Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of this legislation, the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP and Providers) Bill 2009. Like the member for Oxley, I represent a seat in that south-west part of Brisbane that goes into the Lockyer Valley and down to the Fassifern Valley. The challenges for students, young people and those seeking further education in Oxley—which is the south-west part of Brisbane and part of Ipswich—are the same for those in Ipswich and the rural areas outside. The member for Oxley talked about the growth in the corridor that he and I represent. His seat is growing rapidly and in three years time will have the second most number of electors in the whole of Queensland, and mine the fourth. We need a new classroom every week in Ipswich with the growth in the number of people, which is booming. The ABS figures show that Ipswich grew by more than four per cent in the last year, the fastest in Queensland. So the old stereotypes about Ipswich and those people who live in areas like Inala and Durack and out into the rural areas of my electorate, in Laidley, Gatton and beyond, are simply gone—and should be gone—from the lexicon of language used about South-East Queensland. Many people think that ours is an old coalmining area, an area where there is just manufacturing, but there are aerospace and universities and dynamic institutions out there with linkages in jobs that people never dreamed about decades ago. Tourism is a wonderful thing in our area, and hospitality as well. So it is the talent, the tolerance and the technology, which are all going towards creating a new Ipswich and a new area in South-East Queensland.

The legislation here relates to some technical amendments, but they deal with areas of higher education. For many people in the south-west corridor of Brisbane and beyond the idea of a tertiary education or education at a TAFE was simply something that they could not aspire to. But under successive Labor governments we have seen this sort of thing opened up to working-class boys and girls and young men and women who never dreamed that they could aspire to this sort of education. Skilling our people and improving the opportunities in life for them is not just about improving productivity and profitability in our businesses, but it is about social inclusion, social capital and reducing social inequity. It is important that we do this for the sake of the young people of our communities but also for the sake of a more fair and just Australia.

The background to this type of legislation can be found in the fact that there was an injustice between those people who studied in the VET area and those people who studied elsewhere. It was the case that income contingent loans were available to people who went to, say, the University of Queensland or the Queensland University of Technology, but people who went to, say, Bremer TAFE in my electorate could not get the kind of access, until recently, to loans which enabled them to complete courses.

Fortunately that has broadened over the years and we have implemented the extension of HELP loans to various people—both sides of politics have been supportive of this—so that, if you want to do a diploma, an advanced diploma, a graduate diploma or a graduate certificate course, you can. Initially, it was in relation to credit or qualification for a higher education award such as a degree, but we have broadened that out as the years have gone by. This is important because many people use it as a stepping stone, and other people simply want to become trained at a TAFE course to get a job.

Many people in my electorate of Blair go to schools such as Ipswich Grammar School, Ipswich Girls Grammar School, St Edmund’s College and St Mary’s College and other private schools. They provide a wonderful educational course for young people who want to go on to academic pursuits and attend the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University. There are also other people from those schools who want to pursue TAFE courses. Many students in high schools such as Ipswich State High, Bremer State High or Bundamba State Secondary College would obviously prefer to go to TAFE courses. Many want to go to university, such as I did. I went Bundamba State Secondary College and then went on to the University of Queensland. Increasingly, we are seeing more students from state school system background going to university, and this is a tremendous thing. It is important that we give children the opportunity, no matter where they come from—as I have said before, whether they live in Boonah or Brisbane, Ipswich or Indooroopilly—to have access to a high quality education, either at a TAFE or at a university.

The legislation lines up to make sure that, if you are going to be studying a course, you can get access to HELP but at the same time make sure that that course be directed to qualifications to ensure that you get the training and skills you need. That certificate is very important in helping you get a job in all the circumstances. Loans to eligible fee-paying students are important because many people come from backgrounds where they cannot rely on the support of their parents because their parents are struggling to put food on the table, to pay the rent, to pay the mortgage and to meet the everyday needs of their households. These parents cannot help them with tuition fees. Students can access training and defer fees until they are able to pay under the VET FEE-HELP assistance scheme. It is a great social scheme which will reduce inequality in our society and give children from whatever background—whether they are the son of a coalminer, or the son of a meatworker or a shop assistant—access to loans which will enable them to complete their studies. These things are important in my community and to people in my electorate.

We want to make sure that our assistance is targeted to those VET units of study which are essential to completing those courses. In terms of the assistance the Rudd Labor government is providing for the higher education sector, it is important for many people to know that it is not just universities but other institutions that are receiving assistance as well. It has to start at the grassroots level. We are rolling out child-care centres—hundreds of them—across the country, making sure that children are educated from a very young age. Regrettably, under the Howard coalition government, expenditure on education with respect to child care and preschool education was only one-fifth of that of our competitors in the OECD. If we can get our children educated at their first instance of entry into the education system, that will give them the best chance in life.

Building the Education Revolution—in terms of funding for infrastructure, community facilities, multi-purpose halls, libraries and the many things that we are rolling out across Australia—not only is good for jobs but also enables children to get access to information and technology in a world they never dreamed of. In schools such as Raceview State Primary School, Silkstone State Primary School and Brassell State Primary School, the three biggest primary schools in my electorate, those children will have the same access to information and the same access to facilities as children who attend larger or private schools in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. That is very important. So far, in my electorate, $30 million has been announced with respect to education funding under the BER funding, under the National School Pride and Schools for the 21st Century programs. Whether they are coming from small little country schools or larger Ipswich-based schools, students are appreciative of the funding because that kind of funding gives them opportunity and gives them a chance for advancement in life.

It is important that we go on to look at what we are doing in the broader context of higher education. This bill deals with higher education; it deals with the TAFE system. But it is important to think that, whether you are five or 15 or even 25, we are going to support you in pursuing education to enable you to develop your skills, talents and ability not just to contribute to society but to build your self-esteem to ensure that you can achieve everything in life and your full potential.

We are actually building the education revolution by investing $5.7 billion over four years through delivering reform in the higher education innovation sectors. In my electorate, we have two university campuses—one in Ipswich and one in Gatton. We are seeing it manifest locally. We are seeing the increase in funding for higher education brought forward into those campuses. For example, the relocation of the school of veterinary science from Brisbane to Gatton will make a big difference. This will be not just in terms of the local community in terms of jobs, infrastructure and improvement in terms of development in the Lockyer Valley; it will give children a chance to pursue their goals and dreams if they are from a country life and agricultural background and to do what they need to do as country people to ensure their farming communities are developed to the best extent possible.

We are also investing an enormous amount of money locally in terms of the University of Queensland Ipswich campus. I have spoken to Pro-Vice-Chancellor Alan Rix, who is very supportive of what we are doing in terms of infrastructure and innovation locally. We have also seen the new chair of Universities Australia come out just yesterday commending the Rudd Labor government for its commitment to the provision of higher education through the federal budget that was announced by the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, the member for Lilley.

The new Chair of Universities Australia is Professor Peter Coaldrake, who is very well known in Queensland. He is the Vice-Chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology. He has come out very strongly in support of what the government is doing in terms of the new framework for higher education in this country. He has said that it is going to make a great contribution to Australia’s economic recovery, social advancement and environmental sustainability. He was pleased that we have adopted the recommendations of the Bradley and Cutler reviews on indexation, full cost funding of research, enhanced access and equity programs and approved accreditation and quality assurance arrangements.

The investments in substantial social capital and infrastructure in the higher education sector are also crucial to improve not just the lives of students but also the research facilities in our universities and TAFEs across the country. We see that expressed locally in my electorate through the wonderful work carried out by the University of Queensland Ipswich campus. For example, an Ipswich study was undertaken by the university to look at the health needs of the local community, a study which will have implications not just locally but state wide, nationally and internationally. We have many health needs in my areas. Universities and other tertiary institutions are playing a practical role in developing our local area and improving the lives of the people of Ipswich.

The university sector is very pleased with the federal government’s contribution to higher education, not just for it but also for the TAFE sector as well. It is important that we build a higher education system which minimises the kind of regulation and burden that the Howard government imposed upon it. Fortunately, we have seen the eradication of Work Choices and the delinking of funding to the higher education sector with the requirement to impose Work Choices style individual contracts. It is important that we improve accountability and transparency in universities and TAFEs and the like, but it is important that we do not burden them by imposing ideological preconceptions on those wonderful institutions.

When we look at higher education, tertiary education and secondary education, it is important that we recognise what the government is doing in terms of skilling our young people. The trade training centres that we are offering and rolling out across the country play an important role in ensuring that our young people develop interests, skills and abilities in areas that they perhaps would not have dreamed of in the past.

In Ipswich, we have seen three schools get together to apply for and receive funding for an institution which they have called the Ipswich trade training centre. I commend each one of them. It is going to be located at St Edmund’s College, a Catholic boys college in Ipswich with the Edmund Rice tradition. It is a wonderful institution which has a fantastic trade training focus in terms of manual arts, technical drawing and CAD systems, as well as a focus on the wet trades, carpentry, bricklaying and other types of trades. The emphasis for this particular trade training centre will be on those wet trades and engineering. I commend the two grammar schools, Ipswich Grammar School and Ipswich Girls Grammar School, for their involvement in this project. They have seen the wisdom of it. I have spoken to all the principals involved in those schools, and they have warmly welcomed the funding.

That will mean that students at those schools will be able to link in with businesses. I know that there are a number of businesses in the Ipswich and West Moreton communities who have offered their services and who are looking for students who are trained in those areas. There are many students who go to St Edmunds, Ipswich Boys Grammar School and Ipswich Girls Grammar School for a day or two and then go off and work as apprentices, getting their training on site and attending TAFE.

The other trade training centre in my electorate is the trade training centre in the Lockyer Valley, which will also make a big difference in terms of training for young people. That has got a transport and agricultural focus. I commend Lockyer District High School for applying for funding. That focus will link in with the University of Queensland Gatton campus. The contact between the two will mean that students can study, work, meet and socialise together and help ensure that there is a transition between that high school and the university campus. The state government of Queensland should be commended for the funding that it has put into both campuses, the Ipswich and Gatton campuses of the University of Queensland.

What we have done in terms of funding in the higher education sector is extremely important. This bill is a part of the government’s total agenda. We have injected $3 billion through our budget into tertiary education and innovation infrastructure through the education investment fund. The government has approved 31 projects from 160 applications. They will receive $934 million. There are many institutions across the whole country that will benefit, including institutions in South-East Queensland such as the advanced engineering building at the University of Queensland St Lucia campus, which is being funded to the tune of $50 million. That will position the University of Queensland’s engineering programs at the forefront of international teaching capability. It will integrate research, postgraduate training and undergraduate teaching.

It is important, in considering our TAFEs and universities, that we actually think about what we are doing and get an overall strategy. We want to build a stronger, fairer and more innovative Australia; we want to make sure that our funding of universities and the wider higher education sector is based on student demand; and we want to establish a target. We want to enable another 50,000 students to commence university studies by 2013. We want to ensure that we have as many people as possible with tertiary qualifications, whether they are from TAFEs or universities. We want to ensure that we support our young people not just because it is the right thing to do, not just because it will produce a fairer and more just Australia, but because we are interested in nation building—because we want to build the nation for the time when we recover to ensure that we have the future prosperity that we believe is important for our country and that we believe is important that our children inherit. What we do in terms of our funding of higher education says a lot about what we think Australia should become. It says a lot about what we believe our children should inherit and what chance in life we should give them.

This is a good bill. It is part of the framework of the Rudd government’s commitment to higher education, whether in the university sector or in the TAFE sector. I commend the bill to the House.

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