Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand that it is the wish of the House to debate this order of the day concurrently with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Conse­quential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011. There being no objection, the chair will allow that course to be followed.

Debate resumed on the motion:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011, the TEQSA Bill. The relevant background to the TEQSA Bill is contained in the Bradley review's report on Australian higher education. This report, handed to government in December 2008, outlined a broad vision for the future of the higher education sector. The key recommendation from this review was an aspirational goal of 40 per cent of Australians between the ages of 25 and 34 holding at least a bachelors degree by 2025.

As I have previously made mention in this place, including in my comments yesterday in the House with respect to the Higher Education Support Amendment (Demand Driven Funding System and Other Measures) Bill 2011, the coalition have agreed to support this target. There is a key challenge that lies ahead of us, however. Increasing the participation level to 40 per cent will require a considerable increase in the intake of undergraduate students at Australian universities. It is thought to be approximately an additional 220,000 students annually, which means there is great concern in the sector that educational standards may decrease in order to fulfil this goal. There has also been a concern about the quality of some of Australia's non-university higher education providers which has created flow-on reputational effects for the major university providers, especially in relation to international students, who offer a critical revenue stream for universities.

To counter these concerns, Bradley recommended the creation of one single national standards agency. The standards agency was suggested in order to take on the regulatory functions of the current state based agencies and provide a new national basis for regulation and quality assurance. In May 2009, in response to the Bradley review, the government announced they would accept this recommendation. Shortly thereafter, the then Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, announced the intention to introduce legislation to create the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, colloquially known as TEQSA. In response, the coalition gave its in principle support to this recommendation to create a national regulator for the higher education sector. TEQSA will reduce the number of standards agencies from nine, which is currently one for each state, one for the Northern Territory and one which is the federal regulator. They will become just one.

The principle that underpins this bill is that TEQSA is to take a risk based and balanced approach to its regulatory activities. The TEQSA Bill makes amendments to the following existing legislation: the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, to provide TEQSA and its staff with the ability to undertake functions relating to provider registration and monitoring; and the Higher Education Support Act 2003, to recognise new registration requirements for higher education providers. The bill also provides for the relevant transition of functions from the current state and territory regulatory authorities to the new agency.

There has been a lengthy process in drawing up the legislation. During stakeholder consultations in 2010, there was initially widespread concern with parts of the proposed legislation. This resulted in the government delaying introduction of the TEQSA bills, and a draft bill was released for consideration in February 2011. In March this bill was introduced into the Senate by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Senator Chris Evans, and was immediately referred to the Senate Education, Employment and Work­place Relations Legislation Committee.

The explanatory memorandum states that TEQSA will have appropriations of $54 million between commencement of the legislation in 2011 and 2014.

The coalition cautiously welcomed the legislation at first glance, as we support the central idea behind the legislation, which is that our higher education system is simply too small to continue to have a multitude of regulatory authorities. We recognise that robust national standards in Australia are required so that any student undertaking a higher educational qualification can then be assured that they are getting an excellent and valuable education, regardless of which state or territory they choose to study in.

But, with this bill, it was critical to have a Senate inquiry and I am pleased that my colleague in the other place Senator Brett Mason insisted on an inquiry. Not only did this bill need the close and thorough scrutiny of the parliament but it was also essential so that the various stakeholders who may be affected by these changes had ample opportunity to make wide-ranging submissions about this process.

The Senate committee tabled its report on 10 May 2011. The report supported the bill, subject to certain amendments, which have been incorporated by the government into this bill before the House today. Specifically, seven recommendations from the committee report were incorporated. Recommendation 1 is:

… that the primary TEQSA Bill be amended to explicitly provide that universities have the authority to self-accredit courses of study, except where TEQSA limits or removes that authority consistent with the basic principles of regulation stated in Part 2 of the TEQSA Bill.

Recommendation 2 is:

… that the Intergovernmental Agreement to be negotiated between the federal, state and territory governments include protocols for communication between TEQSA, state and territory governments to ensure that the process of registering new universities by TEQSA proceeds in parallel with the process of establishing universities through state and territory legislation.

Recommendation 3 is:

… that the higher education sector be consulted on the development of the Standards Framework prior to the setting of the Standards by the Minister.

Recommendation 4 is:

… that the definition of Threshold Standards in section 5 be amended so that it does not include subclause (c) any other standards made under paragraph 58(1)(e).

Recommendation 5 is:

… that clause 167(2)(b) of the TEQSA Bill be amended to include reference to the interests of staff working in the higher education sector.

Recommendation 6 is:

… that the Bill be amended to provide for a nine month maximum period for TEQSA to accredit a course under sub-clause 49(2) and a further nine months under sub-clause 49(3).

Recommendation 7 is:

… that the National VET Regulator work closely with TEQSA, once established, to harmonise and streamline the regulatory approach for multi-sector providers in advance of any future decision to combine TEQSA and the National VET Regulator in a single regulatory agency.

I believe the first recommendation is particularly important to address, with appropriate amendments. As noted in the committee's report:

Self-accreditation refers to the ability to enjoy academic autonomy in determining both course and degree content. The notion carries both symbolic and substantive weight, and is a central characteristic of universities as independent institutions of knowledge and learning. As the peak body for Australia's universities, Universities Australia strongly expressed its concern that "the overall implications of the Bill for university autonomy remain unclear." Universities Australia also pointed out that self accreditation was a first order principle of universities, and as such should be included in the primary, not secondary, TEQSA legislation.

I am particularly pleased to learn that the concerns regarding the provisions in relation to the self-accrediting status of universities have been subsequently fixed. Until the coalition called for a Senate inquiry, some stakeholders were shut out of the government's highly secretive consultative process, but I am pleased to note the committee's work has resulted in a vastly improved bill that we can now support.

I would particularly like to point out that this bill would not be in its current shape without the efforts of my parliamentary colleague Senator Brett Mason, shadow minister for universities and research. Senator Mason put in many hours of consultation on behalf of the coalition in the lead-up to this bill being passed. He has travelled all around Australia, engaging with universities about this issue and many others facing the sector, something that I would suggest his government counterpart Senator Evans failed to do, given the many concerns from stakeholders that were raised with Senator Mason and me over the last year. This is reflected in the comments made yesterday by Professor Denise Bradley AC, in her capacity as interim chair of TEQSA, when she welcomed its passing in the Senate. I note she was pleased that 'both sides of politics, the educational bureaucracy and sector representatives have been ready to work cooperatively and responsibly'. The provisions in this bill are far reaching. They will affect not only universities but also other higher education providers. The new regulatory agency will have powers that no other regulator has possessed before. Stakeholders, particularly higher education providers, overwhelmingly support the establishment of TEQSA. They support it particularly as it will not only simplify their regulatory arrangements but also help to protect brand Australia in the international education industry, which remains one of our largest non-minerals export industries. Given that education is our fourth largest export industry and a key driver of economic growth and productivity gain, it is important that this reform for our higher education sector was given as much attention as possible by this parliament in order to get it right. I commend the bill to the House.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise today to speak on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011. The Gillard government is committed to improving the quality and integrity of our higher education system. In 2008 we initiated a review to examine the ability of our higher education system to meet the needs of the Australian community and economy. The release of the Australian higher education review, known as the Bradley review, was a milestone achievement. The findings of the review and the recommendations made by the expert panel led by Professor Bradley called for a shift in the current funding and resource arrangements for our higher education system to place students at the centre of our system. The Bradley review was the catalyst for a package of reforms announced by this government in 2009-10 to support its productivity and participation agenda, which is something that it has built on again with the release of the recent budget.

The transformation of our higher education system is central to achieving our vision of a stronger and fairer country. Our reforms set new targets for higher education participation and access along with increased resources for teaching, learning and, importantly, research. At the centre of our reforms we are moving to a demand driven approach for funding undergraduate student places. This is something that I certainly welcome as the federal member for Corangamite. Within my electorate I have Deakin University, and they are certainly expecting a very substantial increase in the number of places that they offer as a consequence of this reform. Deakin University are the largest employer in my electorate and certainly contribute a lot to the life of Geelong. This will free up universities to make the right strategic choices to better deliver on their unique goals and to meet the needs of their student bodies. It will encourage diversity and specialisation, which will allow universities to play to their strengths. It will also help transform the scale, potential and quality of our universities and higher education providers, allowing them to grow in the sector and opening up doors to higher education for a whole new generation of Australians.

As we enter a period of rapid growth of enrolments in universities and higher education institutions in Australia, it is important that we as a government and as a nation have confidence in the quality of the education that students are receiving and that there are assurances around this. This bill establishes the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, otherwise known as TEQSA, as a single national regulatory and quality assurance agency for higher education. Using a standards based approach for regulation, TEQSA will require institutions to meet or exceed threshold standards in order to register and deliver higher education in Australia. This will ensure that the expansion of our higher education system will not come at the expense of quality. TEQSA will combine the regulatory activities currently undertaken at this stage by states and territories. This government believes in a single national approach to education reform, and I think this will lead to that happening.

I now turn to the specifics of the functions undertaken by TEQSA. TEQSA will undertake a variety of regulatory functions, including registration and re-registration, accreditation and re-accreditation, and compliance and quality assessments. TEQSA's regulatory approach will be based on proportionality and risk. To support this approach, the government has established a set of basic principles for regulation which TEQSA must adhere to in all of its functions. The principles include the principle of regulatory necessity, which provides that TEQSA should not burden a provider more than is necessary in the functions which it undertakes; the principle of reflecting risk, which provides that TEQSA should have regard to a provider's history, including the history of compliance with state and federal laws relating to higher education; and the principle of proportionate regulation, which provides that TEQSA must exercise its powers in such a way that it is proportionate to a provider's noncompliance. TEQSA will be required to tailor its regulatory actions in order to comply with these principles. Importantly, TEQSA will have the power to undertake enforcement action to address quality issues where necessary. As a statutory agency, TEQSA will be subject to the Financial Management and Account­ability Act 1997 and its staff will be engaged under the Public Service Act 1999.

The Higher Education Standards Framework will incorporate national quality standards and benchmarks. These will be central to ensuring that the bar for entry to the higher education sector is sufficiently high and will provide a solid base of performance from which all providers can build excellence and diversity.

As I mentioned earlier, I am very proud to be one of a number of members in this place who have a Deakin University campus in their electorate. Deakin University was of course established in Geelong back in the 1970s and has rapidly grown since then. The university has informed me that it is planning on taking full account of the opportunities to grow its student base over the coming years. I certainly look forward to working closely with it to assist, wherever I can, in enabling it to grow and continue to perform a vital educational set of opportunities for people not only within my electorate of Corangamite but from the seat of Corio and from the federal seat of Wannon, to the west.

Establishing a national framework that deals with quality of our universities makes enormous sense. There is of course some risk that if universities grow too quickly without having some regard for quality those institutions might slip. By putting in place these reforms I think we can grow university student numbers but do it in a way that is sustainable and ensures we have a quality based system. As a consequence I commend these bills to the House and commend the work that has been undertaken by all of our education ministers in making sure that we grow opportunities for all Australians.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australian tertiary education is consistently ranked as amongst the world's best, attracting more international students than does any other country, as a percentage of the population. In fact, education is Australia's third largest export, second only to coal and iron ore. Recently, however, there have been worrying reports of international concern that the standard of Australian universities is not as high as that of our competitors. This concern was discussed as recently as 16 June in the Australian's higher education supplement.

This is why the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011 is of great importance. It aims to ensure the quality of all higher education providers by reducing the number of federal, state and territory regulatory bodies from nine down to just one national agency, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, known as TEQSA. Using a standards based approach to regulation, higher education providers will be required to meet or exceed a threshold standard if they are to be registered in Australia. This issue is of particular importance to me, given that my electorate of Ryan is home to the University of Queensland.

I take this opportunity to congratulate Brisbane City Council and Brisbane Marketing on their initiative Study Brisbane, which is an initiative led by Gordon Scott at Brisbane Marketing that promotes the quality tertiary institutions we have in the city of Brisbane as well as holding an annual Brisbane Welcomes International Students day. It has also recently initiated a student ambassador program where students from other countries regularly twitter their experiences in the city of Brisbane back home to their friends overseas.

Quality assurance is hugely important to the sector, particularly in this time of great change. Over the past few years we have experienced a very turbulent time with regard to international students. The negative effects of this government's mismanagement of the international students sector are stark and have been detrimental to the sector as a whole. As reported in the Australian in May last year, the sector saw a 40 per cent decrease in overseas student applications in one month alone. At the time, Stephen Connelly of the International Education Association of Australia cautioned that, should this decline continue, the sector could lose up to 35,000 jobs by the end of 2011. One year on, these statistics have not improved, with the Sydney Morning Herald reporting in February this year that the number of international students choosing Australia for their degree has continued to fall. Student visa applications from outside Australia decreased 32 per cent over the last six months of 2010 compared with 2009, which had already fallen 22 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. Given that it is estimated that international students generate approximately $12.3 billion value added to the economy annually and given declining rates of international student enrolment, it becomes more and more clear that the bill before us today is a positive and necessary step towards quality assurance for the sector. It is also a very timely measure given the changes currently occurring in the system.

Earlier this week the House debated a substantial change with the move to a student-demand-driven system for universities. I spoke on the bill at the time, highlighting the importance of tertiary education and supporting the Bradley review recommendation that Australia aspire to having 40 per cent of people aged 20 to 34 holding a bachelor's degree by 2025. This is an ambitious but noble target. Tertiary education enriches lives, enables higher earning potential, increases opportunities, teaches the ability to analyse and encourages and enthuses people about learning. The student-demand-driven system supports this aim and will help to achieve it; however, a target of 40 per cent participation would necessarily mean a huge influx of students into our university campuses. The question must be asked as to how this will be funded and how our universities will be supported to provide the extra infrastructure and resources necessary to cater for this influx of students.

This raises alarm bells with me as we have often seen a grand idea, usually one with merit, fall foul of this government's problematic track record of bungled implementation. This unfortunately has been quite apparent in education. The BER, promising new school halls and libraries around the country, in many cases delivered failed projects such the hall at Mount Crosby State School, in my electorate of Ryan, that requires a huge budget blowout simply to build a fourth wall. The last time I looked at a building, most of them do need four walls! Furthermore, every schoolchild was promised a laptop computer under—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Ryan will turn to the bill before her. There is the matter of relevance. It seems to have been slipping from everyone's speeches lately. I ask her to address the bill before her now.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And on both sides of the chamber, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not dispute that.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government's record shows that they think of a grand idea, make a rushed announcement and little further thought is put into the matter. I am concerned that, with the scale of changes taking place in the higher education sector, implementation may yet again prove to be where a good and necessary program fails. I believe these changes are important and will be very disappointed to see that happen.

I hope that today's measure of introducing a single national quality assurance regulatory body will help to ensure implementation failure does not occur. The government has changed its approach to this legislation by actually listening to and extensively consulting with the industry and adopting the changes that were suggested. I pay tribute to the pressure put on by Senator Brett Mason in the other chamber to insist on this wider consultation. This took the original form of this bill from an overprescribed one-size-fits-all regulatory body that was first suggested in relation to TEQSA to a very workable system that has the potential to provide real change to the sector. I am encouraged by this change in the government's attitude and hope that genuine consultation and the process will continue. As we can see from the outcome of this bill, it is certainly a helpful process that delivers a positive change for all Australians.

The quality of our higher education system is of great importance to the sector. Without it, we risk losing the valuable contribution made by international students. We risk our graduates not being regarded with the calibre of their international counterparts and we risk the reputation of our wonderful university system. We should be proud of the success of our universities and graduates and support them through this time of change. TEQSA is a positive initiative in the reform of higher education and I commend this bill to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011. The member for Ryan in her speech was critical of the government in relation to the number of people attending universities. The simple fact is that since we were elected in 2007 an extra 80,000 undergraduate students have received the opportunity of a university education. That figure alone indicates our commitment to tertiary education, and the legislation here before the House again builds on that commitment.

We want a just and productive Australia. We want a prosperous Australia committed to economic development, productivity and the best high-paying and high-skilled jobs that are available. That is why we have focused strongly on higher education, because we believe that higher education transforms the quality of people's lives and enhances their potential. We believe that a university place gives a person the opportunity in life that they could not have if their circumstances were such that their financial capacity could not afford it, their familial history did not support it or their experience did not dictate that university hitherto was an option.

We strongly believe that the opportunity to attend university really gives a person not just a broadness in their thinking but also a financial security that they would not have otherwise. In a landmark reform, we have committed ourselves to lifting the caps on undergraduate university places. The legislation here demonstrates our comm­itment to the whole system by underpinning a robust quality assurance and regulatory framework which will put a renewed emphasis on student outcomes and the quality of student experiences.

That is why we have committed $70 million over four years to establish this new regulatory framework. We believe this will enhance the quality of education at the tertiary level. The new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency will, we believe, remove the eccentricities and oddities of Federation with respect to regul­atory systems in the university sector. We believe that in this day and age, in the 21st century, one body and one body alone should govern the regulatory arrangements for universities.

We are pleased that we have got bipartisan support for this and that the sector has played a constructive role in offering suggestions to enhance the capacity of the new body, TEQSA. This will make a big difference, because if every stakeholder has a say and has a vested interest in how this will go then the agency will deliver on the expectation of it and that universities across the country will improve.

Higher education is not just about giving young people opportunity, enhancing the next generation of students and providing the promise of a high-skilled and high-wage job but also about improving the capacity of our economy to withstand things like the global financial crisis. We have made an enormous contribution with close to $4 billion in the budget for this sector. Our higher education sector is crucial to economic prosperity. Ensuring it functions with quality assurance is absolutely essential.

We are following the recommendations of the Bradley review in this regard. Clearly, a national approach is needed, and this was the recommendation. A national approach which underpins domestic and international confi­dence in higher education is crucial because students from overseas play an important role in the sector and engage in high levels of achievement and attainment. You only have to attend a university in any electorate to see that that is the case. I have two universities in my electorate: the University of Queen­sland has an Ipswich campus and the University of Southern Queensland is at Springfield. I commend the work that they do. I know from speaking to university educators, officials and administrators that they are very much of the view that a national approach to regulation and quality assurance is the right way to go. They are supportive of our demand driven proposals. They are also supportive of the increase in student participation and the consequent numbers we have seen. But they are also supportive of a consistency in national standards and regulation because they believe—and I concur—that this will benefit the higher education sector. This approach means our reputation for higher education and training is assured. If we have consistency in standards and regulations, our international competitiveness is protected and enhanced. If you are a student who has graduated from the University of Southern Queensland in Springfield, for example, and you want to work overseas, recognition of, say, your bachelor's degree in business or your qualification in teaching or in some other area gives you the opportunity to work overseas. This enhances your capacity for gainful employment overseas and it also builds on your reputation locally. Global economies continue to adapt to changing requirements; it is a dynamism which we never thought of in the past. These days you can click a button and transfer money across continents. A student can qualify in teaching or physiotherapy here and work overseas in ways that their grandparents and great-grandparents never thought possible. Overseas travel is so common for university students and our young people today that in some countries it is talked about as being OE—overseas experience. Students deserve to have confidence that their bachelor's degree really means something and is acknowledged around the world.

The legislation will ensure students or prospective students will have access to information relating to higher education in this country so that they can make decisions about the quality of university they attend and the quality of the course they undertake. It can help them make decisions about their academic progress and whether they go to a particular university or do a particular degree. Establishing that kind of confidence in the higher education sector is critical in terms of a competitive academic envir­onment, but it does require thoughtful and careful regulation. TEQSA's approach will be proportionate and risk based. Principles in the legislation are focused on three areas: regulatory necessity, so as not to place unreasonable burden on a particular higher education provider; reflecting risk, in that the agency must consider a range of factors when exercising its power; and exercising proportional regulation.

In practice these principles mean that this body is not going to be a dictator; it is going to be a regulator, and that is the difference. It is not going to lord it over the sector like the previous government did when it imposed legislation such as Work Choices on the sector—something that those opposite always forget. With these principles, we think the legislation will go a long way to enhancing high-quality education. TEQSA will operate as an independent body, at arm's length from the government and the minister. The legislation expressly prohibits the minister from giving a direction to a higher education provider, and that is a good and noble thing as well. Of course, TEQSA will give directions free from political interference. The minister can only give directions to TEQSA where that is deemed necessary to protect the integrity of the higher education sector. The agency, TEQSA, has the capacity to register and reregister higher education providers, to accredit and re-accredit courses of study, to conduct assessments, to monitor, to enforce compliance, to investigate actions, to make recommendations to the minister and to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information—all worthy aspirations, good objectives and good functions in the legislation.

I also commend in the legislation the establishment of the Higher Education Standards Panel. Its members will be responsible for developing standards and advising and making recommendations to the minister and to TEQSA. The panel will be independent of TEQSA's governance and will report directly to the minister. The panel members will have a chair and between four and 10 others will be appointed by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations in consultation with the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

The smooth transition to TEQSA is a key priority of this government. The bill provides amendments to existing Commonwealth legislation and transitional measures to ensure the smooth transition of functions from the states and territories to TEQSA. The extensive checks and balances in the bill will ensure that TEQSA considers risk in making regulatory decisions. The establish­ment does not affect the states' and territories' ownership of universities or their capacity to establish universities. Disseminating best practice is also a focus of the national system. TEQSA is all about making the sector better and more competitive; it is about making things simpler, clearer, more streamlined and consistent. It will be important for the higher education sector to meet the standards required by home-grown and overseas students. The legislation is warmly welcomed by the university administrators as well as the universities in my electorate and those across the country. I commend the legislation to the House.

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank all members for their contribution to the debate, and I certainly want to reflect on the remarks made by the member for Blair, who pointed out the approach that the government have taken to make sure that we enable our tertiary students to reach their full potential through their education in our universities.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2001 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Consequential Amendments and Transi­tional Provisions) Bill 2011 establish the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, TEQSA, as a single national regulator and quality assurance agency for Australia's higher education sector. This is a key reform of this government's productivity and participation agenda to transform Australia's higher education system. With a strong focus on higher education participation and attainment, our reforms will bring about significant change to the current landscape of Australian higher education.

TEQSA will play a pivotal role in ensuring the overall quality of our higher education system. It will replace the current state and territory based systems of registration and course accreditation and quality assurance arrangements currently undertaken by the Australian Universities Quality Agency. In doing so, it will reduce the number of federal, state and territory regulatory and quality assurance bodies from nine to one. This will provide for national consistency and efficiency in the registration of all higher education providers. Central to TEQSA are the basic principles of regulation which will ensure it uses a risk based and proportionate approach when undertaking its regulatory activity. These principles provide for TEQSA to take into account the scale, mission and history of each provider when undertaking its regulatory activities. Where poor quality is identified, the action TEQSA will take will depend on the risk of the provider and the seriousness of the contravention.

This is an important piece of legislation for Australia's higher education system. In developing the legislation, the government has benefited from the active engagement of stakeholders within the sector. The government also commends the work of interim TEQSA chair Professor Denise Bradley and interim TEQSA CEO Mr Ian Hawke, who have played an important role in planning for the commencement of the agency.

The introduction of a national system of regulation with the establishment of TEQSA is a critical step towards ensuring that the expansion and diversification of Australia's higher education sector does not come at the expense of quality. It will provide the safeguards to ensure that our students are receiving a quality education and assure the reputation of our higher education system both nationally and internationally. It reflects this government's continued commitment to create a quality higher education system that is diverse, innovative and responsive to the needs of its students.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.