Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Education is at the heart of Australia's success. It's part of the story of success in this country. In my electorate of Wills in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, we have so many staff and students in the university sector. I speak with them regularly and often hear them identify many issues around access, equality and affordability within our higher education sector.

Australians know that there is a very impactful cost-of-living challenge that we are facing in our economy right now. Everyone is seeing and feeling this. That's why the Albanese Labor government understands the immense pressures that have built up in our higher education system, and that's why the government is putting in place significant reforms to provide cost-of-living relief for students and has a long-term focus on delivering a better and fairer university sector for students.

I, of course, have always valued the immense importance of a good quality education. As you'd know, Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, as a migrant to this country—my parents escaped a region where there was war and persecution—having that amazing opportunity to get a good education was so special and so important for us. It allowed me to be standing here today, because access to quality education is really the key that unlocks opportunity. It unlocks the opportunity and unlocks the potential that we can fulfil. We can make a contribution if we're able to fulfil our potential through a sense of purpose as well.

I thank the Minister for Education for introducing the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 in response to the Universities Accord. The government has consulted widely and ensured that the views of key stakeholders have been heard on this legislation. The Universities Accord was headed by eminent Australian industry expert Professor Mary O'Kane. Her final report set the blueprint for how higher education could be reformed to deliver a higher education system that could be the envy of the world. A key aspect of that is the affordability of university.

This bill will allow students who go on practical placements as part of their degree to finally be paid for the work that they do. I cannot stress enough how important that cost-of-living relief will be to the hundreds of students in my electorate who will get money back in their pockets as a result of this policy. We know for a fact that young women, in particular, are more likely to study degrees with practical placements and receive no wage or payment for the work that is essential to completing their course.

I can relate to the story of a young woman in my electorate who is studying to become a social worker. Aaliyah completed several units of practical work which had to be completed in order to receive her qualification. I spoke to her about her work, and she said that juggling these shifts along with study and trying to pay for the groceries was a real struggle; it was really difficult. There are many stories like this that I'm sure we hear about all too frequently. But it's fantastic to be able to say that the Albanese Labor government is responding to this issue so that women like Aaliyah will not have to cut back on essentials like groceries just so they can realise their dream of completing their studies, and why should they?

Education opens the door to opportunity, as I said. It has unlocked the potential for millions of Australians, regardless of their background—whether they are from regions or the city, whether they're socioeconomically disadvantaged, whether they're Indigenous Australians, whether they're from migrant families or whether they're from different faith backgrounds. Education has been the ticket to a better future. It is that great leveller of society. Many of us in this place have been fortunate, through the facilitation of these policies, to be given the opportunity to get a great education and fulfil our potential. That's why this bill is important, in providing long-term relief to students through the facilitation of a weekly Commonwealth prac payment. It will protect the place of education as a great leveller—not the thing that pushes people into financial hardship, for instance, but the thing that takes people out of that and gives them the confidence to be able to move forward. Per year, this will support approximately 68,000 teaching; nursing, including midwifery; and social work students to complete their university placements. That's not only good for students; it provides cost-of-living relief and is an investment in the future of Australia, ensuring that no-one is shut off from realising their potential and that no-one is left behind.

I know there's more work to do. In May, the RMIT Association of Pharmacy Students and the Victorian Pharmacy Students Association contacted me on behalf of all pharmacy students in my electorate, asking for the government to extend prac payments to them. I received that request and I obviously listened to their representations. On that issue of prac payments for those particular areas, there is a start in this bill. Importantly, we're listening to the different stakeholders in the community and taking a number of measures that will help every student, not just some students. This includes the really important amelioration of the big hike in HECS-HELP debt last year. Indexed to inflation, it meant that HECS-HELP debts across the country would have increased by 7.1 per cent at their peak. This is why the Albanese Labor government is, with this legislation, wiping $3 billion in student debt for three million Australians. That's hugely significant and that's a direct action to particularly help younger Australians in my electorate.

There are a lot of young people who work in my electorate whilst balancing study, whether at the reception of the Glenroy family clinic or at the Hadfield Woolies. The government hears you. We're listening to you and we're acting on this. We know that you want to complete your studies without being financially burdened, and that's why this has been so important. In addition, we know that the cost of living has put a real squeeze on young people having to make choices between studying and getting more work. With inflation at 7.1 per cent and the HECS payments indexed to this inflation, those young people with debts of $50,000 would have been slapped with an additional $3,550 in indexation costs. That's no longer the case. That's real relief for those students and that has been very warmly welcomed by students right across my electorate and the country.

Despite a lot of people in the community pressuring young people and saying, 'Don't eat the avocado toast or the kale. If you save on that you'll be able to save up,' that's not going to work. Pulling back on a couple of breakfasts or coffees or lattes—no amount of saving on these types of things is going to relieve the real intergenerational unfairness that younger Australians are facing in the current economic environment, especially with the debt that they're facing. This debt relief is real. It's practical and substantial. Under a Labor government, we've delivered it and it's here to stay, because HECS loans will now be indexed to the CPI or the wage price index, whichever is lower. If your wages aren't growing, your debt shouldn't be, either.

Importantly, this bill couples immediate cost-of-living relief with a long-term plan to ensure accessibility to quality higher education. The government wants to do more than just remove the barriers to education. We want to actively encourage skills and training. That's why the government set a target of 80 per cent of the workforce having a tertiary qualification by 2050. That's the next step, and it's similar to what Labor has always done to deliver world-class results, starting with the Hawke-Keating reforms.

I remember speaking to the late, great Bob Hawke, one of the great prime ministers if not the greatest Prime Minister this country has seen. Some on the other might dispute that, but he was a great prime minister. I remember asking Bob—it was over a couple of beers—after he had regaled me with all of these stories about his government's achievements during those periods, 'What's something that you achieved that not many people talk about?' He was telling me all about how he helped end the Cold War by negotiating between Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev—he was sort of in the middle of that—and about all of the big economic reforms that he did. I'm not going to do an impersonation of Bob, but he said: 'When I started as Prime Minister, some 30 per cent of students were matriculating'—that's what they used to call finishing high school—'By the end of my time as Prime Minister, some 80 per cent of people were finishing high school.' I said, 'Bob, I was one of those,' because I did year 12 in 1990, while he was still Prime Minister. So we've all benefited from the policies of the Hawke government, and later on the Keating government, to boost this access to education and to good education, and the Albanese government is continuing this tradition. It's in our DNA.

This bill also takes an important step in ensuring that students at universities have a greater say in how their student fees are used. The legislation will support students by requiring that higher education providers allocate a minimum of 40 per cent of their student services and amenities fees revenue to student led organisations, ensuring students have a greater voice in how their services and amenities fees are spent. That's a significant addition.

It's important to recognise that this legislation is just one part of the Albanese government's comprehensive reform agenda on education. Whether it's providing fee-free TAFE places for 500,000 students to give them the skills and the training they need for the jobs of the future, expanding access to scholarships for Indigenous students and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, or delivering the largest increase in federal funding to public schools since Federation, the Albanese government is delivering the necessary reforms to deliver a world-class education system.

Under this government, young people will be able to pursue their studies without being crushed by debt. If you are a child of migrants like I am and you are, Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, we—and I think people who have come from the regions or from socioeconomic grounds that are somewhat disadvantaged—know what it's like to have your parents say: 'No matter what you do, get a good education. Please focus on your studies. Get it done, because we don't want you not being able to fulfil your potential.' Not everyone is going to go to medical school in that context. When your parents say to you, 'Get a good education, get the skills and get the training you need to get a good life and a purposeful life,' it doesn't mean that everyone is going study law or medicine and become a lawyer or a doctor, but it's important that they have the opportunity to study, to go to TAFE or to university, or to get whatever skills or training are required to give them that opportunity. So, whether you choose to go to TAFE or to get a degree or two, you shouldn't face any barriers because of where you come from, what your background is or what your socioeconomic circumstances are.

The Minister for Education spoke about being the first member of his family to go to university, to go on to higher education. There are a lot of people in my electorate that share that experience. Labor understands that investment in education is an investment in people and an investment in this country's future. When we invest in education it's a statement of what we want this country's future to be. We want to give people this opportunity. We want to give people the key that unlocks the door to opportunity, that allows them to step in and fulfil their potential in whatever they wish to do and that makes their life one of purpose and meaning through that. That's what education does. We don't want a future where education is for an exclusive few and where people are shut out from learning. We want a future in which we deliver that opportunity for any Australian that wants to take that step. We want a future where education is an open door to the success that makes us who we are, where dedication and hard work are rewarded, where education is the foundation for realising a better future for those individuals, their families, their communities and the society more broadly, where no Australians are held back because of where they come from or what their background is, and where no-one is left behind.

(Quorum formed)

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