Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. It is good to have the member for Macquarie here, who also has a UWS campus in her electorate.

This reform is good news for the people of Lindsay, who are young and aspirational. It is good news for them because it gives them more opportunity. The opposition's scare campaign around this issue is merely hot air and has no substance. Some of the arguments from those opposite would be laughable if they were not so ridiculous.

These higher education reforms introduced by the Minister for Education are all about providing opportunity, opportunity for more Australians to access higher education and opportunity for our local universities to excel and become some of the best in the Asia-Pacific region and ultimately the world.

On budget night, the Treasurer made the following statement, and I quote:

Fellow Australians, we should have at least one university in the top 20 in the world, but we do not, and we should have more in the top 100.

I ask the Leader of the Opposition: what is wrong with Australia wanting to excel on the international stage? Why does Labor want to hold back Australia? We should strive for greatness. I am pleased that these reforms will go a long way in allowing the Australian university sector to achieve these noble goals.

Broadly speaking, these reforms will, firstly, ensure Australia's universities are not left behind at a time of rising performance by universities around the world. Secondly, they will ensure that Australia's higher education system is sustainable well into the future and that our third largest export, that of higher education—the $15 billion international education market—is protected and is able to flourish and grow. Thirdly, they will expand opportunities for students. In fact, these reforms will create an additional 80,000 university places.

Fourthly, they will offer more support for disadvantaged students through Australia's scholarship scheme. And, finally, they will support more courses, greater diversity and more skills for our workforce.

Since these reforms were presented in the federal budget by the Treasurer and then introduced by the Minister for Education, I have consulted widely with my community and, more specifically, with the University of Western Sydney. I would like to recognise and thank the chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, Peter Shergold. He was chair of the ministers' Quality, Deregulation and Information Working Group.

I understand Professor Shergold has made significant contributions to this working group and has provided assistance to the minister in the area of deregulation of higher education. While the University of Western Sydney proposed amendments to the government's higher education reforms, they do, as do most of the Australian university sector, broadly support the deregulation of the sector.

A robust discussion is critical to democracy and I thank the university for its contribution to this debate. I would also like to thank the vice-chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, Barney Glover, for his personal support and also his business comments and guidance with regard to these reforms. He has said that the sector needs stability in policy and that there appears to be a strong belief that this government is providing just that. I quote:

The University of Western Sydney, like the rest of Australia's higher education sector, needs certainty regarding the policy, funding and regulatory environment in which it operates. This is critical to ensuring we are able to compete internationally, but also pivotal to enabling us to help drive the development of Western Sydney, Australia's third-largest economy.

These reforms will provide the university with the autonomy and certainty which will allow them to thrive in a changing marketplace. I am also pleased to note the reforms in this amending legislation will better enable the

University of Western Sydney to better target their programs and courses to the specific needs of their students and those of GreaterWestern Sydney. UWS itself identifies the need for this in a briefing it supplied to Western Sydney MPs. I quote:

With in excess of $3.5 billion in government infrastructure commitments and a population set to reach three million by 2036, Western Sydney's significance to the national economy cannot be overstated. The supply of a highly skilled, productive and diverse labour force will be critical to the region's economic contribution and the success of the Commonwealth's large scale investments in the region. Increasing access to higher education is an essential part of meeting that challenge."

It continues:

Western Sydney's political representatives have the opportunity to ensure Australia's higher education sector can deliver on the Commonwealth's impressive range of policy commitments, by influencing the Budget's higher education reforms as they progress through the senate.

As UWS clearly points out, with the growth and potential of Western Sydney being realised through the reforms of this coalition government, there will be an increasing need for the local university to provide courses that also match the needs of this growing and thriving region. For this reason, UWS clearly support this reform, which creates more autonomy in our universities. As the Treasurer stated on budget night:

With greater autonomy, universities will be free to compete and improve the quality of the courses they offer.

It is the intent of this amending legislation to build a higher education sector that is more diverse, more innovative and more responsive to student needs. Deregulating and creating a demand-driven sector will allow universities to set their own fees and compete for students. This competition will enhance quality and will make higher education providers more responsive to the needs of the labour market but, more importantly, it will provide more opportunity for students. This does not mean $100,000 degrees, like the opposition would have you believe. In fact, in some cases it could mean that the cost of degrees will in fact fall.

Rather than the government regulating the cost of degrees, universities will have the flexibility to set their own

costs based on market demand. They will compete for student enrolments, based on quality and cost. When universities and colleges compete, students win. It is that simple. The current system distorts an individual's capacity to distinguish between the two different opportunities of education within the sector.

An economics degree costs virtually the same at every university. Institutions simply cannot use price to distinguish themselves in the market and offer true value. With respect to economics 101 teachers, price often acts as an indicator of quality, with a direct correlation to demand.

It simply drives behaviour. This is what we need if we are to lift the quality, deliver courses that students and employers demand and, in turn, create a truly world-class system that keeps up with other established and rising national institutions.

We need each of our universities to become accountable to the market but, more importantly, to their students and also with respect to the type and quality of courses that are offered and deliver these things accordingly. This does not mean that universities will immediately escalate their fees, as the opposition would have you believe. On the contrary, most Australian universities are acting responsibly with regard to this aspect. The University of Western Sydney, for instance, was the first university in New South Wales to freeze student fees for 2014 to ensure certainty for its students. This is a responsible move by the university and it is a strong indicator of how the sector will respond to the demand-driven—

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