Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a supplementary explanatory memorandum to the bill. I ask leave of the House to move government amendments (1) to (16) as circulated together.

Leave is granted.

I move amendments (1) to (16) as circulated together:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (after table item 3), insert:

(2) Clause 2, page 2 (table item 4), omit the table item, substitute:

(3) Page 14 (after line 4), after Schedule 2, insert:

Schedule 2A—The FEE -HELP limit

Higher Education Support Act 2003

1 Paragraph 104 -20(a)

Omit "$80,000", substitute "$104,440".

2 Paragraph 104 -20(b)

Omit "$100,000", substitute "$150,000".

3 Transitional—indexation

Despite anything in subsection 198-10(1) of the Higher Education Support Act 2003, the FEE-HELP limit is not to be indexed on 1 January 2019.

(4) Schedule 3, item 54, page 27 (line 4), at the end of section 128-7, add:

; and (c) amounts previously re-credited to the person's HELP balance (including repayments of HELP debts).

(5) Schedule 3, item 54, page 27 (line 19), after "Subdivision 104-B of this Act,", insert "section 128-25 of this Act,".

(6) Schedule 3, item 54, page 27 (line 33), omit "1 January 2019", substitute "1 January 2020".

(7) Schedule 3, item 54, page 27 (line 34), omit "paragraph (1) (a)", substitute "subparagraphs (1) (a) (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv)".

(8) Schedule 3, item 54, page 28 (line 6), omit "$104,440", substitute "the amount that would have been the FEE-HELP limit under repealed paragraph 104-20(a) on 1 January 2020 if it were assumed that section 104-20 had not been repealed, and section 198-5 had not been amended, by the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Act 2018".

(9) Schedule 3, item 54, page 28 (line 10), omit "$150,000", substitute "the amount that would have been the FEE-HELP limit under repealed paragraph 104-20(b) on 1 January 2020 if it were assumed that section 104-20 had not been repealed, and section 198-5 had not been amended, by the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability) Act 2018".

(10) Schedule 3, item 54, page 28 (after line 11), at the end of Part 3-6, add:

128 -25 Re -crediting HELP balance—discharge of HELP debt etc.

(1) If, during:

(a) the financial year starting on 1 July 2019; or

(b) a later financial year;

a payment was made in discharge of the whole or a part of a debt that a person owes to the Commonwealth under Chapter 4, the *Commissioner must:

(c) notify the payment to the Secretary; and

(d) do so as soon as practicable after the end of that financial year.

Note 1: The payment may be a voluntary repayment.

Note 2: The payment may be in the form of the application of an amount against the debt.

(2) If the Secretary is so notified, the Secretary must re-credit the person's *HELP balance with an amount equal to the amount of the payment.

(11) Schedule 3, item 144, page 38 (line 19), omit "1 January 2019", substitute "1 January 2020".

(12) Schedule 3, item 145, page 38 (line 21), omit "1 January 2019", substitute "1 January 2020".

(13) Schedule 3, item 145, page 38 (line 29), omit "1 January 2019", substitute "1 January 2020".

(14) Schedule 3, item 146, page 39 (line 2), omit "1 January 2019", substitute "1 January 2020".

(15) Schedule 3, item 146, page 39 (line 10), omit "1 January 2019", substitute "1 January 2020".

(16) Schedule 3, item 147, page 39 (lines 13 to 16), omit the item, substitute:

147 Transitional—indexation

Despite anything in subsection 198-10(1) of the Higher Education Support Act 2003, the HELP loan limit is not to be indexed on 1 January 2020.

I move a government amendment to allow for renewable loan balances from 1 January 2020. This amendment arises out of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee inquiry into this bill. In its majority report, the Senate committee recommended that the bill be passed. In doing so, the committee further recommended that the government consider amending schedule 3 of the bill to introduce a renewable limit on outstanding HELP debts rather than a lifetime limit. The government listened and responded.

The introduction of an amendment to make the lifetime limit a renewable loan limit enables interested students to pursue lifelong learning. It provides scope for individuals whose HELP debt repayments for an income year have replenished their HELP loan balance to reborrow those funds. This will enable them to pursue further study in order to retrain, change careers or further specialise in their current profession. The increased FEE-HELP loan limits for students studying medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses will still apply from 1 January 2019. The limit on combined HELP balances, including HECS-HELP loans for the first time, will commence from 1 January 2020. The renewable component of the combined loan balance will also commence from 1 January 2020. This is to allow for essential systems enhancements in the transfer of loan and loan repayment data between the Department of Education and Training and the Australian Taxation Office.

I thank members for their contributions to this important debate about the sustainability of Australia's generous and highly effective student loans. I commend the bill.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Preventing Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor will not oppose the government's amendment to change the borrowing cap proposal from a one-off limit to a replenishable limit. I should say that although this amendment improves a poor bill, Labor continues to have concerns about the proliferation of full-fee degrees which cost more than $100,000 in the higher education sector in Australia. Extending borrowing amounts could lead to students taking on a very high amount of debt. More needs to be done to ensure that universities and higher education providers do not charge very high fees for courses.

Labor support in principle the idea of a price signal, but we are concerned that universities may continue to charge up to and above the borrowing limit. As the Senate inquiry on this bill demonstrated, there are too many students who must already find ways to cover the gap between tuition fees and the current FEE-HELP limit. It's not good enough that students have to resort to applying for special bursaries or asking their families for loans. Labor wants an accessible higher education system that supports lifelong learning. This could not be more important as the economy changes and the labour market changes. We support a system that allows students to defer fees, but we don't want to see the rise of American-style commercial student loans.

Experts have told us that students from poorer backgrounds are more debt averse. Higher fees for postgraduate or further study will deter poorer students from enrolling in these courses. As we become a highly skilled, knowledge based economy we will need to increase participation in post-secondary education. Labor will look at the loans system as well as price signals as part of our national inquiry into the post-secondary education system should we win government. All students across post-secondary education should be treated equitably, and they should all have the opportunity to develop the range of skills they'll need for a lifetime of work.

Australia should invest in education for the benefit of the economy and for the benefit of individuals and households. As I said at the outset, this amendment improves what was a very poor bill. We won't be opposing the amendment but we will continue to oppose this legislation, just as we have every single one of the Liberals' and Nationals' sets of attacks on higher education in this country. We opposed full fee deregulation. We opposed the 20 per cent cuts to public funding for universities. We opposed the 7½ per cent increase for student fees. We opposed the funding cut that went with that 7½ per cent student fee increase. We opposed the further funding cut on top of that 7½ per cent cut. We opposed the attempt last time to increase the HECS repayment threshold to $42,000. We oppose today the attempt to reduce it to $45,000. We are gravely concerned about the attacks by the Liberal-Nationals government on higher education in this country. They will have ramifications for higher education, not just as an important service export but as the pillar of our society that it is, in terms of creating the skills and knowledge that people will need for the jobs of the future, of giving people the opportunity to hold those jobs and of improving our economy, as well as mitigating against ever-increasing inequality.

As I say, while we will not oppose this amendment, we continue to hold grave concerns about the Liberals' and Nationals' attacks on higher education in this country.

Question agreed to.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question now is that this bill as amended be agreed to.