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

I support the Higher Education Support Amendment (No. 1) Bill 2011. Whether it is tertiary education in the vocational education sector, in TAFE or in university, this government is absolutely committed to seeing improvements after the legacy of lethargy from the coalition when they were in government for 11½ years. The previous speaker was talking about university placements and university funding. For her edification and for that of those who may be listing, we are projecting to increase to $13 billion in 2012 the funding for universities. Enrolments next year are projected to be more than half a million places. Contrast that with what came from those opposite when they were in power, $8 billion in 2007, enrolments of 400,000 in 2008, 20 per cent fewer than expected in 2012. That alone is an indication that the university sector is thriving under this government and that more and more students are going into the tertiary sector.

The legislation before the House deals with the streamlining of measures in relation to higher education. According to the explanatory memorandum, it is about improving the effectiveness and the efficiency of the government's income contingent loan programs known as FEE-HELP and VET FEE-HELP; it is about making sure that the regulatory frameworks, including the proposed VET regulator expected to commence in 2011, are brought in; and it is about making sure that our commitment to the budget measures are also carried out. We have a strategy for skilling Australians, a strategy for making sure that those skills result in high-paying jobs, making sure that the economy grows, that our productivity is enhanced and that our economic prosperity is augmented. These are extremely important.

We are committed to a national entitlement to a quality training place for every Australian, should they want one, by 1 July 2011. We have committed $558 million to tailored quality training places through our National Workforce Development Fund and we have a really ambitious program in the area of vocational education and training partnering with states and territories, a $1.75 billion commitment. We want to boost participation. We want to reward work and get people off welfare and into work, to make sure their family's financial security is enhanced and their opportunities and potential are realised. We emphasise increased funding and increased help for the tertiary sector, whether it is in TAFE or university.

The bill is about providing flexibility in terms of the principal purpose requirement for the recognition of bodies corporate as higher educational VET providers. It is also about reducing the risk of undesirable providers through the introduction of a fit and proper person test for the management of the personnel of those boards and the introduction of conditions of their recognition. We are going to make sure that education providers, whether they are universities or anyone involved in vocational education, also have appropriate education standards. The people running those institutions are fit and proper. They are people of integrity. The bodies are made up of people who are ethical. We want to make sure that the higher educational sector, while it is very diverse in size, scope and nature, is full of institutions that achieve good outcomes for students. We do not want dodgy degrees or dicky diplomas. We want to make sure that, whatever the person undertakes when they are at TAFE or university, that qualification is recognised internationally and domestically. We want to make sure that the focus at TAFE and university is about the student; their learning experience, their educational outcome and equipping them for the workplace—equipping them for the challenges of changing jobs and making sure that they have not just a ticket, a diploma or a degree but the skills necessary to carry out the work they have been employed to do, whether it is in the mines, the retail sector, the construction industry or whatever they want to do. We want to make sure that providers of education are fair dinkum about providing that degree and that students do not pay their dollars for something that will not give them the qualifications or the recognition domestically and internationally.

There has been a really big growth in the tertiary sector and it is a very big employer; it is a very big source of income for the Australian economy. With the growth in the international education sector, sadly, have come some immoral and unethical practices. We have seen that, and it is recognised throughout the community and the country. We want to ensure that those people involved have good regulation and that those who participate and work in the sector will work for ethical and moral institutions.

One really fantastic institution in the TAFE sector in my electorate is the Bremer Institute of TAFE, which has been operating for about 100 years. A perfect example of the contribution of this federal Labor government and the commitment to TAFE in my community is the $2 million that we have put in for capital infrastructure in our area. It is a perfect example of being hand-in-glove with good regulation and more money—you cannot have one without the other. The good regulation in this legislation comes with increased funding in the budget and in what we have seen in terms of on-the-ground assistance to TAFE. For example, the machinery shop which trains workers and apprentices in mechanical engineering and manufacturing in my home city of Ipswich at the Bremer Institute of TAFE has been improved dramatically by our additional funding. That is an institution governed by the regulatory framework that we have talked about in this legislation. That institute, based in Bundamba in my electorate, has over 15,000 students enrolled in the Western Corridor from Brisbane to Ipswich and beyond. It has a student satisfaction rating of 89 per cent, which is pretty high, and employment outcomes for graduates of the Bremer Institute of TAFE are 74 per cent. That is a good outcome, because not every degree, diploma or qualification is geared towards employment outcomes. Some of these courses are in English as a second language, and some are about enhancing people's capacities or improving their self-esteem, as well as other types of courses which do eventually lead to employment.

That institute is not one of the dodgy ones; this is one of the good ones. It is a publicly owned entity, it is government backed, it offers stability and continuity, it has been there for about 100 years and there are rewards after rewards that people can have by attending there. There are also awards and awards that that institution has received. The institution has helped people in my area and it has helped businesses in the Ipswich and West Moreton region to achieve their potential. It is based in Ipswich in South-East Queensland and is registered to deliver over 250 programs from Certificate I to associate diploma level. That is a good institution. It is tried and true. For 100 years it has been operating, and I think that is a fantastic testimony to a body that is enhanced by capital infrastructure and good oversight. We have heard members opposite and I heard the previous speaker talking about assistance to regional and rural students. I have an electorate that is based on Ipswich in the Somerset region and we have many students who travel from country areas to Ipswich. They actually go down to an area that used to be in my electorate but is now in the Lockyer Valley—the University of Queensland Gatton campus. They travel down there to learn about animal husbandry and veterinary science and, let me tell you, I know that it is now in the electorate of Wright, but this federal Labor government put in $47 million to help it relocate from Brisbane and its disparate locations to where it always should have been, the University of Queensland Gatton campus, the School of Veterinary Science. It is worth millions of dollars to the Lockyer Valley. The coalition never did it. They did not have the wit or wisdom to do it. It took a federal Labor government to do it in a regional and rural area in South-East Queensland. So we have got record investments in higher education.

The previous speaker had the temerity to say that what we did for allowances and support for universities and students was not achieving what we said it did, that in fact it was detrimental. Let me give you a couple of facts. I feel compelled to stand up for the local universities in my area and the local students and put a few facts on the table. It is a fact that we have had 837 local students receiving the Student Start-up Scholarship. We have also had relocation scholarship payments provided to 138 local students. We have had 625 young people benefit from the changes that we made to qualification for assistance for regional and rural students to get to university. Six hundred and twenty-five young people have benefited from the changes by now receiving the maximum payment of youth allowance, or a higher rate of youth allowance, or even a payment of youth allowance for the first time. Investment in regional universities has also increased with the government funding 10 per cent more student places since 2009.

There are interesting facts here which the previous speaker might like to know. This is the latest analysis from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and it was released on 1 June 2011. In just 12 months, the number of inner regional students receiving the youth allowance payment has risen by 4,250, an increase of 20 per cent. During the same period, the number of outer regional and remote students receiving youth allowance has risen by 2,150, an increase of 27 per cent. So the latest analysis confirms that this federal Labor government is delivering more support than ever before to regional students to go to university, and we remain committed to removing regional eligibility distinctions for the youth allowance from 1 January next year, and continue to support regional universities. As a result of our reforms, each year regional university students receive youth allowance and a paid-up scholarship worth $2,194, and the Labor government did that in 2011. Dependent students who move away from home to study typically receive more than $6,000 during a three-year degree to assist in relocation. We reversed the decline in regional university enrolments. We have made a record investment in regional universities and we have provided more financial support to rural and regional students than ever before.

Now I will not cop the nonsense from those opposite in relation to their scare campaigns on this because the facts do not bear out what they say. I have seen press releases and reports in regional newspapers, and I have got 12 newspapers that cover my seat in regional and rural areas so I see the press releases and I see the nonsense that they say. Country students need support to go to university and we have provided more than ever before. The independent umpire has given the verdict. What we have said has come true. We have provided more funding to regional universities, more funding to regional students and more assistance.

So let us not have those people opposite preen and pose and parade their support for regional and rural Australia, because it is a federal Labor government that has actually delivered. I see it in my regional and rural seat day after day after day: students going to university from backgrounds where their family never went to university, from places where they would never even consider the idea of going to university. They go to the University of Queensland Ipswich campus. They go to the University of Southern Queensland Springfield campus. They go to places that they never thought they would go to. Why? Because they want to achieve their potential and their goal to get a good job, and their families want that as well.

We are providing the support for them to do it, more support than those opposite ever dreamed they would do. Let us not get this nonsense, this absolute twaddle, from those opposite about this issue. They are talking rubbish and they know it in their hearts. I am sick and tired of seeing the media stories about it. The facts do not bear it out. We are the ones supporting regional and rural Australia, not the purveyors of nonsense opposite, not the so-called Nats, who allegedly stand up for regional and rural Australia. The LNP and all their counterparts in the other states should hang their heads in shame.

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