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

I'm delighted to speak on this motion, which gives me an opportunity to highlight the deception that typifies the Shorten Labor Party. As we know, from its conception the Labor Party has been guided by a range of philosophers—from Marx to Engels and even Mark Latham. In more recent times, we know those opposite have been inspired by Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. But, over the recess, I think I found their true guiding philosopher: Seinfeld's George Costanza. In fact, I've begun to wonder whether George Costanza's favourite maxim, 'It's not a lie if you believe it', was at some point surreptitiously inserted into the Labor Party's constitution. This Costanza-ite motion follows in the tradition of 'Mediscare' and 'Operation Tell Mistruths about Caboolture Hospital'. It's yet another embarrassing attempt to trick the voting public.

Labor seem to have conveniently forgotten their own party's record on higher education when they were in government. I encourage those opposite to reflect on the $6.6 billion in higher education and research cuts that Labor announced during its last three years in government, including $2.9 billion in its last budget in 2013-14. Yet in opposition Labor has opposed an efficiency dividend that it recommended while it was in government. University students and their families should know that Commonwealth university funding is not reducing, it's indeed growing.

The truth is that the Turnbull government is providing a record total of $17 billion per annum of investment in higher education. No-one is missing out on a university place this year or next year as a result of government policy. It is and remains, as it should, the universities' exclusive prerogative to enrol as many students as they wish. Universities receive the index student contribution from the Commonwealth for however many students they enrol. Funding of bachelor places is maintained at 2017 levels over the next two years. This doesn't affect how many students a university chooses to enrol.

The advantage of the demand driven funding model is that universities can choose which students they wish to enrol and how many students they will take. The Commonwealth provides funding on a per student basis—so the more students the more funding. The rate of funding per student has stayed the same. There is no cut. The reality is that, in the university sector, we want universities to be spending taxpayer money much more wisely than they're doing. There is a degree of fat in universities and we want to see more taxpayer money spent on academics—teaching and research—and less on back-office administrators. At the same time that Commonwealth funding per student has grown by 15 per cent, the costs for universities to deliver courses has only increased by 9½ per cent.

Independent analysis from Deloitte has shown that universities divert 15 per cent of taxpayer funding towards endeavours other than student and course related expenses, such as administration and marketing. We want to see more taxpayer money spent on teaching and research. The growth of funding that the Commonwealth has given to the university sector has outstripped the growth in the entire economy. Indeed, it's growing at twice the rate of the economy, and that just isn't sustainable. The truth is that Labor have had many opportunities to keep university funding on a sustainable basis but they would rather outdo the Greens on economic irresponsibility than fix the funding problems they created.

We need a long-term solution and that's why, under the Turnbull government's policy, from 2020 the growth of university funding will be based on population increases and will be subject to meeting performance measures. The old funding model was inefficient, wasting taxpayers' money, and, in the long run, it was completely unsustainable. Our policy solves both of these problems. We're providing sustainable funding growth and making universities accountable. It's a responsible policy that addresses inefficient, unsustainable spending and ensures that future generations will get the most out of their university experience.

By linking funding with performance outcomes, we're incentivising universities to focus their attention on improving academic performance, student retention and employability. The Turnbull government is ensuring new students are going into a system that wants to produce successful and employable graduates. The demand driven system provides more students with the opportunity to attend university and puts those students in the best position to meet the needs of an emerging economy. It also lets universities select the students they want, rather than have a Canberra bean counter determine how many students a university can enrol. The Turnbull government supports the demand driven system. Labor says they support it, but they've continually voted down any opportunity to make that system sustainable. The enduring legacy of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years was economic vandalism. Motions like this one show that Labor has learnt nothing from its failures in government and, given the opportunity, they'd thrown us straight back in the same mess. Labor will never face up to the fact we have to live within our means. I value the university experience. Education is the bedrock on which the whole economy exists. That's why I'm proud to be part of a government that's increasing funding for universities and equally proud that we're ensuring that the rate of this increase is sustainable for future generations.

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