Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Bill 2018. I thank the member for Brand for her contribution, and heartily endorse her work with the Australian Republican Movement to make sure we get some progressive change there. I want to say up-front that Labor opposes this legislation. I feel strongly about the measures that the Turnbull government is attempting to legislate in this bill.

I begin with a bit of history, both personal and national. I taught English, geography and a few other subjects in state and Catholic schools for 11 years. I have two sons, one in grade 4 at a state school and the other in grade 8 at a Catholic school. I was also a union organiser for private schools for a couple of years. I'm very passionate about the education of my own children—although neglecting them often by coming to Canberra—the education of all children in Moreton and the future of education in Australia.

There is a quote from Confucius that I like to use when talking about this topic. It says, 'If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate children.' Clearly, as a nation we should be planning for 100 years, but, instead, this bill before us is an unfair piece of legislation that attacks students and undermines the fairness of our world-class student loan system.

In 1989 Labor introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme. It was the first income contingent loan scheme, and would become the foundation of Australia's fair and accessible higher education system. I do declare up-front that I did not pay HECS in my first qualification to become a teacher. That was a different time, and it is unfair that someone in my generation got the benefits of free education coming through under Whitlam and the like.

Nevertheless, Australian Labor brought in these changes, based on the belief that it is fair and reasonable in the current economic climate that students should contribute to the cost of their public education to the extent that they obtain a private benefit from such studies. It enabled many young people who would otherwise not have gone to university to gain a tertiary degree. It gave them an educational opportunity. I know that as the first of 10 people in my family, raised by a single mum, to obtain a higher education qualification.

It is not always an easy or direct path to university education, but we, as a nation, should be making it easier, not harder, for people. There are many examples of Australians who have gone on to make extensive contributions to society after taking a more meandering road, shall we say, to their educational attainment. Our country is far better off for their having made those sacrifices and taken those brave decisions. After becoming a teacher, I became a lawyer. I went through night school while I was teaching, and I saw how difficult it was. But I would like to point out two particular lawyers who work in the legal system. One is the Chief Justice of the High Court, the Hon. Chief Justice Susan Kiefel, a Queenslander. Chief Justice Kiefel left school at 15 after completing grade 10. She completed her secretarial training at the Kangaroo Point Technical College in Brisbane and worked as a secretary for a variety of companies, including a building society and an exploration company, before working for a group of barristers. While working she completed her secondary schooling and then began studying law. I think the Chief Justice has done all right for herself—being Chief Justice of the High Court—all things considered and by any measure.

Another example that many in this chamber would know is my friend, the Queensland Attorney-General, the Hon. Yvette D'Ath. Yvette left school at 15 and worked in clerical and hospitality positions. Eventually, she put herself through night school while continuing to work and raise a family. The Attorney-General of Queensland obtained a Bachelor of Laws from QUT and she is now Queensland's first law officer—a great success in anyone's eyes—and is well loved by many in this chamber.

They're just two examples. There are many other people, who may not be as well-known as the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General of Queensland, who for whatever reason have not thought that tertiary education was something they could or should attain when they finished high school but who have later obtained a higher qualification and achieved great things.

HECS and, more recently, the HECS-HELP scheme, along with other measures designed to encourage university participation, have successfully boosted university attendance by minority groups, including first-in-family tertiary students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous students. In particular, participation for students with a disability has increased by more than 106 per cent; Indigenous students—an increase of 89 per cent; low-SES students—increased by 55 per cent; and regional and remote students by more than 48 per cent. One would think that the National Party—those supposed champions of the bush—would be doing all they could to support this legislation. Instead, they bend over and let it go through on behalf of the Liberal Party.

The MYEFO package of $2.2 billion of cuts is the out-of-touch Turnbull government's fourth attempt since coming into office to cut universities and make students pay more. At Christmas the Turnbull government froze university grants effectively ending demand-driven funding. Also announced were the measures contained in this bill which seek to enact a number of changes to Australia's world-class income contingent higher education loan scheme.

This legislation sets a new repayment threshold for HELP from 1 July 2018, starting with a new minimum repayment of $45,000. It aligns indexation of HELP repayment thresholds to CPI instead of average weekly earnings. It introduces a new combined loan limit on how much students can borrow under HELP, including VET student loans, HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP. The new limit would be $104,000, or $150,000 for students studying medicine, dentistry or veterinary science. It also makes changes to the Student Financial Supplement Scheme and its repayment thresholds.

This legislation is unfair, out of touch and a complete rip-off for students. Students should not be looked at as cash cows for budget repair—the very same budget that is handing out $65 billion to large corporations, particularly banks and multinationals. We know that higher student debt and the potential for significantly earlier repayment are genuine barriers to study for low-SES, disadvantaged and regional students who may need to travel for study—so extra hurdles in front of them. These students are less likely to be able to rely on parental support during university or the early years of their careers—yet another reason this policy will cause those from certain backgrounds the most suffering.

We should be doing all that we can to increase participation in higher ed, not making it harder. If we don't boost participation, we risk being left behind compared to the rest of the world. Universities should never be only for the elite. We need our brightest to be given opportunities, not just those who are the most well-heeled. Universities should be melting pots of society, bringing all parts of our community together—the bush and the city; Indigenous and non-Indigenous; and rich and poor. They should be bringing people together to research and make discoveries that will make all our lives better and develop the industries and jobs of the future.

This bill is another episode in the sorry saga of this government trying to gut education in Australia, whether it's in schools, vocational education or at universities. Last year, the Turnbull government tried to make students start repaying their HELP debt when they started earning as little as $42,000. That was just one of the measures in what was a fundamentally unfair LNP budget. It was the same budget that saw the big business tax giveaway to the top end of town blow out to over $65 billion. Labor joined with students around Australia and fought to stop this measure being implemented by the Turnbull government. Now it is proposing a new minimum threshold of $45,000, but it's still too low.

Labor believes the current repayment rate is about right. We don't want to make students repay their debts right when they're starting a career, trying to start a family or save to buy a house. This is yet another example of the Turnbull government failing to act to make Australia fair. Labor's proposal to limit negative gearing will give young first home owners a chance to compete in this market.

Recent analysis revealed that low- and middle-income areas of Australia will be hurt most by Prime Minister Turnbull's $2.2 billion of university cuts. Western Sydney, western and outer Melbourne and outer metro Brisbane and Perth are all being hit particularly hard. When Labor uncapped university places these areas saw a huge increase in the number of students attending university, because that's where the demand was. Statistics show that participation in higher education in outer suburban and regional areas still lags behind the wealthier inner urban areas. I've said in this place before that your bank balance or your parents' bank balance should not affect your ability to go to university; it should be your intellect, not your postcode, obviously.

Labor opened the door to higher education for hundreds of thousands more Australians, but the eternally out-of-touch Prime Minister Turnbull has slammed that door shut. It's estimated that up to 10,000 people could miss out on a place at university this year and next year, because of Prime Minister Turnbull's cruel cuts. This is a sorry blow to the many year 12 graduates who studied so hard in the hope of getting into university but now might not be able to enter. Since the cuts were announced before Christmas, there have already been reports of some universities turning away students and cutting programs. This bill puts higher education further out of reach for Australians.

In my own community, Griffith University is set to lose $92 million. I oppose this bill on behalf of all university students at all universities, but particularly the more than 13,000 students who attend Griffith University in my electorate. I was at Griffith University on the weekend for a citizenship ceremony as part of Harmony Day. It was a joint venture with the World Arts and Multi-culture Inc. I'm wearing the tie that Professor Martin Betts, from Griffith University, gave me to show my support for Griffith University. I also give a shout out to Lewis Lee who emceed a wonderful event on the weekend.

The Higher Education Loan Program, referred to as HELP, is the cornerstone of Australia's higher education system. In a submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee inquiry into this bill, Universities Australia, the peak body representing the university sector, recommended that the government not set the minimum repayment threshold below a level that reflects a reasonable graduate earnings. A number of other submissions to the Senate committee inquiry raised concerns about the possible impact of a lower HELP minimum repayment threshold on access to higher education and graduate living conditions. The NUS and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations have collaborated on a campaign called Bury the Bill to oppose this piece of legislation, stating it:

…condemns lower-earning graduates to pay back their student loans when barely earning minimum wage.

That's right, the government's proposed repayment threshold is only $9,000 more than the minimum wage.

Another submission, this time by the NTEU, raises significant questions about whether this government has bothered to fully understand the impact this change to HELP repayment thresholds will have on women. In their submission they analysed data obtained from the ATO showing that 60 per cent of people with a taxable income and an outstanding HELP debt are women. The same data also showed that the taxable income of these women was significantly lower. So not only are the majority of HELP recipients women, they are also earning less than their male counterparts. It is a real double whammy, made worse by the Turnbull government's further increase in the repayment burden in a system that is already skewed against women.

The Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities argued in its submission that the measure will have a disproportionate impact on graduates of humanities, arts and social science courses. They often take a longer time to establish their careers and are more likely to be women, resulting in periods of lower earnings. The Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia, in their submission, suggested the limit:

… may impact negatively on students who incurred a VET student debt as a pathway to higher education. In addition, the method of determining the loan limit is not explained, and may have implications for students accessing Start-up loans.

Likewise, Science and Technology Australia raised concerns about the impact on those entering university from VET pathways and then undertaking further training to become teachers, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics—the industries of the future creating the jobs of the future.

Labor believes in fairness for all Australians. Labor believes in everybody having a fair go. Labor believes in all Australians being able to achieve their potential. That is why Labor opened the door to university for hundreds of thousands more Australians. But Prime Minister Turnbull has slammed that door in the face of young Australians who dreamt of a university education. The Turnbull government is ripping $436 million from Queensland universities. Griffith University, in my electorate, will have $92 million ripped from their funding. The Turnbull government's cuts to universities have effectively reintroduced a cap on the number of uni places, taking us back to the dark days of the Howard era. We should be supporting our young people to strive hard and let them get ahead. Some young people in my electorate who will now be prevented from enrolling in university will have worked hard throughout their schooling in the hope of going to uni, but they've had their hopes dashed by an uncaring Turnbull government.

The Turnbull government have their priorities wrong. They're keen to make life easier for big business by giving away $65 billion in tax, but at the same time they're prepared to prevent our children from receiving a quality education, dashing the hopes of these young people, these smart people, these people who will create the jobs of the future. These proposals, coupled with the other MYEFO higher education cuts, raise significant questions and cast doubt over the future of the demand-driven funding system. They take a swipe at the ability of HELP to genuinely increase access and participation in tertiary education. That is why I do not support this legislation. (Time expired)

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