Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) regional universities:

(i) play an active role in developing regional economies and contributing to the social and cultural development of their regions; and

(ii) act as an anchor for investment and workforce development;

(b) education is a major driver of economic development in regional Australia and should not be seen in isolation from other regional economic development issues;

(c) one of the biggest threats to the sustainability of rural communities is a declining population of young people;

(d) regional universities will educate the future regional workforce;

(e) students who study in regional areas are more likely to stay in regional areas after they graduate;

(f) the Regional Universities Network reports about three-quarters of those who study at regional universities stay in the regions to work and, by contrast, students who leave their communities to take up university studies in major cities are much less likely to return after graduating; and

(g) the measures in the Government's Higher Education Reform Package do not adequately consider the role of regional universities in educating the future workforce in regional communities and driving regional development; and

(2) calls on the Government to develop a National Regional Higher Education Strategy that:

(a) considers the role of regional universities in educating the future workforce in regional communities and driving regional development; and

(b) ensures regional higher education is prioritised and remains a focus of future governments.

I am pleased to speak to this motion calling on the government to develop a national regional higher education strategy. As all regional MPs know, regional universities do more than educate—they are a critical player in workforce planning; they are a driver of economic growth and development; they are key employers; they innovate; they inspire; they act as major attractors to young people; and they can make the difference between economic survival and the totally undesirable alternative. However to ensure regional higher education is prioritised and remains a focus for federal governments beyond today, we must have a long-term commitment which is coordinated and has bipartisan support. We must have a national strategy.

In my community, access to high quality tertiary education is a recognised priority. In a post-budget survey of more than 1,000 people across the electorate held in May this year, 92 per cent of respondents identified education as their top priority. Regional universities demonstrate that access to high quality tertiary education does more than educate the future workforce in regional communities; they play a central role in the economic, social and cultural development of the regions and, consequently, the nation.

Over the past year I have worked really closely with La Trobe University and Charles Sturt University in my electorate and the Regional Universities Network. They also agree that we need a strategic approach to the future. I say to my friends on the government side: can you work with me on this? All the regional MPs in this place know that high-quality tertiary education is a major driver of economic development and should not be seen in isolation from other regional development issues. I want to acknowledge my parliamentary colleague Senator McKenzie and the leadership role she has played to progress this. In the government's regional 2030 statement they have said they want to build the kind of sustainable regional communities our children and grandchildren either want to stay in or come back to. This will mean thinking beyond the next election. To address this need, the government established the Regional Australia Ministerial Taskforce in March. We were told that a cross-portfolio task force was the best way to implement good regional policy, and that the task force would focus on closing the gap between the bush and the city, in terms of health, education and infrastructure, and would continue to invest in rural, regional and remote Australia.

But central to good regional policy is a recognition of the workforce and economic development requirements of the community. This is underpinned by TAFEs and universities. The Regional Universities Network, RUN, reports that about three-quarters of those who study at regional universities stay in the regions to work. Conversely, students who leave their communities to take up university studies in major cities are much less likely to return home after graduating. A national strategy would support the role of regionally based higher education providers in creating diverse and resilient regional economies, and take into consideration other relevant policies and programs.

The Commonwealth Department of Education is currently conducting an independent review into regional, rural and remote education, and their discussion paper tells us that it will consider key challenges and barriers that impact on students' learning outcomes, including transitions towards the future regarding study, training and employment. But there is a missing piece in this discussion paper; this review does not address regional universities and those who choose to study there. This seems inconsistent with the government's decentralisation agenda, and, notably, the government's decision to relocate the APVMA to Armidale, with one of the key election criteria for the new office being that it is within a 10-kilometre radius of the University of New England.

In closing, I want to reflect on the words from today's editorial in my local paper, Albury-Wodonga's The BorderMail:

… larger regional centres, such as Albury-Wodonga, have benefited from a university presence. In the Border’s case, it has had the added plus of go-ahead TAFE colleges – especially in Wodonga.

The editorial cites Charles Sturt University and La Trobe University, and continues:

… all must be done to ensure there is no attempt to water-down these universities at a time when their commitment is to expand in order to even better serve regional areas.

Our universities rightly deserve ongoing, long-term support because they fill a role that will never be matched by the nation’s ivy league club.

That is why it is so important we have strong regional universities. Tonight, I'm saying to the government: pay attention to the regions. The way forward that I see is to have a national strategy that has long-term bipartisan support and delivers the students, the economy and the cultural changes we need.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for this motion?

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Indi for bringing this motion before the parliament. It gives me an opportunity to discuss the coalition's electoral commitment of $15.2 million from 2017-18 to 2020-21 to establish up to six regional study hubs across Australia.

In the electorate of Grey we have the Upper Spencer Gulf region, consisting of three small cities—Whyalla, Port Pirie and Port Augusta—with a combined population of about 50,000 people, plus the rural catchment. In total, there are perhaps 70,000 people—an ideal number to establish a regional study hub. A considerable amount of work has already been done by the Upper Spencer Gulf Common Purpose Group on a proposal similar to the Community Owned Tertiary Education Campus—COTEC—at Geraldton, which I know you are very much aware of, Madam Deputy Speaker Price, and the one in Cooma. A delegation from the Upper Spencer Gulf has visited Geraldton.

It's important to note that currently UniSA have a regional campus in Whyalla. The courses available have been expanded in recent years, and I thank UniSA for their interest and support. It's important that whatever we do does not negatively impact on them. There are a huge range of degrees, trades and diplomas that a co-tech facility could deliver without impacting on UniSA, and that is certainly my intention. UniSA currently delivers foundation studies, an Aboriginal pathways program, business, education—early childhood and primary teaching degrees—engineering, nursing and social work studies.

The South Australian Tertiary Education Centre, or SATEC, tell us that there are 2½ thousand enrolments from the Upper Spencer Gulf region each year in the university sector. All kinds of reasons exist to enrol on campus but, equally, there are all kinds of reasons not to enrol on campus: the cost of relocation; family, including parental responsibilities; and emotional insecurity. And some people just don't like living in the city. I know that's hard to believe, but it is the truth. Some people don't like living in the city. More information from SATEC tells us that those who enrol in online courses that offer face-to-face support have completion rates better than 80 per cent. Comparatively, of those who enrol in online courses that do not have that support, fewer than 20 per cent complete their courses. What a waste of time and resources! It shows how much difference face-to-face support can make, and that's what the proposed facility can provide.

The city-country divide is always an issue for us. In urban Australia 31 per cent of the population have completed degrees. In regional Australia, that figure is 15 per cent. The average level of those holding qualifications above certificate level in South Australia is 23 per cent. In the Upper Spencer Gulf this figure is just 11 per cent. This is a serious deficit, and it needs to be addressed. Our regions hold great promise and are essential to the success of South Australia and Australia. We need to unlock our potential. The time is right. A combination of events has lifted the pall that has hung over the Upper Spencer Gulf in recent times. Nyrstar are close to commissioning a new multimetal processing facility in Port Pirie. OZ Minerals has announced the go-ahead of the Carrapateena project. There'll be 1,000 jobs there. BHP, at Olympic Dam, is ramping up production and has announced a shop local campaign. The federal government is backing solar thermal concentrated with storage in Port Augusta. Defence is investing strongly in Cultana and Woomera. And perhaps the biggest of all is the completion of the sale of Arrium assets to Mr Sanjeev Gupta, with the facility in Whyalla now called Liberty OneSteel.

Since the resources crash, local employers have shied away from taking on apprentices and trainees. That's understandable. During the slowdown, older, experienced workers took packages and retired. That's also understandable. There is an increasing concern as to where our skilled workers will come from for this surge of investment that is almost upon us. Time is of the essence. The quicker we get started on this project, the quicker we can offer cost-competitive opportunities to start the supply of skilled workers that we will need. The Upper Spencer Gulf proposal focuses on the strengths and existing assets. It offers a new option for our TAFE facilities, sadly neglected and underutilised by the South Australian government. They have the sites and buildings, and with cooperation we can utilise the unused capacity. It's planned that the facility will provide that space to work in and that qualified locals will be sourced to provide tutorial support. However, registered trainers and education providers will provide the course content and award qualifications. I will fully back their submission when it arrives.

Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for bringing forward this very important matter of regional universities for debate. Universities play a critical role in regional Australia, and I am a beneficiary of one of them. They are an active presence in regional communities, providing pathways to a tertiary education that would otherwise not be available. In my electorate, having a local presence is absolutely vital when you consider the disproportionate number of people engaged in higher education in regional areas. The Torrens University publication Social Health Atlases of Australia states that Braddon school leaver participation in higher education, at an average of 18.58 per cent, is lower than the Tasmanian average of 29.2 per cent and the Australian average of 31.3 per cent. More needs to be done, but I am heartened by the commitment by the University of Tasmania to retaining the Cradle Coast campus in my electorate, in Burnie. The Cradle Coast campus offers full degrees plus, now, associate degrees for a wide range of courses. Currently there are around 800 students enrolled. The Cradle Coast campus also offers a range of opportunities for course and research-based postgraduate study, located at the Cradle Coast campus, directly related to local industry needs. This includes PhDs in agricultural science through the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture and in regional development through the Institute for Regional Development.

To build on this work, I was also pleased that during the 2016 election campaign the Leader of the Opposition committed $150 million to the UTAS Northern Transformation Project. The proposal includes new research and teaching facilities in Launceston and a new learning centre in Burnie at the Cradle Coast campus. It will offer even more opportunities for regional students and more study options. UTAS estimates the project will draw more than 12,000 new students and create 3,100 jobs.

It is somewhat telling that the Prime Minister was dragged kicking and screaming to match Labor's commitment in the dying days of the election campaign. When you look at what the coalition is trying to do to higher education for regional students, it is easy to understand why there was such a delay. The coalition just does not get it. First, there were the $100,000 degrees and massive cuts under the former Prime Minister that would have hit regional students the hardest. This Prime Minister is no better. He is trying to impose a $4 billion cut to universities, increase student fees and reduce the payment threshold for HELP.

Overall, these cuts mean approximately $51.3 million will be lost from the University of Tasmania. These cuts could see the end of the highly successful Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program, or HEPPP, which was introduced by Labor. The Liberals and Nationals have already cut nearly $200 million from the HEPPP program. Under Labor, HEPPP increased Indigenous student numbers by 26 per cent and regional student numbers by 30 per cent, and supported more than 36,000 extra students from low-income families to attend university. I recently read that the Group of Eight, which used 30 per cent of its HEPPP funding for outreach into regional areas, could also be under threat.

Former UTAS vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen has previously been on the public record as saying that these cuts to UTAS could threaten the future of regional campuses. What sort of madness is it when decisions of this government potentially threaten the viability of regional campuses like Cradle Coast? What sort of madness is it when the government is prepared to invest $150 million in UTAS infrastructure for the Northern Transformation Project, but at the same time threaten its viability and potentially starve students of the opportunity to attend? The Turnbull government has clearly lost the plot when it comes to supporting universities in regional areas. Cutting funding, axing programs, putting up fees and reducing the payment threshold for HELP all combine to make it harder for regional students to obtain a higher education.

Rather than continue to cut in the mould of his predecessor, the Prime Minister should look to Labor. We introduced the demand-driven funding system that saw more than 190,000 additional places for university, many in regional areas. Opportunities for regional students grew under Labor. Under the coalition, they will most certainly shrink. It is time those opposite, especially from the regions, followed Labor's lead.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for bringing this matter before the parliament. She very accurately reflects the fact that, for regional areas, the presence and activities of our universities are very significant to us. In my own area, the University of Wollongong is a world-class provider of education and research, and that is critically important. But, just as importantly to us as a region, it's also a major employer—in fact, it's one of the top five employers in our region now. It's a place of a significant number of small businesses, in terms of the sorts of facilities that are provided there. It's a partner with many other industries and businesses in developing emerging opportunities in our region to make sure that innovation and new opportunities are grasped across the region.

That's reflected in the fact the university produced a report called Leading locally, competing globally: measuring the University of Wollongong's contribution to economic and social prosperity. This was a review of the 2015 year and a look at how the university contributed to the local and, indeed, national economic effort. Interestingly, that report showed that the total direct, indirect and induced economic contribution to GDP in 2015 by the university was $1.2 billion. The direct contribution to the Illawarra, in value-added terms, was $573 million. That was an increase of 7.7 per cent since it was last looked at in 2011. So the member for Indi is absolutely accurate when she talks about the fact that our regional universities are major drivers of economic activity in our regions. That's why we're so passionate about seeing them continue to prosper and grow.

I will just give a few examples from that report about the sorts of activities the university contributes to which are transforming our region and driving a significant economic transformation in the Illawarra. In particular, the $600 million Innovation Campus is an award-winning research, innovation and commercial precinct. It has a number of research entities there. These institutions work across things like intelligent, innovative materials, regenerating damaged human nerves, the development of superconductors to make energy transmission more efficient, new techniques for sustainable building design and areas of maritime law and security. Several multinational and national companies are resident at that campus, strongly engaged with the university, such as NEC Australia and TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. About 1,500 people work just at that campus, and the employment is expected to pass 5,000 in the next five to 10 years.

The university also works through the iAccelerate Centre to set up new businesses. It's an incubator program, the first of its kind in Australia, putting together mentoring and education programs. Already it has supported 65 start-up companies, creating 143 jobs. Nine companies have had new product launches, and six companies have expanded their international presence. Really importantly to me, 47 per cent of the start-up companies have female co-founders. In the innovation and start-up sector, that is a pretty amazing outcome which the university have specifically worked to achieve.

They're also working with our existing industry sectors to help them become more innovative and to have a future. The innovative manufacturers in the regions have joined with the university researchers to form the Southern Manufacturing Innovation Group, which is 13 Illawarra based manufacturers. It's using innovation by collaborating between the businesses and the university researchers. It is a great initiative.

I'm pleased to report that steel is also still going strong. Of course, the original BHP, now BlueScope, was a very significant founder of the university. There are still research hubs operating between the university and BlueScope in order to develop pathways to get new products to market. The member for Indi is absolutely right: the government needs to understand the significance of our regional universities and to back them.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I'm on duty and it gave me great pleasure when I came in here to see the topic of conversation put forward by the honourable member for Indi was national regional higher education. Being a proud regional seat holder myself in Queensland, where the largest contributor to GDP in my electorate is agriculture, I thought it would be fitting that I make a contribution to the debate. Within the boundaries of my electorate is none other than the UQ's Gatton Campus, which produces for Queensland and the eastern seaboard the vast majority of vets going into the agricultural sector for large equines and other large animals. They've got some amazing programs there.

Additionally to that, in Toowoomba we have the USQ Toowoomba Campus, we have the Springfield Campus—which is, again, a USQ campus—and we have the Gold Coast campus. I'm on the border of Griffith and on the border of Bond University, so there's a lot of overflow of my seniors. When I take headshots from my students when I'm speaking to them, I ask how many are going to university, how many are going to trades and how many are going home. Each year I have seen the numbers grow exponentially, from around 20 per cent to now 40 per cent of my senior students taking the position that they will go to university. The reason they want to go to university is that our evidence tells us that those children who are educated in the university system, over their working life, will generate, on average, an extra $1 million. That's a great incentive for them to go to work.

I firstly thank the member for Indi for bringing this topic to the House, because it is such an important issue. I want to share with you some intricacies of my own life. When I left school I had an entrepreneurial flair. I started my own business. I bought some trucks, I bought some more trucks and then I bought many trucks. I had 14 depots around the state and I employed 105 people, so I never had the opportunity to go to university. I was, by any stretch of the imagination, well off in the way of finances, but there was something that burned for me. I thought less of myself because I had not been to university. Recently, whilst I was in the position of Chief Government Whip, I started a masters program. I'm just about on the home straight. It is so difficult to be a member, to work in your electorate, to have the commitments that you have in you life, to be in this place and to study. When everybody else is going home to bed, you're out there trying to bash out assignments. It is a challenge.

I wanted to make a contribution to the debate tonight because I think that university gives you that couple of letters after your name and allows you to make a contribution to a debate where you are seen as an equal. By any stretch of the imagination my balance sheets would've been superior to most in any conversation, but I felt that I was lacking because I didn't have that university degree. I'm out having a crack. I've got a bet with my daughter. She's studying at USQ, doing her environmental science degree. I've got a bet with her that I'm going to finish before she does. I suggest that I probably won't. It'll be an amazing bottle of Penfolds that I have to depart with, along with a trip around the world and 12 months worth of wages. It was a substantial bet.

I will come back to what I alluded to earlier on in my speech, which is that in my electorate the largest contributor to GDP is agriculture. The advances that are coming out of our technology and out of our universities are revolutionising the way that we do business. There is satellite tracking in John Deere tractors. They virtually no longer need a driver, but you sit there so that they've got someone listening to the radio in the cab. Those tractors will do the most perfect line. They will actually do sampling in a paddock and drop the right amount of fertiliser behind you to make sure that you get your optimum yields. Our growers, because they have access to the UQ Gatton Campus, are embracing technology. I would just like to, in my closing comments, thank the member for Indi for bringing this to the House.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order for the next day of sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:14