Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Education Legislation Amendment (Overseas Debt Recovery) Bill 2015 and cognate bills. I say that with pleasure. This bill will ensure Australians living overseas will have the same obligation to repay their university loans as people living and working throughout Australia. There are almost 4,000 university students in my electorate of Petrie and more than 60,000 taxpaying families. It is simply not fair that they are footing the bill for university graduates who are living and working overseas and therefore are not repaying their university debts. For those debtors the bill creates an obligation to make repayments on their HELP and TSL debts based on their total Australian and foreign sourced income—that is, their worldwide income. This will be imposed as a levy through the Student Loans (Overseas Debtors. Repayment Levy) Bill 2015. It is important to mention that only those debtors living overseas and earning above the minimum HELP and TSL repayment thresholds, which is $54,126, will be required to make payments toward their HELP and TSL debts. Repayment rates and thresholds will mirror those applying to debtors residing in Australia.

My father always taught me to repay my debts. It is an important principle and it teaches responsibility. He always said, 'Don't have debt hanging over your head.' Some students have had the privilege of an Australian education and are doing well overseas, to their credit, and some of them are repaying the debt, but some are not. I say to them: it is the right thing to do; it is the ethical thing to do to repay your debt, because someone else has to repay it if you do not. By not repaying their university debts, Australians living and working overseas are avoiding this responsibility. Importantly, Australian taxpayers are footing the bill, whether they pay income tax in Australia or whether they pay company tax through a company that makes a profit. The Australian government and the people who give us our funds are left to pay someone else's debt, and that is not right.

I have spoken to university graduates in my electorate of Petrie and they tell me that, until about a year and a half ago, it was difficult for them to find out what their actual HECS debt is. They would make a few calls and would be put through to five, six or seven different departments to try to find out what their debt is. It was difficult. From what I understand, this is a lot easier. They can now access an exact figure very easily through myGov, which has made the whole process much simpler and comprehensible. There is no reason why Australian graduates living and working overseas should be unaware of their HECS debt.

Some of the best universities in the world are in Australia. In fact, some of the best universities in the world are in Queensland, in my home state. There are universities like Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland. The Higher Education Contribution Scheme, or HECS, is one of the fairest systems in the world—we know that. Since its inception 26 years ago, HECS has become an integral part of the Australian higher education system, and rightly so. It allows students to pay their share of the cost of their education over time, depending on their income. By doing so, HECS facilitates the education sector's continuing expansion, even in an era of budget constraint. Basically, it means that university is accessible and affordable for all Australians. I will come back to that in a minute. For students sitting in the gallery and so forth, it means that university is accessible and affordable for all Australians.

I find it appalling that members on the other side of the House and their union comrades would try to stifle the hope of young Australians by telling them: 'You'll never be able to afford tertiary education.' This is incorrect. It is not true. Every Australian, no matter their circumstances and no matter where they live in this country, will be able to afford to go to university right now and well into the future. I ask those opposite: do you not want our young people to go to university? Do you not want the year 12 graduates of 2015, who will be finishing in the next few months, to consider a tertiary education? You probably do not, because, honestly, I cannot think of any other reason why the Labor Party would be peddling such misconceptions.

On this discussion today, we have already heard the member for Kingston and the member for Lalor talking about $100,000 degrees. I say to those opposite: we know that the government contributes 60 per cent of university education and 40 per cent goes to HECS at the moment. That means that for a student who has a $50,000 degree—whatever it might be—$35,000 is paid by the taxpayer. I am not sure that people in the gallery are aware of that. The federal government currently pays 60 per cent of all university fees. That means that students have a 40 per cent fee to pay. If they cannot afford to pay that fee, they can HECS it. They do not have to pay it until they are earning over $54,126. That is quite reasonable. Some students whose families can afford to pay the bill up-front do so.

We heard from the member for Kingston and the member for Lalor this morning that degrees will go up to $100,000 and that no-one will be able to afford to go to university. I say, 'Hang on, the government pays 60 per cent of the bill and we were left with a huge debt and deficit disaster after six years of Labor. We had no debt under John Howard and then it went through the roof under Rudd, Gillard and Rudd. Why on earth would it be in the federal government's best interest to ensure that our costs go up as well?'

That is what they are saying: they are saying that under our deregulation plans, and other things, university fees will go through the roof and students, such as those in the gallery today, will not be able to afford to go. But what they are forgetting to mention is that the government pays 60 per cent of the bill. So why would it be in our best interests to make sure that bills go up. I know that the member for Canberra will be the next speaker, and I would ask her to think about that, too, before she mentions $100,000 degrees, like the rest of the Labor Party have been doing on this bill and over the last couple of years on this issue.

I believe that this government does have a long-term vision for our higher education sector, and we are working to ensure that it is of a world-class standard and that we have institutions that continue to be institutions of choice, not just for domestic students but also for international students. Our HECS system is one of the best and fairest in the world.

But what is not fair is that university graduates who are working in Australia are paying off their debts while graduates working overseas are not. This is not fair to Australian taxpayers and it is not fair to graduates who are doing the right thing in repaying their loans. So I support this bill, because I support the notion of personal responsibility and I support the hard-working taxpayers in my electorate and throughout Australia.

We have fantastic educational opportunities in Australia. I have travelled around the world with my family. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to Europe, to the States and to other places, and every time I come back to Australia I know that we live in the greatest country in the world. It is a wonderful country. If you were born in Australia now or are about to start primary school at a state school in Queensland or elsewhere in Australia, we know that you will receive a great education, especially when your parents and your family spend time with their kids doing a bit of reading with them and talk to them—it takes just a few minutes each day. A little bit of reading really helps students do well. It helps them to read and write and communicate when they have finished school. It is the same with our high schools.

That is why I have been very pleased that the federal coalition government has been contributing record funding over the past couple of years and will be doing so over the next couple of years and beyond. In relation to Gonski, I think there is a nine per cent increase alone this year in Queensland. Every year, despite what you hear from those opposite, the dollar figure for education funding goes up. We know that teachers, school autonomy and principals also make a big difference in our schools. I want to take this opportunity to thank the teachers and the principals in my electorate of Petrie for the work they do in educating our students, our young people, preparing them as they go through primary school and then into high school. I want to say to every students who is about to finish year 12 this year that you have great opportunities in this country. You can go on to university and pretty well achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve. You can go to university. Despite what we hear from those opposite, and from some others, about higher education bills, we have a wonderful HECS system in this country. You can go to university and get the degree you want and get into the career you want to follow. But it might not be university; it might be a trade. We know that being a tradie is a great career. I came from a trade background before I came in here. The coalition government also now has Trade Support Loans, which this bill will also apply to.

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