Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Minister for Education, Science and Training, I would like to thank all members who spoke on the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007. The bill before the House will fundamentally reshape the higher education landscape in Australia. It responds to calls from the sector for greater flexibility and less red tape. It will allow a more diverse and vibrant higher education sector to emerge—one that strives for excellence and shapes its own destiny. No longer is university elitist. No longer is higher education unsustainable, as it was in the 1970s era of Whitlam. The reforms of this government will also enable the sector to break out of the one-size-fits-all straitjacket of the 1980s Dawkins era.

The decision in the budget to fully fund university overenrolments by up to five per cent of a university’s total funding will potentially create around 21,000 additional Commonwealth supported places. In addition, the Australian government will allocate a further 2,300 new Commonwealth supported places later this year. Essentially, anyone who wants, and is eligible for, a place at university next year should be able to get one. This is a far cry from the days of previous Labor governments, when 100,000 young Australians who were eligible to go to university missed out on a university place. This coincided with unemployment of 11 per cent, when a million Australians were on the unemployment scrap heap.

This bill will relax the caps on Commonwealth supported and domestic full-fee-paying undergraduate student places. Labor has suggested that universities will en masse convert Commonwealth supported places into full-fee-paying places and will turn their backs on students seeking to take up a Commonwealth supported place. The Australian government expects universities to act responsibly and will not let this happen. Government policy remains that universities must offer their Commonwealth supported places in a discipline cluster before they offer full-fee-paying places. Any significant shifts in student load between clusters must be approved through the funding agreements between the Australian government and universities. The Australian government will not let Australian universities walk away from their obligation to ensure access for Australians who want, and who are eligible for, a university education. Today, the member for Perth confirmed that Labor would abolish fee-paying domestic undergraduate places. Where does this leave Bond University and the University of Notre Dame?

This budget provides a massive $6.9 billion for the higher education sector, including the initial investment of $5 billion in the new Higher Education Endowment Fund. This means that funding for higher education has increased by 31 per cent in real terms between 1995-96 and 2007-08. And that does not include income support for students. At the same time, universities are reporting large increases in their operating surpluses and asset bases. The taxpayer is funding record numbers of Commonwealth supported places. This bill provides a further $0.5 billion for many courses, including maths and statistics, allied health, engineering, science, clinical psychology, teaching, nursing, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. I will mention surveying, which is included in the engineering area. I know that surveyors are needed, and surveying is supported as part of this. In response to calls from the sector, this bill also reduces the number of clusters from 12 to seven.

Reflecting the higher salaries that business graduates can expect to receive over a lifetime, the maximum student contribution for accounting, administration, economics and commerce units and the Commonwealth Grant Scheme subsidy will be aligned with the contribution and subsidy for law. It will be a decision for each institution as to whether it raises the student contribution for these disciplines. The change will only affect students who commence study with a higher education provider from next year. This bill also establishes the new Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund, which will assist universities, particularly smaller metropolitan universities and those in regional areas, to play to their strengths to ensure a diverse and sustainable sector with a focus on quality, access, efficiency and good governance.

One of the great things that has happened in my electorate of Eden-Monaro in the 11 years of the Howard government is that we now have several hundred people doing full-time university degrees being able to remain where they were brought up and where they live rather than having to do a course by correspondence or having to leave home to attend university. When I was elected in 1996, unless you lived in Queanbeyan and could go to university in Canberra, anywhere else in the electorate you would have had to leave the electorate to attend university or have done a course by distance education. In the interim the University of Wollongong has established access centres in both Batemans Bay and Bega and they have grown. I opened the expansion of the Bega access centre last year. Half a million dollars was provided by the Australian government towards the expansion because it has become so popular. It started by utilising technology so that, by teleconferencing, students could participate in lectures given in Wollongong. It has grown and is employing lecturers and tutors locally. As I said, several hundred people are now doing full-time degrees, something that they would never have dreamed of under previous Labor governments.

This bill also introduces three-year Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding agreements from 2009 to replace the annual agreements. Institutions that finalise a three-year agreement during 2007 will be able to take advantage of this arrangement from 2008. Through this bill the Australian government is increasing the number of Commonwealth scholarships from around 8,500 to 12,000 per year. This is over and above the additional annual scholarships for 1,000 Indigenous higher education students to undertake an undergraduate or enabling course. The current administrative arrangements will also be changed to ensure that scholarships are offered at the same time as students are offered a place and will be paid directly by the Australian government. This will help students make better informed decisions about which offer to accept.

This bill promotes a more diverse, responsive and dynamic higher education sector that delivers benefits for universities, for their students and, in turn, for the wider Australian community. I say to the Australian people: if you cannot manage the economy, you cannot invest in the future. The dividend of strong economic management by this government is that we can provide Australians with a good education and a job. I commend the bill to the House.

Question put:

·              That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Stephen Smith’s amendment) stand part of the question.

See this speech in context