Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on the motion moved by the Member for Longman—a motion erroneously claiming that the Morrison government's Job-ready Graduates Package is getting more Australians into degrees, providing skills and qualifications to obtain employment, and that there are more Australians studying at university than ever before. Let's pick the coalition claims apart one at a time. You might remember that the job-ready graduates legislation was touted by the Morrison government as a measure to redirect university enrolments to areas of study linked to jobs that are in demand in the labour market. It is a fine concept, but the actual effect of the legislation was quite different. The coalition have actually increased the student fee load and cut funding from the Commonwealth to universities. Treasurer Frydenberg gets the savings, and students get a pile of debt. Many students are paying more for their degrees; on average, Australian students are paying seven per cent more, and 40 per cent of students have seen fees for their degree double. Students in humanities, commerce and communication degrees have all been forced to pay more and rack up more debt to obtain their degree.

The Morrison government doesn't believe graduates of those degrees are employable, but I would argue there are valuable skillsets among those graduates—in fact, the data doesn't back up the government's basis for the legislation. The Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson was quoted saying in August last year that, in 2020, the overall employment rate for humanities, culture and social sciences was 87 per cent. That was three years after completing their degree and was the same rate for science and mathematics degrees. We know from the Morrison government's own budget papers that funding for Australian universities will fall by 10 per cent over the next three years—nothing to celebrate. If that weren't bad enough on its own, it comes at a time when $1 billion in emergency funding to support research jobs has been cut off and universities are facing a projected revenue loss of $16 billion from international students being locked out. Because of the job-ready graduates legislation, some universities have been forced to abolish courses such as neuroscience, arts, education, maths and Asian languages—courses which would create skills crucial to Australia's recovery from the pandemic recession.

Let's look at the claims made in the motion by the member for Longman, that 'there are more Australians studying at university than ever before' and that 'the largest increases in new enrolments are for courses made cheaper by the Job-ready Graduates Package'. Data in March this year did show an increase in enrolments in 2021 compared to 2020, but the linking of that increase in enrolments to the Job-ready Graduates Package has been debunked by education experts. Professor Andrew Norton is a higher education policy expert from the ANU. He was quoted in March as saying 'the increase was more likely to result from the announcement last November of 12,000 priority places', which allowed universities to go over their caps, 'and the 50,000 government subsidised short courses.' He said, 'The cause is not the job ready graduates program, and the increase will not be sustained beyond 2021.' Professor Norton is not the only expert to disagree with the idea that the increased enrolments come from the job-ready graduates legislation. Professor Paddy Nixon, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Canberra, also was quoted earlier this year as saying that a surge in enrolments at his university in the bachelors of nursing and medical imaging programs was unlikely to be a result of the legislation. Professor Nixon said, 'The surge in these enrolments was unsurprising, given the pandemic.' He said, 'My theory would be that the salience of nursing and health generally is that these areas are in the minds of many people, and so would attract more applicants than previously.' Professor Norton pointed out also that 'the effect of the job ready graduates legislation is that universities don't generate more money by taking on more students'.

The Morrison government has cut real funding for universities during a pandemic. On top of that, it deliberately and methodically changed the rules three times so universities could not get JobKeeper to keep their staff employed. At least 17,300 university jobs were lost in 2020, and university revenue fell by $1.8 billion compared to 2019. International education was worth more than $17 billion to Australia's economy. Immediately before the pandemic it was our fourth-largest export after iron ore, coal and gas—all products that are not value added, I'd point out. If the Prime Minister had done his job—if the Prime Minister had provided quarantine facilities and had bothered to order enough vaccination for all Australians—we would not still have more than 35,000 Australian stuck overseas, and international students could return. He might then might deserve a pat on the back. Legislation that makes it harder and more expensive for students to go to university does not require a pat on the back. I point that out to the member for Longman. (Time expired)

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