Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor firmly believes that higher education is the cornerstone of our nation’s social and economic prosperity and an appropriately funded and resourced higher education sector is the best investment a nation can make in its own future. Whilst this Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2006 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2006 goes some way to addressing some problem areas in the sector, there is much more that is needed to be done if we are to have a higher education sector that is truly responsive to the needs of the nation.

Schedule 1 of this bill funds commitments made by the government arising from the Council of Australian Governments health workforce and mental health packages. This means new medical, general nursing, mental health nursing and clinical psychology places and increased funding for nurse clinical training. The package includes 605 new commencing medical places, 1,036 new commencing nursing places, extra funding for nurse clinical training, 431 new mental health nursing places, 210 new clinical psychology places and 40 new places for a centre for excellence in Islamic studies.

Schedule 2 increases the FEE-HELP limit to $80,000 and $100,000 for medical, dental and veterinary science students, as announced in the budget, and clarifies 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. The changes to FEE-HELP are significant, increasing the amount available to students. There are now almost 100 full-fee degrees in Australia costing more than $100,000, so it is obvious these increases are not sufficient to meet the real cost of these degrees.

A person can only receive a certain amount of FEE-HELP from the government. The available balance at any particular time is the amount by which the sum of all previous assistance, repaid or outstanding, is less than the limit. In certain circumstances, such as a provider ceasing to offer the course or special circumstances beyond the student’s control, the FEE-HELP assistance claimed can be recredited and repaid by the provider to the government. This amendment clarifies that, in these recrediting circumstances, the FEE-HELP balance is not reduced because of the prior FEE-HELP loan taken, and thus in future this amount of FEE-HELP assistance can be claimed again. The clarification regarding the impact of recredited FEE-HELP on FEE-HELP balances is a positive step for students.

Part 1 of schedule 3 allows universities to charge different students in the same unit different amounts of HECS and tuition fees. Part 2 contains saving provisions consequent upon this change. The Howard government has threatened our economic future by neglecting universities by cutting $5 billion in grants. These cuts have impacted severely on La Trobe University in Victoria. It is estimated that these cuts represent around $277 million from La Trobe’s total budget. Australia is now the only OECD nation to actually reduce public investment in tertiary—TAFE and university—education as a percentage of GDP since 1995. Since 1995, there has been an eight per cent decline in expenditure as a proportion of GDP, compared to the OECD average of a 38 per cent increase.

I note that La Trobe University, which has a significant presence in Bendigo and other areas in northern and north-eastern Victoria, has announced yet another review. This is called a review of regional strategy. This follows a review of regional operations in November 2001 and the report of a community working party in January 2004. In 2003, following considerable and protracted public concern about the operation and future prospects of the Bendigo faculty of La Trobe University, I convened a public meeting in Bendigo which was attended by more than 100 people.

After much discussion and debate about the importance of the university to Bendigo and the region, in terms of its educational, cultural, research and economic impact, the meeting empowered then senator Tsebin Tchen, the then mayor of Bendigo and me to establish a working party to examine the role of the university and its relationship with its key stakeholders and the community it serves, and to recommend options for its future that would ensure the provision of high-quality education as well as organisational and funding arrangements to best meet regional needs. Following extensive community consultation, the working party produced its report in January 2004. I want to place on record my appreciation for the excellent work that Richard Clarke, Jan Boynton, Ian MacBean and Andrew Cairns provided in the compiling and preparation of the report.

The executive summary of the report stated:

The Working Party report follows significant community concern about the future of the Bendigo University Campus, and lost opportunities over the past several years.

While prospects for Bendigo and our region look promising, increased competition resulting from globalisation means that businesses must have access to information, knowledge and research in order to remain adaptable, sustainable and competitive.

It has long been acknowledged that universities play a significant role in regional development. While good examples of collaboration between the university and local industry exist, potential exists for a much greater collaboration and contribution to economic social development.

The majority of submissions received by the Working Party highlighted a progressive decline in the relationship between the Bendigo Faculty and the University’s administrative centre, Bundoora, since amalgamation in 1994.

• Integration has failed to deliver increased access. Bendigo has lost funded places in real terms.
• La Trobe University has failed to develop a Regional Strategy. Local planning initiatives have been impeded.

La Trobe University’s “international standing” appears to take precedence over its “regional commitment”.

The Integration Agreement—

developed in 1993 between La Trobe University and La Trobe University College of Northern Victoria in Bendigo—

aimed at ensuring the interests and needs of the Bendigo Faculty were protected, has been progressively disregarded. Future promises and assurances would therefore be viewed with suspicion.

With some notable exceptions, the working relationships between staff at Bendigo and Bundoora are unhelpful and at times unhealthy. This is particularly apparent in relation to budget and finance issues. With many staff at Bendigo believing that several years funding has been withheld or re-directed away from Bendigo.

There is an apparent lack of transparency, consultation, or local input into key decisions made centrally.

The Working Party concluded that the projected benefits of integration have not been realised. This report identifies a long list of negative outcomes. Many are long-standing and remain unresolved. The relationship appears to have deteriorated to a point which, in all likelihood, is beyond repair.

The reforms initiated by the Minister for Education, Science and Training will result in universities seeking increased numbers of full-fee paying students both domestic and international. Commonwealth funding to universities has also decreased in real terms over the past ten (10) years. Universities will be under increasing pressure to be competitive and provide courses that are responsive to demand and community needs.

The Nelson reforms will also place pressure on small universities, which is likely to encourage partnership arrangements in order to remain financially viable.

The concerns raised by the community working party also included: a complete lack of consultation and communication; a lack of transparency regarding budgets and finance; a lack of a strategic plan for regional operations; a lack of responsiveness to local and regional needs; and a failure to develop adequate collaborative partnerships.

The university council resolved in early 2004 that the Faculty for Regional Development, based at Bendigo, should be fully integrated into the university for academic purposes, thereby increasing the centralisation of decision making at La Trobe’s administrative centre in Bundoora. This decision by the university council meant that not only were the concerns and problems identified by the Community Working Party not addressed or resolved but many of them have been made worse. In addition, many new challenges for Bendigo students and staff have been created. No doubt the Bendigo community will be watching very closely and taking a great interest as La Trobe undertakes this latest review of its regional operations.

I note that in her address to the Curtin Institute public policy forum on 24 July 2006 the Minister for Education, Science and Training, in addition to highlighting her studies at the Harvard Business School, said that she has aspirations for Australia’s universities, including ensuring that universities are ‘accountable for their performance, transparent in their operations and efficient in their administration’.

I also note from the minister’s same address that, when extolling the virtues of the United States higher education system, she identified as one of the strengths the fact that their system is highly decentralised. If the minister is able to succeed in persuading La Trobe University of the need to become more accountable, transparent, efficient and decentralised, I will be more than happy to publicly congratulate her on her achievements.

As well as providing educational, cultural and sporting programs and activities, La Trobe University Bendigo is also a vital component of the economy of the central Victorian region. The student population of La Trobe’s facility in Bendigo represents around 24 per cent of the total student enrolment for the whole university. The university is directly responsible for generating approximately 532 jobs—full-time, part-time and casual—in the Bendigo region. When the effects of student expenditure are added, another 344 jobs are generated. Once flow-on effects are taken into consideration, the university is responsible for the generation of 1,359 jobs in the Bendigo region. This amounts to 4.2 per cent of the total regional workforce.

La Trobe University Bendigo is responsible for an initial effect of $62.4 million being placed in Bendigo’s economy each year. The flow-on effect is estimated to be $58.8 million, bringing a total of $120.2 million in output. It generates $120 million in household income. I am indebted to La Trobe University’s Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities, which did the modelling to come up with those figures. Any diminishing of La Trobe Bendigo’s role in the region also potentially diminishes the entire region’s economy.

The facility was placed in Bendigo by past governments to provide central Victoria with the range of educational and other services specifically for the central Victorian region. In 1993 an integration agreement was struck with La Trobe University Victoria and was seen at the time to be the best way forward to secure and develop the facility. Over the past 10 years the federal government’s cuts to universities have cost central Victoria dearly. In addition to these cuts, it has been estimated that La Trobe University Bendigo has lost in excess of $15.5 million as a result of internal transfers between the Bendigo and Bundoora campuses. It seems that previous management at La Trobe Bundoora campus paid little regard to the importance of the Bendigo campus in the region’s economy. The current and future management at La Trobe Victoria must understand that the Bendigo campus is not theirs to do as they like with; it is a vital Bendigo community asset and the Bendigo community takes a strong interest in its future. La Trobe Victoria has a responsibility to ensure it continues to fulfil the tasks it was established to provide. They must be accountable to the future generations that will access the services at La Trobe Bendigo.

The central Victorian community was bitterly disappointed that the La Trobe Bendigo bid to gain medical training school places for Bendigo was not successful. The Melbourne and Monash universities’ bid was successful, and I congratulate them for it and wish them well. However, La Trobe University’s contribution to Bendigo’s economy, education, sport, arts and culture is vastly superior to any other organisation of a similar size and certainly far superior to that of Melbourne and Monash universities.

We have lost an opportunity to gain a purpose-built Bendigo based and operated medical training school that would have helped cement La Trobe University’s future in Bendigo. A purpose-built medical training facility would have complemented the significant investment by La Trobe in existing health related programs like pharmacy and nursing. La Trobe has every right to be angry at the lack of support it received, especially from the Howard government, other organisations and individuals who promised the world and yet delivered nothing.

While the Australian economy needs high-quality graduates to compete with the world, the Howard government has disgracefully made university funding conditional on take-up of its extreme industrial relations ideology, when it should be tied to education standards. Labor will reform Australia’s universities to build a strong economy and a smart future for Australia. A Beazley Labor government will deliver world-class universities, giving Australians the best possible education and training to compete with the rest of the world.

Labor’s white paper, Australia’s universities: building our future in the world, points the way forward: reform of university funding; world-class and world-scale research hubs; the expansion of associate degrees; and a new Australian higher education quality agency. Labor’s nation-building reform will result in real choice and higher quality education and training for Australians. Importantly, all Australians will benefit, because Labor’s much needed reform will also deliver the skills our country needs to compete with the rest of the world. Lifting up all universities is central to a Beazley Labor government’s economic agenda. Building the skills of the next generation is how we will build a prosperous future for all Australians.

Central to a Beazley Labor government’s higher education reforms will be the creation of a standards watchdog—the Australian higher education quality agency—which will have real teeth to enhance degree standards and protect quality teaching and research. The Australian higher education quality agency will be developed, owned and controlled jointly by the Commonwealth, states and territories. It will undertake all higher education accreditation approval and compliance assessments to deliver national standards. The higher education quality agency will have the power to require underperforming institutions to: make changes to the structure and standards of their awards to ensure consistency with the guidelines for the award in the Australian Qualifications Framework; cease admitting new students to a program or range of programs; arrange for the transfer of their current students to other accredited institutions or providers; make changes to information about their offerings; and do all the other things necessary to safeguard the reputation of Australian qualifications. Under a Beazley Labor government, it will be educational standards, not industrial relations ideology, that will determine funding and accreditation.

Labor means quality investment in quality universities. Labor’s plan will also encourage diversity and excellence in our universities. It will cut red tape and reward universities with additional funding in return for a commitment to quality. Labor will introduce a compact with our universities, establishing new funding streams to recognise their different strengths, promote excellence in research and encourage them to diversify, innovate and compete. All universities will be better off under the new funding system. Labor’s plan will release universities from the Howard government’s 2003 straitjacket, which strangled them with red tape through programs such as the enrolment targets system. Labor’s plan includes proposals to stop the massive HECS fee increases, reduce the overall financial burden on students and provide HECS relief for degrees in areas of skills shortage. Labor will link research student places to research quality to foster excellence in specialised areas. Staff from all public universities will be able to do research.

Labor’s plan is for well-funded and high-quality universities to build Australia’s future economy by: ending the ‘one size fits all’ model of university funding; expanding associate degrees to address the national shortage of technical skills; creating extra university funding streams to encourage diversification, innovation and competition; encouraging regional universities to play to their strengths; creating extra university places in areas of skills shortage, particularly technical degrees; improving indexation of university grants in return for a commitment to quality; scrapping full-fee degrees for Australian undergraduate students at public universities; and introducing annual standards reviews, starting with teacher and nursing education and business studies.

Labor has always regarded higher education as the cornerstone of our nation’s social and economic prosperity. We believe an appropriately funded and resourced higher education sector is the best investment a nation can make in its own future. And only Labor has the commitment to ensure our higher education system meets the needs of our nation.

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