Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am really pleased to be standing to support a piece of legislation, the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024, that is going to make a tangible difference to people who have made the decision to go to university to further their education. With that decision come costs that they pay, not only in the debt that they accrue but also in the sacrifices they make in terms of earnings, and this bill will go some way to supporting people and encouraging them in that decision.

The first change that we're making in this bill is around HECS, or HELP. We're making it fairer for everyone who has a HECS or HELP debt—some people still call it HECS; we know it's also HELP—and we're wiping around $3 billion off that debt, and that's for about three million Australians. For someone with an average HECS debt of $26,500, this means that their debt will be cut by about $1,200. Students, or people who are former students—because you carry your HECS debt with you for some time—have told me how pleased they are to see that move.

The second step is that we are, for the first time, introducing a Commonwealth payment to support students doing their prac. Now, the start of this is going to be for teaching students, nursing students, midwifery students and social work students when they have to do their mandatory placements. This Commonwealth prac payment will ease the burden on them. Now, no-one's suggesting it's an absolute quick fix, but we know that many students have to give up their normal paid work to do their full-time placements—and not just for one week; we're talking about doing that for multiple weeks at a time. This is one way to alleviate that burden and help them get through what, in itself, is a challenging thing—to take that learning you've done and put it into practice—without having to worry as much about the financial impost and loss that you have. For a lot of people, these prac placements are so challenging that they actually choose to delay their degrees and not complete them, or to take much longer to do them. We need the jobs that they're doing: we need teachers, nurses, midwives and social workers, so those are the groups we're starting with. But I really look forward to the success of it, so that we can have more of it to come.

The third thing in here that is going to change people's lives is the fee-free uni-ready courses. I spoke to a young woman called Amy who is doing one of these, and she says that the ability to access this course is the difference between her choosing to take a risk on furthering her education or just saying, 'Nup, it's too scary.'

Let me tell you what other students have told me about the changes. Natalie, a Hawkesbury local and teaching student at Western Sydney University, said, 'This will be incredibly helpful for me, my levels of stress and my bank account,' so it's a win all round for her. Rebecca, who is also studying teaching, said that, as a young person, she was praised for taking up a profession that was so desperately needed, yet she was thanked with a debt and full-time work with no pay, and she says, 'I no longer have to fear this, under a Labor government, and I'm receiving the support that all education students deserve.' A nurse, Abby, from Faulconbridge is so glad to see the introduction of the paid prac for students. She said she was lucky to be living with her parents at the time, but she knew many people who had to do their prac and then do their own paid work. These are good changes.

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