Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I am proud to support this bill, the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024, and I am so proud to be part of a government that is taking action to make higher education better and fairer and to create reliable pathways to higher education and give more people, including in communities like mine on the Central Coast of New South Wales, the opportunity to get the education and training that they need for a steady job and a good career.

We are introducing the Commonwealth prac payment for teaching students, nursing students, midwifery students and social work students. That will provide real help for students so that they can finish their placements and complete their degrees. We're expanding fee-free university-ready courses that will prepare students for university and give even more people the opportunity to undertake a degree. And we will wipe almost $3 billion of HELP debt for more than three million people. Labor has listened to students and people who want to go to university to undertake higher education, and we are making real changes that will make a practical difference.

In hospitals, headspace centres and Medicare mental health centres right across the country, I've been hearing from nursing and social work students. I recently met with Chelsea at headspace Wagga. She is finishing her social work degree at the same time as supporting young people across the Riverina. Chelsea and other social work students have told me about the real financial pressure they face during their placements. I've heard from students who've had to give up their job and others who've had to move and travel far away from home. Others are supporting families whilst completing their placement. And, for some students, this has meant that, despite their very best efforts, they haven't been able to finish their degree. For social work students that includes completing 1,000 hours of professional practice, which is the equivalent of six months.

The prac payments will provide eligible students with $319.50 each week while they're on placement, and I've heard directly from social work students about the real difference this will make to them. It will offer them the support they need to focus on their placement. As the education minister has said, the prac payment is practical support for practical support for practical placements. Teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students just like Chelsea are giving so much to local communities, and this bill will mean that they have the help they need to finish their training and complete their degrees to start their careers.

In Newcastle on the Central Coast, I've heard from so many students who've had the opportunity to go to university because of free-free uni-ready courses, otherwise known as enabling courses and open foundation. The University of Newcastle's enabling foundation, as we will soon hear from the member for Newcastle, is one of the best examples in Australia and has supported more than 70,000 students since it was first introduced—70,000 students who otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to have a higher education. The program enables students to select courses based on their areas of interest while learning important skills for study, including research, writing and communication. I've met with many students who have gone through enabling programs or whilst they're undertaking them.

I also want to recognise the educators that provide these courses. They're really capable and dedicated people, giving students the wraparound support they need to be successful and to start their degrees. Importantly, as I've mentioned students receive wraparound support. A former classmate of mine Dr Christensen worked as an enabling educator for many years. She guided students through challenges and connected them to other supports that they might need. It really makes a significant difference in someone's life.

At the University of Newcastle nearly one in five students who have graduated over the past 10 years started their courses as part of a free enabling program. Some of you who were in the previous parliament might remember that the former coalition government wanted to introduce fees for enabling programs. We're now expanding them, and I'm so proud of the people I know who started their study at a university-ready course, like my friend Renee, who I was in contact with today. She completed Open Foundation at the Ourimbah Campus and is now a level 6 NICU nurse working in a surgical NICU unit caring for the sickest babies in New South Wales. The difference that Open Foundation made to Renee—to her life, to her family and to the many babies and families that she's supported—is just remarkable.

My former colleague Sam—we met when I was a newly registered pharmacist, and she was a pharmacy assistant. Sam is now a mum and a speech pathologist, and she has recently started working in private practice. Again, the real difference that fee-free uni-ready courses make to an individual, to a family and to a community is just remarkable.

My brother Eddi checked in with me last night because he'd been following this legislation closely. He's a local plumber and is running his own business. He's had many apprentices over the years, and now he's finishing an MBA, and this started with him going through an open foundation program.

This bill will uncap fee-free uni-ready courses across Australia, so that more people get the skills they need to start a degree—just like Renee and Sam and my brother Eddi, who all studied through the program at the University of Newcastle. This change is expected to increase the number of people undertaking a fee-free uni-ready course by about 40 per cent by the end of the decade—a significant boost in the number of people, particularly in communities like mine, in the outer suburbs and the regions, that haven't had the same chance to be able to have a crack, as the education minister says, at higher education and the real skills they need for the jobs of today and the future. This will make sure that even more people have the opportunity and support to begin university and get the skills and training that they need and deserve.

In universities, I've also heard from students and graduates who are concerned about increases in student debt. We know a lot of people and families are feeling the pressure right now. It is tough. We've listened to those students, and, through this bill, we are responding. We are wiping around $3 billion in student debt from three million Australians—that's $3 billion in student debt from three million Australians. I know the real difference that that will make for many people holding student debt in my community on the Central Coast.

Importantly, we are backdating this relief so that the unfair CPI indexation of 7.1 per cent last year will be replaced with the lower WPI of 3.2 per cent. As Minister Clare has said, someone with an average debt of around $26,500 will see a benefit of $1,200 of relief, someone with a debt of $45,000 will see their debt wiped by around $2,000 and someone with a debt of $60,000 will have their debt cut by almost $2,700—significant reductions. We're listening to students and making a real difference for them. This is real relief for people with a student debt, at a time when they're feeling the pressure.

These are practical measures and they were all recommended in the final report of the Universities Accord. We're taking real action to make them happen now; to make higher education better and fairer, so that more people have the opportunity to get the training they need; and to make sure that those students who aspire to become the health professionals of the future have the support they need.

In finishing, just after the budget and this policy were announced, I was with the Prime Minister and the member for Robertson, Dr Gordon Reid, and we visited Gosford Hospital, part of the Central Coast Local Health District, and we heard directly from nurses, as we went to a cardiac unit in Gosford Hospital, who spoke about the real difference that this will make for nurses and midwives. I'm so pleased to see this practical support for health practitioners in training, and graduates, because of the really important work they do in communities like mine and right across Australia. I'm pleased to support this bill.

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