Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Higher Education Support Amendment (Demand Driven Funding System and Other Measures) Bill 2011. I commend the government on its far-reaching insight into extending and opening up our university sector. For too long, places have been withheld because of the cap system. All universities have welcomed this piece of legislation and are looking forward to its merits.

The previous speaker, the member for Hume, made statements about students being fearful of persecution from lecturers. Obv­iously, he has not been in touch very much with universities recently. I do not think there is a student who is fearful of any lect­urer at the moment. The current generation of students are more than willing to demand their marks, their scores and their ideas are respected and adhered to. One issue we need to ensure is that universities are free to embrace all ideas. Nowadays, if you go onto a university campus you will see that one of the frightening things is the conservative nature of the university populace across the board, and I do not mean that in a political sense. They are not radical environments anymore. They are not the hothouses that the opposition keeps referring to. Nowadays, it is mostly about 'Heads down, bums down, get in, get a degree and get out.' Students do not actually have time to engage anymore; they are too busy passing their three- or four-year degree in order to get out and get a job. So they are not racking up too much of a HECS debt. They are not involved in lots of things. They have part-time jobs to pay their mobile phone bills and car bills. So maybe you should visit a university occasionally, speak to some students and understand the reality of what is actually transpiring on these campuses. I am lucky enough in my electorate to have two very large univ­ersities: Monash University in Clayton, one of the largest campuses in Australia; and Deakin University's city campus site. The latter is a rural university, and bizarrely they have a campus in the city, which I think is a great thing because the actual headquarters of the university is in the regions, in Geel­ong, but they have a city campus in Burwood. It of course has more students than downtown Geelong, but it is a thriving place and there is a great integration between the two sectors. I also have one of the largest TAFEs in Australia, Box Hill TAFE, which is a thriving institution.

I have been very pleased that this federal government has taken the importance of education at all levels so seriously, partic­ularly within the higher education sector and within universities. But we have also not forgotten TAFEs. One of the great things we have done, unlike what the member for Hume was talking about, is that we have actually funded infrastructure in universities. I have been thrilled to see my universities and my TAFE receiving grants for funding of actual buildings—which had stalled under the Howard government. I did not get to go to any openings of new premises at my two very big universities or TAFE during my nine years in opposition, because there was no funding given for them.

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