Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Higher Education Support Amendment (No. 1) Bill 2011. What I like about the bill comes from a personal background of involvement in education and training. In a number of areas that have occurred over probably the last decade, RTOs, or registered training organisations, are now taking a real and serious place in the delivery of skill development and knowledge impartment. In order for Australia to be successful within the world in which we live and in the industries that we will be shaping and developing as the future continues to appear over the horizon, I believe that the lifelong learning stance that I have taken on many occasions—in my previous role as an educator and as Pro Chancellor of Edith Cowan University, but more recently in the fields of health—is important. This legislation enables us to position the way in which we develop skills for the workforce far better than we have, to some extent, in the past. The flexibility provision within the bill is a tremendous opportunity to move and to give those who make the decisions in the provision of training and higher education and in the VET sector the capacity to respond—to respond to industry needs and to respond to the emerging needs of new fields that continue to arise out of the way in which our society moves.

Recently, on being elected to the seat of Hasluck, I met with all of our RTOs, people from the VET sector and people from the secondary school sector—recognising that some are in competition with each other for available funding—to talk about how we provide for an emerging need for workforce skills within the rapidly developing economy of this country particularly in Western Australia. Those workforce skills are needed to support not only the resource sector but also the front-line companies and businesses, including the public sector, which provide services to it. What I appreciated from the discussion is the rich thinking and depth of thinking that has occurred among the RTOs. Certainly all of them expressed the need to have some flexibility in the way they attract students in what they see as a continuum, a lifelong journey—so age was not a factor from their perspective.

How do we provide the best possible education and training within existing institutional arrangements? Out of those discussions has evolved a tremendous agreement that they want to be leaders in the work within the electorate to provide opportunities for training, for educational pathways. But they also looked at the question: how do they link with all the institutions that this act covers in an effective way of ensuring the points are a connection into the lifelong learning pathways and the skilling pathways required? Some innovative thinking has arisen in that group.

What I do like about the legislation is the propensity for flexible arrangements, enabling an institution to provide the type of training and, as my colleague talked about earlier, giving it the capacity to train pilots. The HESA values the access to higher education provided under the HECS-HELP and the VET FEE-HELP initiatives. Certainly young people within the electorate partake of the Commonwealth programs that have been put in place by successive governments.

One of the things I do want to support very strongly are the pathfinders, and I mean 'pathfinders' in two senses—those who are educated, skilled and trained for the opportunities in a career but also the institutions which provide the knowledge needed for the innovative and knowledge society. There are some challenges for us in the way we have to think—we have to think outside the square. We cannot always make assumptions that the current training we provide will meet tomorrow's future. In this sense, I often look at this sector and wonder whether we are teaching our young people, the future of our nation, with yesterday's curriculum and with today's teaching staff. These are some of the challenges that we have to think about and this bill provides for that. We need to look at the universal pathways that need to be joined together in the complexity of the provision of training and education, but we also need to think outside the square. And I do like, as I said, the provision of flexibility in the recognition of bodies corporate as higher education or VET providers in the 'principal purpose' requirement. I think that gives tremendous capacity to providers to look at the future, to look at 2030, and say, 'What is it that we really need to start thinking about in the way in which we skill the workforce?'

The universal right to an education is absolutely paramount. The other aspect we have to build into that is capacity building for the future. I want tertiary education to be a factor that is important in the lives of all Australians, so that at different points in their career they can turn to the right training organisation and seek to gain qualifications, skills and knowledge that they can apply in the pathways they are following. I honestly believe that by 2030 we will be part of a global society, a global world, a global economy, in which the transferability of skills will be universal. I like the fact that this bill is encapsulating that possibility. I compliment the government for bringing forward these amendments to the act. Sometimes we need to take stock and look at what the inhibitors and barriers are and then work to remove them collaboratively. That is why the coalition, those of us on this side, support this bill—it does provide that possibility.

This bill seeks to simplify administrative arrangements for vocational education and training providers and ensure that quality providers are able to apply for and offer FEE-HELP and VET FEE-HELP places to students. That is critical if we are going to develop the capacity of our future nation. I also believe that the intent to provide the Commonwealth with a better process to manage provider risk, with a subsequent increase in provider approvals, will lead to a rise in students accessing both fees. That augurs well for the future. It gives our training providers added capacity and gives industry some assurance that the providers that they engage with or have their young people skilled through are providing standards that the industry is looking for.

I do acknowledge the variety that is now starting to become evident in the courses offered by RTOs. In Western Australia I went to WesTrac and had a look at their training program and their training facilities, and I was absolutely ecstatic to hear that the students going through that program of training are being employed not only by WesTrac but also, equally, by employers who see the quality of the program as meeting their needs within the resource sector. I talked to a couple of lecturers, and they really appreciate that skills they acquired within the industry can now be taught through technology that was not around when they went through their training—for example, the use of simulators that enable young people, or even those returning for second chance education, to better hone their skills to the levels required. If this bill gives that latitude and that flexibility to those who govern these institutions, then again I want to acknowledge that that is a highly beneficial aspect of the bill.

All of us in this House want to see a vibrant, rigorous process of education and training and see our capacity to be competitive in global markets continue to evolve. But, even more importantly, we want our competitive companies to transcend the boundaries of sovereignty, to transcend the countries in which they had their origin. If we think of companies like Rio Tinto and BHP, they no longer operate within the borders of this nation—they in fact operate in a borderless society in which the skills and the capacities of their staff, their workers, are of a standard that enables them to provide the workforce that generates not only profitability for the companies but also the avenues to refine, sharpen and hone skills that make this country highly competitive. The access to the fees help that is available is tremendous. Income contingent loans were extended to the VET sector in 2007, and that was a tremendous move in building the opportunity for developing capacity. These programs provide a loan, for all or part of the student's tuition costs, which has to be repaid once the student exceeds a set level of income. These programs accord access to anybody meeting the criteria, and students then have the opportunity to undertake a training program that meets their needs and that also makes them competitive in the talent pool.

A number of students in Hasluck access FEE-HELP to continue their tertiary studies. That warms my own sense of commitment to learning and the acquisition of skills because I know that those students will continue into pathways that will lead them to incredible opportunities. If I could turn back the clock and undertake the type of training and education that is now available within the tertiary and training sectors, I know my capacity would have been extended far beyond what I have now reached. Certainly, all of us in this House acknowledge the fact that our contribution to future generations through support for this legislation provides pathways that will be very rich and very focused on making our nation greater within the commercial, business and workforce sectors in a way that will generate the wealth and income that we need to support the way of life that we have become accustomed to in this nation. To that end, the simplification of the administrative requirements, in delivering efficiencies to both providers and the Commonwealth and improving the Commonwealth's ability to manage provider risk and increase the rate of provider approval, increases the number of students able to access income contingent loans through quality providers in both the higher education and VET sectors.

This also allows for diversity in the future. When we think about what our parents have seen in the past—the development from horse and cart to space travel—the new skills and knowledge available now, which have been compressed into a decade, are equal to what all of us have acquired in our lifetime. This bill gives training and higher education providers an opportunity to respond flexibly to the future and deliver the courses required to skill all Australians.

I acknowledge the bill and I support the amendments within the bill.

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