Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank those members who have spoken on the Education Legislation Amendment (Up-front Payments Tuition Protection) Bill 2020 and the related bill, the Higher Education (Up-front Payments Tuition Protection Levy) Bill 2020. The bills enable Australia's unique and successful tuition protection arrangements to be extended to cover domestic students who pay their tuition fees for their studies up-front. This will ensure that these students receive the same government-backed protections and assistance as students who access Commonwealth assistance loans to fund their studies—that is, support through either a replacement unit or course to continue their studies or a refund of their tuition fees for incomplete units of study where their provider has failed to deliver.

The Higher Education (Up-front Payments Tuition Protection Levy) Bill 2020 will seek to impose the up-front payments tuition protection levy and prescribe the levy components and the manner in which they will be determined each year. This will enable the viable providers to contribute to a fund, rather than maintaining their own separate tuition protection arrangements for domestic up-front paying students, which can often be burdensome for providers to maintain. The new tuition protection arrangements for up-front paying students are consistent with the already-proven successful tuition protection model for international students and domestic students who access a Commonwealth loan to support their studies.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education sector. Now more than ever, these bills provide an additional measure of surety to domestic higher education students who are not relying on Commonwealth assistance loans. These students can be assured that they will be assisted through these government-backed tuition protection arrangements in the event that their provider closes or stops teaching a course from 2021. This surety will also encourage people to invest in their higher education and gain the necessary skills and qualifications for employment in their chosen career field, thereby contributing to future growth of Australia's skilful workforce. I thank members again for their contributions to this key debate on extending tuition protection arrangements in the higher-education sector to domestic students who pay up-front for their studies. I commend the bills to the House.

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