Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's education system is world leading. It supports more than one million students, both international and domestic, and our universities directly employ 120,000 people and support another 40,000 jobs. It must be protected. I'm proud to speak on this motion today and stand up for not only university students and future university students in my electorate but for students rights across this country who have been left short-changed by this government. Make no mistake, this government has taken a wrecking ball to our universities and higher education system, with $2.2 billion cuts since they have come to power—a simply staggering number that means our universities will be under-resourced and our students will miss out on the vital education they need to succeed in the fast-moving 21st century.

When Labor was last in office we lifted the caps on the high number of uni places, which saw, in my community in Oxley, a huge increase in the number of students attending university. We've seen the complete opposite by this government. Their $2.2 billion axe to our universities means that 9½ thousand Australians missed out on a university place in 2018 and another 9½ thousand will miss out on a place in 2019. This is just unacceptable. We must be supporting and investing in our universities rather than gutting the institutions that will guide the next generation of scientists, doctors and teachers.

Australia's future economy will require a highly skilled workforce. This government's cuts to our universities do nothing to support that. The government is going out of its way and making deals with One Nation to prove that point. Earlier this year we saw the government make a deal with One Nation—a deal to deliver tax cuts for the big end of town in exchange for a mere 1,000 apprenticeships, which is nothing more than a pathetic con job. In particular, it is selling out young Australians. We know that, since this government came to power, Australia has lost over 140,000 apprenticeships, a decline of over 35 per cent. In my community we have seen a loss of around 1,500 apprenticeships, which is equivalent to a 43 per cent decrease.

It's not just students looking to go to university who are in the sights of this government but any person wishing to finish their education will pay the price. I know in my own community there are many current high school students who are aiming to be the first in their family to ever go to uni. Many of these students come from tough, disadvantaged backgrounds and are studying and working hard to see their dream of going to uni become a reality. But now, thanks to the Turnbull government, the door to a higher education is being slammed in their face by these vicious cuts to our universities. This is an especially cruel blow to the many year 12 graduates who have studied so hard to get into uni. There are reports of some universities already turning away students and cutting programs before next year begins.

Here's what it means for universities in Queensland in my home state: the University of Southern Queensland, with a campus in my electorate, is facing $36 million in cuts; Griffith University, a cut of $92 million; QUT, a cut of $100 million and the University of Queensland $100 million in cuts. Ironclad evidence that this government does not care about students in the country going to university and receiving a higher education. We know this because they have a track record of tearing down our universities. In fact, they have repeatedly attacked higher education year after year. When they were first elected it was a 20 per cent cut and full fee deregulation, which we know would have seen $100,000 degrees. Fortunately, my Labor colleagues and I were able to stop that, but they weren't done. In the next iteration, last year, they wanted to hike up fees by 7.5 per cent, have a commensurate cut in university funding, have a further cut to university funding and then cut the HECS payment threshold down to as low as $42,000—that's barely more than the minimum wage and would mean Australians with a HELP debt on low incomes would be required to make repayments. I have to wonder if those opposite are actually aware of where Australia sits in the public investment in universities in the OECD. Are we near the top? Not even close. About midrange? No. Australia has the second-lowest level of public investment in universities in the OECD, and this government only wants to make it worse.

But there is an alternative. A Shorten Labor government, which invests in a higher education system and which believes in students, will have a once-in-a-generation national inquiry which will look at every aspect of our vocational and higher education systems. This will be the first time a national inquiry has put TAFE and unis on an equal footing. It's about ensuring that Australians have access to the best post-secondary opportunities in the world. If Australia is to continue to be a wealthy, highly educated nation, we must participate in quality education. I call on the government tonight to abandon their cuts to universities and instead to invest in Australia's future.

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