Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to rise in the House tonight to support the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007, but in doing so I oppose the second reading amendment moved by the honourable member for Perth. I think most people around the chamber and indeed around the nation would accept that the Sunshine Coast region that I am privileged to represent in the Australian parliament has a wonderful tertiary institution that is providing an important service to one of the fastest-growing areas of Australia. In fact, it is tipped that the Sunshine Coast could well double its population over the next 15 years. Of course, that presents particular problems for the provision of infrastructure, including educational infrastructure.

The University of the Sunshine Coast provides significant educational services in a number of faculties, from business through to arts and social sciences and to science, health and education. The inaugural Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Thomas, must be congratulated for his ongoing dedication and hard work in developing what is still a relatively new university. The university gained full university status following approaches by me and the honourable member for Fairfax, along with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Thomas, to Dr David Kemp. At that stage it was intended that the University of the Sunshine Coast would serve an apprenticeship period of some 10 years as a university college of the Queensland University of Technology. While the Queensland University of Technology has my unabashed admiration as a quality institution, the University of the Sunshine Coast simply would not have been able to grow and develop if the minister for education at the time, Dr David Kemp, had not been prepared to overrule the recommendation from his public servants in the department of education that the university not be given independence. I am proud that through my representations and those of my colleague we were able to give this university appropriate status. Now the university has close to 5,000 enrolments.

The Australian government has always been a very strong supporter of the University of the Sunshine Coast. Only last month the university was allocated $5 million out of a total of $58 million allocated nationally from the voluntary student unionism transition fund. These funds, you will be interested to know, Mr Deputy Speaker, will support the construction of a multipurpose indoor stadium at the Sippy Downs campus under the first round of funding from the fund. Five million dollars out of $58 million is a pretty high proportion of a national allocation. I am proud that the University of the Sunshine Coast has been adjudged worthy of receiving such a high proportion of what the Australian government has allocated under the voluntary student unionism transition fund.

I know the University of the Sunshine Coast very well; in fact I drive past it almost every day because it is only a kilometre down the road from where I live. But it would be useful for us to look at some of the other things the Australian government has done to benefit the University of the Sunshine Coast and of course, most importantly, the students and the families who choose to send their children to that important institution.

In December 2005 the government allocated $2 million, for 2008, towards the completion of stage VI of the University of the Sunshine Coast science building. The funds were allocated through the higher education Capital Development Pool program. The science building will provide laboratories for teaching, sports science and biomedical, microbiology, environmental, geoinformatics and health sciences. Stage VI will also involve the completion of the general teaching buildings and is part of the master-planned development of the university.

Last year the Australian government allocated 235 extra university places for 2007 valued at $2.3 million, increasing to 643 new places by 2010, altogether valued at $6.7 million. Importantly, these places are for the teaching and nursing courses as well as for the allied health areas of nutrition, dietetics and social work. For the University of the Sunshine Coast to grow it must have the courses available to meet the needs of the local community. I have to say that in the allocation of new places in Queensland the University of the Sunshine Coast has done extraordinarily well, and I am particularly pleased to have been able to have supported the university in this very successful outcome.

The Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007 provides for a number of amendments to several pieces of legislation that relate to tertiary education in Australia. They include changes to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 that will assist with the implementation of the research quality framework, a system designed to more easily and accurately assess the results and the public benefit of publicly funded research. The RQF will be a valuable tool in assisting future allocation of research resources and funding, which in turn will foster a better research environment in Australia. It is important that a nation such as Australia continues to build its position in the world with high-quality research that leads to innovation and invention and a greater ability to be internationally competitive. The Australian government has allocated $40.8 million over four years, beginning in July this year, to implement the RQF system. This will include, among other things, the establishment of a national digital storage system in our universities that will assist with the storage and dissemination of valuable research and related information.

The bill also provides for the introduction of revised National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes that were approved last year by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. These protocols guide the recognition of newly established tertiary institutions, as well as the Australian based operations of overseas universities and the accreditation of higher education courses. Mr Deputy Speaker, you will be interested to become aware that in the past these protocols applied only to newly established tertiary institutions, but a significant change provided for in this bill is that the protocols will apply also to existing institutions.

The new protocols will further help to shore up the quality of our educational institutions. They will promote this by making possible the establishment of specialist universities that teach relatively few fields of study, which will encourage new types of institutions, and they will allow some universities that have a record for quality delivery of educational services to be self-accrediting. I think one of the problems we have had in Australia, particularly with the actions of the former Labor government through then Minister Dawkins, is that essentially any higher education organisation at the time was overnight proclaimed to be a university. These so-called Dawkins universities have been somewhat challenging as far as the university sector is concerned. Some of them have done very well; some have not done well. But I think it is important to recognise that every institution in the country ought not to necessarily offer every course. If we can have universities that specialise in certain areas then students will vote with their feet, and they will go to those universities which provide expertise in certain areas. I think that diversity does in fact help to work towards a very healthy system, which is to the overall long-term benefit of Australia.

The bill also introduces a range of relatively minor amendments. Students will be given six weeks to correct their information as it relates to Commonwealth assistance programs. Minor amendments will clarify the intent of policy as it relates to the Higher Education Loan Program, as well as other Commonwealth supported student arrangements. The bill will give education providers the ability to determine the parameters by which some students will be eligible for Commonwealth assistance—for example, whether they will be required to attend a certain institution to be eligible for the support. Students must reside in Australia to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance, and students who are permanent residents who complete their course overseas will not be eligible for Commonwealth support.

It is interesting that the opposition, while it is moving this amendment and playing politics in doing so, does not actually seek to deny passage of the bill through the House. Obviously, with an election just a number of months down the track, the opposition is trying to play politics with the education of students at Australia’s higher education institutions. I do not believe that this is a very appropriate way for the opposition to act. Having said that, the opposition is supporting the bill, because it must know that its pious second reading amendment has absolutely zero chance of passing this House.

The bill currently before the chamber, the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007, provides some important changes that will assist in supporting and promoting a stronger higher education sector in Australia. Any bill that supports and promotes a stronger higher education sector in Australia is worthy of the backing of the Australian parliament because, let us face it, those people who are studying in our educational institutions—primary, secondary and tertiary—are Australia’s future. This bill will benefit those studying in tertiary institutions and will improve national outcomes in the Australian community for years to come. I am very pleased, therefore, to ask everyone to support the passage, as soon as possible, of the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007.

See this speech in context