Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kooyong as well as the members for North Sydney, Goldstein and Warringah for their contributions, not just to this debate but to our ongoing conversation about reform in higher education—but not just in higher education. This bill makes what I believe are some very significant reforms to higher education, and I believe that the members of the crossbench who have participated in this debate and others deserve significant credit for these reforms and the bill that we passed earlier this afternoon, establishing a national student ombudsman. That comes, in part, because of the advocacy of members of the crossbench as well as other members in this House—most particularly, of course, victims-survivors and the organisations that represent individuals who have suffered the most appalling things in our universities. We as members of parliament don't always agree, but I always value your contributions and your considered advice.

On this piece of legislation, let me start by saying that I consider this to be the start of reform, not the end—that the Universities Accord report is a blueprint to reform our higher education system for the next decade and beyond. In the budget in May we set out what I described as the first stage of reform. That includes responding to and implementing 29 of the 47 recommendations in full or in part. You see some of those in this bill. But, as I said in answer to a question from the member for Kooyong in question time a couple of weeks ago, in respect of the Job-ready Graduates program and how we address and respond to that, as part of the first stage of our response to the Universities Accord we've committed to establish a body that we will call the Australian Tertiary Education Commission. We're working through the details of that body with universities and other stakeholders right now. I hope to be in a position later this year to set out the full scope of what that body will do. But the purpose and intent of that body is to help steer long-term reform.

The truth is that if we're going to properly implement the Universities Accord it's going to take more than one minister, it's going to take more than one government and it's going to take a steward to help drive reform over the long term. A tertiary education commission like the one I've described will have a role in making that a reality. Part of its scope will be in the setting of course fees. I hope I've made that clear—that in looking at the Job-ready Graduates program, at what it's done, at what it's failed to do and at what should be changed, that will be one of its core responsibilities.

The other part of these amendments deals with indexation. I recognise all the comments that different crossbenchers have made about the things we are doing in this bill and the things we aren't. But we should take a moment to recognise how significant the change that we are making today is. For three million Australians, once this bill has passed this House and then the Senate and has been assented to, the ATO will be able to wipe about $3 billion of student debt collectively across the country. So, for everybody out there who has a student debt, that debt will drop. On average, student debt at the moment is around $26,000 when you finish a degree. That will drop by about $1,200. But some people will accumulate a significantly higher debt than that. As I mentioned in question time today, if someone has a student debt of $45,000, when this legislation passes, their debt will drop by about $2,000. If it's higher still—if you've got a student debt of $60,000—it will drop by $3,000.

So, let's stop for a moment to recognise that this is an important change that we collectively are making here in this legislation. I've had a number of really constructive conversations with the member for Kooyong and with all members of the crossbench about how we can make our HECS system fairer, how we can make student debt fairer. I really value the kind comments you made to me about this. I kind of think that's a big part of our job. My mum always said that we're born with two ears and one mouth and we should spend twice the amount of time listening as we do talking—which reminds me that I should shut up! But as I do close out my contribution here can I make the point that, even though we won't be able to support these amendments at this time, my door is always open to all members of parliament, from all sides of this House—all political parties and all Independent members—with the endeavour to make sure that we can build a better and fairer education system.

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