Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Assistance) Bill 2008. Largely what this bill does is to lend support to the original intention of the VET FEE-HELP provisions when they were introduced into the Higher Education Support Act 2003. Like any parent these days, we all want the best for our children. In my instance, I am very fortunate that two of my sons have progressed through the vocational education system. I know that as a parent we do want the best and also realise that not everyone is going to want to access tertiary education. Therefore, we need to have varying pathways to guide young people in the direction of a career. I think it is very important that we have proper pathways for students who wish to continue with further study and, as I say, do not simply have, or seem to have, only the option of tertiary education.

The bill before us lends support to the original intention of VET FEE-HELP, and that is to assist students with the up-front costs of full-fee VET courses. However, the way it was originally drafted could see VET FEE-HELP being provided much more broadly than was originally intended. This bill helps direct the VET fee assistance in relation to both full-fee courses which are offered under the VET system and courses which go on to give higher education credit transfer, which is very important when we are talking about increasing the skills and abilities of students. Hopefully, in undertaking these courses, having the ability to transfer credit will lend itself to higher educational attainment as well.

I think it is important that we reflect on the developments that have been made in the VET system. For most people, vocational education once meant TAFE colleges. These days a revolution has occurred in vocational education, and private providers are providing a very significant service in vocational education. The intention of this provision is to make sure that those private providers provide all the information that is required by the Minister for Education in order to attract up-front VET fee payments for students undertaking those courses.

These are matters which probably should have been taken care of when this was originally dealt with in the last parliament, but something that I think is common ground to both sides is that we want the system to work. Moreover, not only do we want it to work, we want it to work in the manner that was originally intended, and that is like what occurs with FEE-HELP. VET FEE-HELP is there to assist to some extent the decision-making process of students going to undertake courses to increase their skills and who, as a consequence, have to shoulder the burden of up-front fees. This is what the scheme is designed to do. It is one that should probably have been looked at more fully when it was originally put forward, but it is one which we are certainly prepared to now commit to and finalise. It will provide opportunities not only for young people but also for those students who are committed to increasing their skills, particularly with a view to being in a position to compete in the ever-changing modern job market.

As I understand just from the research that has been conducted in my electorate of Werriwa, it is predicted that, in the not too distant future, over 60 per cent of the positions which will be made available for localised employment will require some form of technical or vocational educational qualification. Certainly they may not always be at diploma or advanced diploma level, but it is interesting that people are now looking to the future, planning the recruitment of skilled labour and making assessments at this stage that they will be looking for people to have VET qualifications as a prerequisite for employment. If that occurs in Werriwa, I imagine that it will not be far from the mark in the electorate of anybody else in this House. I am happy to stand here and support the bill. It will at least bring this matter to a proper conclusion so that VET FEE-HELP can be brought to bear to assist those people who it was originally intended to assist and to apply to those courses to which it was originally intended to apply. To that extent, I support the bill.

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