system, wider student choice and the continuation of university functions of wider community benefit that would otherwise be lost in a purely market driven system. Labor will provide additional public money to our universities through this new funding model. We will make sure that there is adequate indexation of university grants. As mentioned earlier, the current indexation arrangements are costing our universities and must be changed. It is only Labor who are prepared to make the necessary changes and link these additional funds to quality improvements.

The consequence of 10 long years of Howard government cuts to our universities is that the quality of Australian higher education is now under pressure, with risks to the reputation of Australian degrees. There are no systems in place in Australia for assuring the standards of degree quality. Funding cuts have pressured universities to increase student numbers, chase revenue wherever they can find it, raise student-to-staff ratios and class sizes, cut back tutorials and cut corners on student assessment. Is it any wonder that quality is under pressure?

On the Labor side of politics we want to see higher education standards raised to give our students the best opportunity to develop their abilities and build a competitive economy. Students need to know that they will get a high-quality education. Employers also want the same information and reassurance. It is not to the advantage of anyone—students, parents or employers—and certainly not to the advantage of any higher education institution to be part of a system that does not assure at least minimum standards of quality of its educational qualifications. That is why Labor will establish a tough new standards watchdog, the Australian Higher Education Quality Agency, and give it real teeth to enhance degree standards and to protect quality teaching and research. Our commitment to increase public investment in higher education is predicated on a reciprocal commitment by universities and other providers to demonstrate higher educational quality standards.

As I mentioned earlier, student debt in Australia is skyrocketing for one reason and one reason alone. The average HECS fee paid by Australian students has doubled under the Howard government, discouraging prospective students from taking university places that they have worked so hard for. The Howard government’s HECS hikes mean that medical students are now paying more than $30,000 over and above what they would have paid when Labor left office. Law students are paying more than $20,000 extra; engineering students, more than $16,000 extra. These are massive increases in fees. Students and their parents only have one place to lay the blame, and that is the Howard government.

There is no question that these significant HECS increases have adversely affected student participation and are now denying Australia the human capital investment needed to underpin future productivity growth. In our white paper we make it plain that we intend to relieve the HECS burden on our students, and we have put forward a number of options for public discussion and debate. When we put out our detailed policy we will set out the details of this relief for students.

We have also made it very clear that we will phase out full-fee places for Australian undergraduates at public universities. Under Labor students will get access to higher education according to merit, not their financial means. That means there will not be any more $100,000 or $200,000 degrees at our universities. There is one government that believes in university degrees costing $100,000 or $200,000, and that is the Howard government. Labor will put an end to that. Unlike the government, who seems to be so bereft of fresh ideas and unable to articulate coherent policy, Labor do believe that the only way to promote diversity and innovation is to restore faith, confidence and, most importantly, public investment in our universities. We do have a vision for higher education in Australia. We intend to back it up with substantive, contemporary policies that tackle the problems created by this government.

See this speech in context