Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This legislation is long overdue. It has languished in the back room of the government for far too long. Students around Australia have been incurring debts on a very regular basis. The government's failure to act has led to a budget blow-out and to more students incurring massive debts and failing to complete courses. It is just not good enough.

There has been research done into the VET FEE-HELP student loans system. The Australian indicated on 6 November that up to $6 billion in taxpayer funded loans had been doled out to students and these students will never finish their courses. The figures released revealed that 21 per cent of students eligible for loans under VET FEE-HELP completed their course during the scheme's early years. That means that 79 per cent are not completing the courses. The article goes on to say that they believe that this has become even worse. That was compiled by the Adelaide based National Centre for Vocational Education Research. The Australian suggested that $530 million of the $670 million allocated through the scheme during those years went to cover the fees of people who never graduated. According to The Australian, it is estimated that up to $1.94 billion was loaned during 2013-14 to students who did not complete their courses. It is not good enough. If the government was on its game, it would have been right onto it.

I, like most members in this House, have had constituents come and talk to me about this issue. I will give three examples to the House. Firstly, I might concentrate on why these students failed to complete their courses. They sign up for reasons of suitability for the courses, the quality of the courses, the quality of the trainers and the support they get during the course—all this contributes to the fact that they will not complete the course. Now I will go to the three examples I want to share with the House tonight.

The first one is a young woman, who was sitting in the library at Newcastle university when she received a phone call from one of these providers. This provider signed her up to a diploma course. The reason she was sitting in the university library was that she was doing the Newstart course for people who fail to score high enough in their HSC. She was trying to upgrade her skills so she could attend university. Her ATAR score was 37, and she was signed up to a diploma course which required a high level of literacy and really good educational skills. Needless to say, she sat for the same module three times and failed it three times. She incurred a debt of $20,000. She had no qualification, no job and a $20,000 debt. This is the way this scheme has been operating. This government has taken so long to address the issue.

The next person I will mention to the House is a 70-year-old man who lived in department of housing accommodation within the Shortland electorate. He was retired. He was getting his pension, and he was really quite happy with his lifestyle. He could afford to pay his rent. He could afford to pay his electricity. He could afford his food. But he was pursued by one of these providers telling him, 'You sign up to this course and we'll give you an iPad'. The gentleman in question said: 'I don't want an iPad. I don't need to train. I have retired.' Yet this person continued to ring him and pursue him, trying to get him to enrol in the course. In the end they went away because the constituent was a man of some stamina and he was able to stand up to the deluge of pressure that was placed upon him.

The third person was pretty similar to the other young woman I mentioned. This young girl signed up to the course and ended up with a $16,000 debt she was unable pay. She did not have the skills to complete the course—once again it was a diploma course. These students—particularly the last one I mentioned—contacted the provider, asking for support. She did not hear back from them. In her case we were lucky to be able to have the $16,000 debt waived, because of intervention from my office. But there are so many people out there that this is happening to, people who have ended up with debts and people who do not go and see their federal member. I am sure that members on both sides of this House would step in and fight for their constituent to have that debt removed. But, unfortunately, because the government has not acted, because they have sat there and let this explode, each and every day there are more young people who are ending up in the situation of those that I mentioned.

Just to reinforce the fact that it is still happening, I was contacted by a constituent last week from Kahibah—actually I was contacted by two constituents. This particular constituent emphasised to me how emphatic the provider was, how they pursued him, how they would not let him off the phone and how they continually rang him back and tried to get him to sign up to the course. He did not sign up, but simply the fact that these practices are taking place, that this level of pressure is being put on people—particularly when it is put on young people, they find it hard to resist the temptation, particularly when a free iPad and many other inducements are thrown in.

This legislation will be introducing a two-day cool-off period between enrolling and the application for a VET FEE loan, so that course enrolment is no longer confused with the loan process. That is really not very long. Two days is a very short period of time. It is not even as long as the cool-off period when you buy a car. It also introduces a minimum prerequisite such as literacy and numeracy to ensure students can complete the higher level of their courses—diploma and above. It will address some of the issues that I have raised, but I would very much have liked it to have been in place before. I would like to know how this is going to operate and how it is going to be monitored. I would like to feel confident that these rorts by these shonky operators will not continue. It is going to require a parent's or guardian's signature for a student under the age of 18. They can resist a VET FEE-HELP loan to protect younger students.

In the cases of the two young women I spoke about who had incurred the big debts, they had both completed their HSC, so they were 18 years of age. They certainly were not world-wise. They certainly did not understand what they were getting themselves into. Their failure to complete the course was a barrier to them finding employment. They had failed the course. They had not done very well on their HSC. This was just another barrier that had been put in front of them. It has been a very long time to have it addressed. This does make it easier for students to cancel their debts. It does introduce a minimum registration and trading history requirement and makes a few technical amendments to the legislation.

I cannot let this opportunity go by without mentioning TAFE.

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