Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on this Higher Education Support Amendment (Student Contribution Amounts and Other Measures) Bill 2012. I want to say at the outset that the coalition will not be opposing this bill, but I want to make a few comments regarding science and maths being the target area of the cuts made by this bill.

As a nation we have to make sure that we are investing more in the sciences and maths and supporting those students who want to take on those courses to make sure that they get the best opportunities to study at university level—because it is the sciences and maths that will lead to research and development in a whole host of fields that are going to be so important to Australia's future in the world. It is also important that we be out there leading the world in many fields. I will touch on a couple of those issues in my address.

My other concern about this bill is that I would have liked to see the government grandfather existing students under the scheme. Those students who have taken on the sciences and maths in good faith, in the knowledge that they have the support of a government program. I acknowledge that the Bradley review found that the money could be better targeted. It is always important to support those things that target and spend taxpayers' money wisely and get the maximum 'bang for your buck' from taxpayers' money; but in this case it is the areas of maths and science that are subject to cuts that could well see students look elsewhere—perhaps overseas—for courses. We really do not want to lose this cohort of Australians. We want them not only to study in Australia but to get the best opportunity to apply their skills in the areas of science, research and development and maths which are so essential if we are to stay in front of the game in the future. We are a smart country and also a very lucky country. I often tell people in my constituency that we would be the luckiest country on earth, and by our very own birthright. I sometimes wonder whether all Australians truly appreciate just how lucky we are to be Australian. We are the luckiest country on earth. That, I believe, is unchallenged, and I will debate it with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

I mentioned the importance of staying in front of the rest of the world, but also of making sure that we have our scientists and researchers and that—through what they invent or are able to develop through R&D—there are products that we can take to the rest of the world and have a commercial advantage from. I can think of one: Professor Ian Frazer developed a vaccine for cervical cancer. He is an Australian, Scottish born, and a great Australian—in fact, the Australian of the Year. That was a science development, developed here in Australia. It was groundbreaking. It has been an important breakthrough in the prevention of cervical cancer, providing women are vaccinated prior to a particular age.

I want to touch also on the issue of the great food challenge that we have in this country. We are a land that feeds not only ourselves but also something like 60 million people around the world every day, based on the value of our exports each year. If we are to continue to be at the forefront of that in the future then science, technology and R&D are absolutely essential elements.

In our plant and animal breeding programs, it is science that is going to give us the leading edge into the future, whether in cropping or horticulture. Science and R&D will provide the inventions that will make sure that we can beat the diseases that could, and often do, destroy crops. It will be science that will find those breakthroughs.

I have one very important research station in my electorate. I am very pleased that the new LNP government in Queensland has decided to make sure that the Hermitage Research Station, near Warwick—which does wonderful plant research, particularly on barley, sorghum and green leaf crops, related to Queensland and the hot tropical climates where many of these crops are grown, as opposed to the southern states of Australia—is retained and enhanced.

That is one element of it. But the other element of it is the researchers who work there, who are working on programs for crops, particularly barley and sorghum, and green leaf research. We need scientists. We need the best scientists, because that is science and that is a development that we can not only utilise in Australia to make sure that we continue to stay in front of the pack when it comes to food production, but also sell on a collaborative basis overseas.

Each and every day in the world today there are another 240,000 mouths to feed. To put it another way, that is an increase in the global population that is occurring each and every day. I mentioned earlier that Australian farmers each year feed some 60 million people outside of the 22 million we feed with clean, green and very affordable food in Australia today. To put it yet another way, there will be 40 million more within the next 12 months. There will be people out there clamouring for available food resources.

For those communities around the world, and for Australia, we have got to make sure that our R&D effort goes into being able to provide ever-increasing amounts of food in the limited agricultural land we have available—land that is continuing to come under pressure from the urban sprawl which so often occupies those food baskets that surround many of our capital cities. We need to make sure that we have the research and the scientists.

Scientists start their career path at university, and that is why I am sad to see what is in this bill, as to the science and maths areas, as it could well be those students who would be attracted to take on a career in these areas who will look at other options because of the cost to them or their families of studying at university, particularly in the areas of science and maths.

I do want to touch on another issue which is important in relation to this bill: how students get access to university courses. What is alarming me is this. I have seen higher education statistics for students; it was in 2010 that I originally saw these figures. The Australian participation rate for regional students at universities was some 18.23 per cent in 2010; in 2006 it was 18.08 per cent. So really there has been no significant shift at all in participation rates of students from regional Australia at university. The Queensland rate was 22.64 per cent in 2010 and in 2006 it was similar: 22.69 per cent. So there has been no substantial shift at all in the participation rates for students from regional Australia at university. Sadly, in remote Australia the national rate was 1.02 per cent in 2010. That is a tragedy for those students who are classified as living in remote Australia—and that is a vast amount of Australia; when you look at the ABS index of remoteness, it is a huge area. You might as well say 'no-one' if you have only got one per cent of students participating in university courses; you virtually have a nil sum when it is one per cent. The university participation rates for students from metropolitan families has increased faster—from 28 per cent to 35 per cent—than the rate for students from rural, regional and remote areas. The gap between regional and metropolitan participation has increased 12 per cent in the last six years. Whilst that is encouraging for those students who have access to university by virtue of where they live—and it is wonderful to see the participation rate increasing—I am concerned that we are not getting an increase of students from regional, rural or remote Australia participating in courses at university level. That is why I find this bill rather sad, because it is the maths and science areas that are targeted for a budget saving. We have got to make sure, if we are to be the smart country, that we have much better participation rates for students from rural, regional and remote Australia. I call on the government to make a greater effort to ensure that those students who live in regional, rural and remote Australia are supported to a greater extent than they have been in the past.

I believe that there is a real case, for both sides of the House, for providing a non-means-tested, post-secondary education access allowance to ensure that we can get more students from regional, rural and remote Australia. Whilst I know that the argument sometimes goes, 'There are scholarships available,' that will not meet the sort of demand that I think is out there and that is being hampered because of the lack of financial support for those students, particularly where their families just cannot afford it. They remain out there and these figures really do confirm that the participation rate for students aged between 19 and 21 from regional Australia is lower—21 per cent as compared with 35 per cent for metropolitan students. I call on the government to look at those numbers and make sure that we do all that we can to support those students who do come from regional, rural and remote Australia. We must increase the participation rate for those students who are from those agricultural and mining areas out there in regional, rural and remote Australia if they are going to be the ones most likely to return to regional, rural and remote Australia and work there. I call on the government to do more to make sure that we get financial support for those students. I think this bill is more about being a budget saving measure to see whether it can deliver in this financial year, coming on 1 July this year until 2013, a budget surplus—and only time will tell. I do not want to see the next generation of Australians, the next generation of scientists, being the ones who are denied an opportunity to take on maths and sciences at university.

Whilst the opposition will not be opposing this bill, I think it is a harsh measure for students from regional, rural and remote Australia who are already behind the national figures for metropolitan Australia in terms of participation rates. It does cost them more, and this bill will certainly not encourage more students from regional, rural and remote Australia to take up courses at university level.

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