Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to speak on the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007, which forms an important part of the measures which were introduced on budget night. It is a budget which has been very much referred to as the education budget—and quite rightly so—because of the very strong emphasis that it places on the important area of education. Higher education is, of course, vital from a national perspective. We need to innovate and we need to move forward in order to compete in a very competitive global marketplace. Failure to innovate effectively in the 21st century means that you are not only standing still but probably going backwards. So higher education forms a vital part of that innovation, that growth of our local talent and our intellectual capital that are going to allow this nation to prosper and grow. Education is of great importance not only at a national level but also at a local level.

I am certainly fortunate to have the Coffs Harbour campus of the Southern Cross University, which provides great benefits to the community, in my electorate. It is part of a very much larger campus which includes a senior high and a TAFE. It is known as the Coffs Harbour Education Campus and it allows students who have not even completed year 12 to complete their senior education at a high school level, to matriculate through TAFE and then to go on to university and postgraduate study. So a person who is interested in nursing would have the opportunity to go through completing high school, pursuing initially a TAFE qualification and then moving on through a degree and a higher education qualification after that. Coffs Harbour Education Campus is a great facility. It provides a very innovative and flexible way of learning for a great many people. It is of great benefit not only for the education services it provides but also for the jobs that it provides for people who are perhaps not in an academic sphere but supporting the education institution itself.

Expenditure in higher education in this budget did not just happen; it was very much a product of good economic management. Good economic management allowed the government to expend the huge investment that has been highlighted in this budget. Good economic management made that possible. It is not possible to run a budget deficit while continuing to improve investment in higher education. Of course members opposite are very skilled at spending more than they earn. Bad economic management and running deficits is their stock in trade. When it comes to deficits they wrote the book.

Not only are we providing increased education funding in this budget, but we are doing it while maintaining a budget surplus. This government has paid back $96 billion of Labor’s debt, which has made available some $8 billion per annum for spending on providing services for the Australian people—$8 billion not going to pay interest and which can now be spent on providing services. The reduction in our unemployment rate means that the unemployment queues are shorter and the number of taxpayers is greater. Effectively, we have fewer outgoings by way of unemployment benefits and more tax receipts by way of improved employment outcomes—all adding to the ability of this government to manage the economy and provide more revenue to deliver services such as higher education.

We saw under Labor growing unemployment queues. Under their economic management the unemployment queues grew, the cost of unemployment grew and tax receipts fell. This government has taken the exact opposite approach. We have grown jobs, created opportunities and created more revenue and we have been able to deliver improved services as a result. Somehow members opposite believe that good economic management is all some sort of happy coincidence and that we do not have to take the hard decisions. We well know that they voted against all the difficult decisions. They voted against all the measures that have got us to the point where we are today. Members opposite, as a single voice, have been voting against it. They voted against the reform of the waterfront and against tax reform—all measures that have got us to a position where we can invest large amounts in higher education. They have been voting against the means of getting us there. It beggars belief that they can consider that the economy is just going to move along and happily generate surpluses by some happy coincidence.

It is very important that we have good economic conditions for businesses to prosper and grow. Profitable businesses pay more tax; taxpaying businesses allow us to finance services. A high interest rate and high inflation regime is not a friend of business—it does not allow business to make the sorts of profits that are needed to underpin the services that people require. It is the peak of hypocrisy for the opposition to say that we are as one on economic management when they actually voted against all of the measures that got us to the point where we are today. It is the peak of hypocrisy for them to say that they support the government when in fact they do not. It is all an elaborate hoax. This government has been able to do a range of things in this budget because of good economic management and to make some very substantial investments in education.

Members opposite want to turn the clock back. We want to take this country forward. We want to drive the economy harder and we see higher education as a major way of doing that. The budget introduced the Higher Education Endowment Fund, which is a very innovative approach to education and will be provided with some $5 billion out of the surplus. That is the interesting thing: when you are running a deficit you cannot put away the sort of money that is being invested in this budget—that is, some $5 billion for a fund to benefit higher education by providing for its capital needs and for the establishment of research facilities into the future. If you are not running a budget surplus you cannot do that. But when we look at the record of the members opposite we see deficit after deficit. And they were deficits of a huge proportion at a time when the economy was much smaller than it is today—that is, $13 billion deficits on a base that was much smaller than it is today. It is a tragic economic record and one that will not support further investment in higher education.

The important part of this fund is that the government intends to add to it by investing future surpluses into it so that there will be even more funding available for the capital needs of universities. This money will be distributed to individual universities for capital facilities and research facilities. The budget also provides $556.9 million over four years to simplify university funding structures and to provide additional funding for disciplines in areas of skills needs. This is particularly welcome in the area of teaching. The increase in funding for teaching has gone from $7,950 per annum in 2007 up to $8,217 in 2008. That is certainly a welcome improvement. As Chair of the Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, I certainly welcome that increase in investment for the training of teachers.

There is some $211.2 million over four years to give universities greater flexibility to manage student numbers and course mixes, respond to student demand and address skills needs. This measure will allow relaxation of the cap on university enrolments. There is $208.6 million in funding to create a new diversity and structural adjustment fund to assist universities to diversify and to specialise. I am pleased to add that priority will be given to regional and smaller metropolitan universities that can demonstrate the greatest need for structural reform. Also in the budget is $77 million over four years to help teacher education students obtain more practicum experience in the classroom before they enter the profession. This is a very important measure. The provision of practicum for undergraduate students is an expensive part of their training. This budget will provide a minimum of 120 days of practicum for three- and four-year courses. I know that it is something that is going to be welcome. In my time as chair of the committee we had the opportunity to go around and interview a range of students from various universities around the country and one of the things that they were very keen to do was to get plenty of quality practical experience.

I think it is vitally important that trainee teachers not only get a specific number of days of practical experience in the classroom but that the experience is a quality one that is well integrated with their theory of pedagogy and their other academic courses at university. I think it is a very welcome measure; that $77 million will be very well spent by this government. The government will also provide $102 million from 2008 to establish summer schools for teachers looking at areas such as literacy, numeracy, history and science, which are vitally important. It is also a vitally important concept that the education of a teacher does not end when their undergraduate degree ends. A teacher really needs to be involved in lifelong learning. Whilst many of the subject items they study are foundation stones and do not change, there are a range of fields that are changing all the time. It must be very challenging for a teacher to be teaching computing in the 21st century when our children are so computer literate. So ongoing professional learning through measures such as these vacation schools is a great investment. Providing teachers with an incentive by paying them a $5,000 bonus to complete such a course is, I think, a worthy recognition of their investment in training young Australians into the future. It is a worthy recognition of the importance of lifelong learning for teachers.

There is also $222 million to improve access to tertiary education over four years. There is $87 million over four years to extend eligibility for rent assistance to Austudy recipients, benefiting 11,000 students aged 25 and over. There is $43 million over four years to extend eligibility for youth allowance and Austudy to students who are doing a master’s by coursework which is a minimum entry requirement to a profession or is part of a restructure of an existing course. The government will increase the number of Commonwealth learning scholarships from 8,500 to 12,000 each year, commencing in 2008. That is at a cost of some $91 million over four years.

This is a very fine budget that has been introduced by the Treasurer. It is a credit to him. The focus on education is a vital one for our nation, both now and into the future. We are able to do this because we are strong economic managers. We are able to do this whilst maintaining a surplus. The members opposite seem to think that the economy will run itself, that these surpluses will be around into the future. That is clearly wrong. They are deluding themselves and they are trying to delude the Australian people that they can pull out the cornerstones of our economy, reintroduce an antiquated industrial relations system and expect that somehow the economy will grow. They will be back to their sad old ways if they are handed the keys to the Treasury; they will be running deficits again before too long. I think it would be a grave mistake if at the next election the people were to hand them the keys to the Treasury. That would end the sort of economic reform that has taken place under this government and replace it with a regime that, despite all their rhetoric, is actually backward looking and not forward looking. I commend the bill to the House.

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