Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Griffith. In doing so, I want to reflect on a speech I made during the debate on the higher education reform package in September last year. In that speech, I quoted the Prime Minister, who, in his first statement as leader of this country, identified that the Australia of the future has to be agile and innovative. I was pleased when the government decided not to pursue its reform package in the Senate after I and my Nick Xenophon Team colleagues publicly announced that we wouldn't be supporting the package until there was a comprehensive root-and-branch review into the post-secondary education system. Of course, that pleasure turned to dismay on 18 December, when $2.2 billion worth of cuts were announced in MYEFO. We've already seen regional universities coming out and saying they're feeling the brunt of those cuts.

These new cuts are far-reaching. They have placed an effective cap on student places. I'm on the record as saying that I believe the demand-driven system has led to perverse outcomes for vocational education and training. But to put a cap on student places without a thorough review about how best to position our education sector shows that these cuts are not about promoting sustainability or protecting the future of education in this country. These cuts are simply hacks, and they are hacks to please the Treasurer, with no comprehensive plan for the future. For a government that prides itself on its innovation agenda, cutting university funding to manage the bottom line is not acceptable, and it's very short-sighted.

Let's not forget that both the former, Labor government and the current government have cut a total of $3.4 billion from the university sector in recent years. The impact of university cuts has hit home for me, particularly in my home state of South Australia, because it's undergoing a period of economic transformation. If university research is the cornerstone of innovation, then cuts to universities threaten their capacity to continue to innovate. In South Australia, we cannot afford to take that risk.

I recently visited the Flinders University Tonsley campus at the Tonsley innovation centre. That campus houses their New Venture Institute, NVI, which operates as an incubator for start-up businesses. Since its inception in 2013, 232 start-ups have gone through the program, employing more than 60 people. Not all of these start-ups will succeed, but it only takes a few brilliant ideas to take off for the investment to be repaid several times over, and cuts to university funding threaten this potential. While at the NVI, I met with two women who created start-ups that are operating throughout my electorate. One of those businesses, Lateral Vision, uses virtual technology programs to deliver web based virtual tours which can be utilised for education purposes. The other business, VENYU, is a platform where people can easily search for available wedding venues using set criteria, saving time and money spent travelling to different locations, through the NVI. These two businesses are collaborating, and Lateral Vision is now providing VENYU with virtual tours of wedding locations, making it easier for couples to make wedding plans and creating a truly sustainable business. These are small examples of some of the good-news stories coming out of Australian universities, and these stories cannot happen without significant investment in our university sector.

The Tonsley campus also houses the Medical Device Partnering Program, which supports early stage innovation and technology developments for medical devices. The MDPP receives no federal government funding and only limited amounts of state government funding, and the university put their own money in, which means they have to turn away medical professionals and members of the community who come forward with great ideas—ideas that save lives and save millions of dollars in unnecessary health spending because they reduce bed stays. Even small increases in funding would lead to tangible benefits in the community. How ridiculous and how short-sighted to cut universities. How can this government claim that they support innovation when they continue to attack and hack the higher education sector?

I echo the call of the member for Griffith to reverse the MYEFO cuts to the university sector and I ask the government to undertake a comprehensive review of the post-secondary education system, with a particular emphasis on regional universities, so that a clear path forward can be forged that includes universities, vocational education and apprenticeships. Only by including all sectors can we ensure a bright, sustainable future for future generations, and a better nation.

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