Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government has a record of ensuring Australia's higher education system is economically sustainable and provides opportunities for those who are qualified to attend. It's very easy for those opposite to criticise the pragmatic pursuit of sustainable higher education funding. It was Labor who, after all, left us with a legacy of debt and deficit, so it's perhaps unsurprising that they never seriously sought to work with us to clean up their mess. Instead, all we get are motions like the one we've got today, motions that ignore some basic facts. In the face of this, I'm happy to stand here and deliver some hard truths to those opposite.

This motion accuses the government of closing the door of opportunity to thousands of Australians. It's a fiction. When Labor left government, there were approximately 1.1 million students enrolled in higher education. That number has increased today to 1.5 million. Some 400,000 more people have walked through the doors of our higher education institutions, which very much remain open despite Labor suggesting otherwise. This motion also makes the highly imaginative suggestion that orientation weeks will somehow be dominated by fear instead of festivity because of uncertainty about funding: another fabrication.

The government has been very clear about our intentions, ensuring certainty for both the sector and for students. Within the existing legislation, which was, I might add, framed by a Labor government, the coalition is maintaining Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding for bachelor degree courses at 2017 funding levels for 2018 and 2019. From 2020, increases to the Commonwealth Grant Scheme will be responsibly and sustainably linked to performance and national growth. This is not smoke and mirrors. We've set out a clear and certain funding model for future years so that the sector can plan and perform accordingly.

The member for Griffith moved this motion, and I note that last week her website pushed a petition that argues that Australian students and families should not be asked to miss out on a university education—yet another falsehood. Nobody is being asked to miss out on a university education. While the government is capping the amount of funding growth a university can access for this year and next, we are not capping the number of Commonwealth supported places that a university can provide. This means that universities can and will continue to enrol as many students in Commonwealth supported bachelor places as they choose. There are the same opportunities for students and new opportunities for university bureaucracies to get their houses in order.

Analysis by Deloitte has found that universities only use 85 per cent of their Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding, meaning that they can draw down on 15 per cent of funding they previously diverted to other purposes—like the $1.7 billion the sector spent on marketing over the past seven years. What should really concern those opposite isn't the pursuit of political pointscoring. What should concern those opposite is the security and sustainability of the system so that no student ever has to miss out. The government has faced up to the task of putting higher education costs on a responsible path for the future. We owe it not just to the students of today but to the students of tomorrow too. Australia has some of the world's leading higher education institutions and we must ensure that their cost and quality are sustainable for those future students.

Despite giving Labor and the Greens the opportunity to put the system on a sustainable basis over many years, they've been unwilling to work with the government. Labor preferred to turn a blind eye to the challenges confronting both higher education and the federal budget. Again, if I were a member of the party that presided over the fastest deterioration of Australia's debt position in modern history, I'd be happy to turn a blind eye too. I say 'tempted', because while continuing down an unsustainable path may indeed be easier politically, this government has never rejected its responsibilities to the students of today and tomorrow.

Higher education funding is at record highs of more than $17 billion annually. Coupled with this, funding for teaching and learning has increased 71 per cent since 2009. But, for all this growth, we must be focused on the outcomes, driving universities to focus on the needs of students. Coinciding with record funding growth, university completion rates have, sadly, fallen to 66 per cent, while short-term employment outcomes are down more than 10 points to 70 per cent. By linking future funding from 2020 to performance outcomes, universities will be encouraged to address these results. An incentivised funding model encourages improved performance, student retention and boosted graduate employment outcomes. The government is ensuring that students are fostered by a system that wants to produce successful and employable graduates. This will encourage universities to spend taxpayer money efficiently.

Labor proposed higher education savings of $6.6 billion in their last years of government, including an efficiency dividend. As for this government, we'll continue delivering a better budget position, better value for taxpayers and a better higher education system.

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