Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government's $2.2 billion cut to universities is equivalent to 9,500 Australians missing out on a university place in 2018 and that number again in 2019. This is an unacceptable hit to Australian students, particularly the young people of Western Sydney and my electorate of Parramatta. The educational attainment gap is pronounced in Western Sydney. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, there's a 31 per cent gap between us and greater Sydney levels. We just enrol at a lesser rate. The impact of these cuts, which are effectively a student cap on the Western Sydney University, will be devastating. Universities Australia Chairwoman Margaret Gardner said the freeze amounted to a 'real cut' in funding, due to inflation, even if universities simply maintain current student numbers. 'And for universities that are still growing their student numbers to meet the needs in their local communities and regional economies, this will be an even deeper cut,' she said.

Let's look at the students who attend Western Sydney University. There are just under 40,000 of them, and 21.7 per cent are of lower socioeconomic status and 60 per cent are the first in their family to attend university. Labor uncapped university places in 2009, and by 2016 an extra 220,000 students around the country had that same opportunity to go to university. This meant 63,186 additional students in New South Wales were able to get a university education, and 2,074 of the additional students were from Parramatta. Because of Labor's policies at the time, the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds was up by 55 per cent, Indigenous student numbers jumped by 89 per cent, enrolments by students with a disability more than doubled and enrolments by students from country areas had grown by 48 per cent. This government's funding cuts mean fewer students from disadvantaged backgrounds getting a tertiary education and fewer kids from Western Sydney going to university. That's why Labor has promised to abolish this government's unfair cap on student places. Almost 200,000 more Australians will benefit from Labor's policy over 12 years.

Western Sydney University is a fantastic university, doing great things to try to close Western Sydney's educational attainment gap—something the government's cuts will hinder. These cuts would reduce WSU's ability to fund critical outreach programs, take part in industry-partnered programs and devote resources to government-partnered programs focused on addressing Western Sydney's pronounced educational equity gap. The flow-on effects to my community would last for years to come, not just for students unable to get a university education but also for employment, innovation and problem solving.

Western Sydney University is an extraordinary place, encouraging new ways of thinking and running programs to solve problems in the community by taking the skills of the university out into the community. It has been at the forefront of stimulating innovation in Western Sydney through start-up incubator and a small- to medium-tech enterprise accelerator. If these programs were cut, it would be an incredible shame, because we're already seeing the benefits of them. It will put an end, really, to Western Sydney's ability to partner with industry and government in proven job creation programs, like, for example, Western Sydney University's co-investment with the Commonwealth in the $30 million Werrington Park Corporate Centre in 2013. Part of the suburban jobs program, this facility brings more than 400 high-value jobs to Penrith in outer Western Sydney, something incredibly important for the region, good for the local economy and good for families that benefit from these really high-skilled jobs.

Western Sydney University also has strategies to prepare the labour market for digital disruption. The university initiates tests and invests in courses that support the changing labour market paradigms. The building across the road from my office is designed to become a thought hub, a place where a community can think, can share its ideas and can recognise its skills deficits and where the university can step in, as they have in many of those new courses, and provide structured training in some of the new job areas.

Now is not the time to cripple our universities' ability to deliver these programs. It's a time to grow. It's a time for our best minds within universities and the community to get together and find ways to position us for the 20 years ahead. But how does a university do that when it faces the kinds of funding cuts that this government has imposed? I strongly urge the government to rethink its funding of universities. I call on the government to reverse its short-sighted, unfair cuts to universities which are closing the door of opportunity to thousands of Australians, including thousands in Western Sydney and in my electorate of Parramatta.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those on the opposite side once again speak with forked tongue. We've heard this all before. It is like there is a pack of Edward Scissorhands on that side of the chamber. All we hear about is cuts, cuts, cuts and cuts. It is not true; it is dishonest and misleading. Every time we hear about cuts from the opposite side, I know automatically that it is not right. Here is the absolute reality: the funding for higher education and research in 2018-19 is $17.5 billion and the following year, in 2019-20, it is $17.9 billion. Even those opposite have to recognise that that is an increase. It is not a decrease, a cut or a reduction; it has gone up. In 2020-21 it's $18.6 billion. In 2021-22 it is $19 billion. Every single year it increases. This is an increase in funding for universities; it is not a decrease. What has been put forward by the opposition is, once again, simple politics—plain and simple. We are providing record levels of funding for education and research, and it is to the advantage of our people, particularly in regional areas.

The University of the Sunshine Coast and Central Queensland University have campuses in my electorate—one in Bundaberg and one at Hervey Bay—and they continue to expand and train local students. I think that is a great advantage. As someone who did a trade first and then went to university in a capital city, simply because there were no offerings locally, I think that is a great advantage for our local regional people. In fact, it's been recognised that where some of these challenges exist we have provided additional funding, such as the announcement recently of another $92.5 million to support more students at five regionally focused universities over the next four years. That's $30.2 million for the Fraser Coast and Caboolture campuses of the University of the Sunshine Coast. That sounds like more money to me! That will result in 150 bachelor places at Fraser Coast, increasing to 210 from 2020 on. They'll get an additional 468 bachelor places in Caboolture. These are all increases.

There was an announcement in recent weeks for a pilot regional deal in my Hinkler electorate, between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. I know the Fraser Coast Regional Council is having discussions with the University of the Sunshine Coast about developing a town centre that includes the university campus. There are opportunities there, across the board, for stronger regional economies and more local jobs, and I'd certainly encourage that to continue. This regional deal provides that opportunity right through the electorate. It does overlay with our very, very tough policy—I admit it is a very tough policy—around the cashless debit card. So while we are looking at social challenges on one hand, we are looking to expand our local economy on the other. This regional pilot provides the opportunity for just that to happen.

As I've said to Bundaberg Regional Council and Fraser Coast, this is not a wish list; this is not a chance for them to stack up billions of dollars worth of requests. We need to ensure that we come up with reasonable projects that can be funded by all three levels of government, and that does include the Queensland Labor state government. They need to do their part, and I acknowledge that they are contributing, through their discussions, at an officials level. I look forward to seeing Jackie Trad or the Premier up in my electorate talking about what we can put together for a regional deal.

But not everyone in this country can go to university, and nor should they. I think there are great advantages for those who do go and do a trade. We have put $245 million on the table for Queensland through the Skilling Australians Fund—$245 million. What did the Premier do? Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: 'No, we don't want $245 million. We don't want to assist up to 50,000 apprentices and trainees in the Hinkler electorate and right throughout Queensland.' We need that money. We need that funding. I have an unemployment rate of above nine per cent; I have a youth unemployment rate in the Wide Bay statistical region of 28 per cent and going up. It is unacceptable. All of these kids would like an opportunity to do a trade, to do a traineeship, to be employed, to have those jobs. The stronger we can make our regional economy, the more there are of those opportunities. But how can the Queensland Premier possibly knock back $245 million of federal funding to help those types of kids who are looking for that opportunity? This is not $5 in the back of your pocket; this is a substantial investment.

Queensland is one of only two states or territories across the country not to sign up to the Skilling Australians Fund. It is disgraceful. I call on the Premier to take the opportunity, and I say: 'It is not about you. It is not about the Labor government. It is about the people we represent, the opportunities we can provide for those children, including mine, who will be looking for work in the years to come.' I call on the Queensland government again to do the right thing.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to support the motion moved by the member for Griffith relating to cuts to university funding. I appreciated the member for Hinkler going through the numbers. What those opposite always do is say, 'If you look from this year to that year, the number gets bigger.' They completely fail to recognise that, firstly, population increases will drive that and, secondly, there may be a thing called inflation, which means that the amount of money and the capacity to utilise that to provide spaces for students is actually decreased if you don't seriously address the funding that's required.

That's exactly what the government has done. There is a $2.2 billion cut to universities across the country. The member for Hinkler talked about the University of the Sunshine Coast. I will leave that to my colleague, the member for Herbert, who I'm sure knows a great deal about regional Queensland, but I would be very, very surprised if any of us who have university campuses in our electorates have got those universities, including the University of the Sunshine Coast, saying: 'There's no cut. There's no problem. We don't have any issue with the government's funding.' I would suggest that it is exactly the opposite.

In my own state, in New South Wales, universities are losing $736 million in funding. In my own seat, the University of Wollongong will lose $51 million in funding. That means that, as the new university year starts after Christmas and students start looking to enrol in university, there will be some hard decisions for those universities on the back of these funding cuts.

I have to say that since this government was first elected, its investment in my university has been fairly poor. I'm very proud that, under Labor governments federally, we saw significant investment in my university that drove opportunities not only for students to study but also for our economy as a regional city to develop and grow, and some great initiatives for working with local businesses. For example, we put just over $25 million into the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre, at the University of Wollongong, which is doing excellent work on renewables—and at the end of my speech I want to talk about a little project that's a great example of that. The Australian Institute for Innovative Materials turned 10 recently, and I celebrated with them; we put $42 million into that institute. We put $35 million into the SMART Infrastructure Facility; and $31 million into the Early Start Research Institute, a great facility in the early education space. We invested in regional universities when we were in government. We have supported students, many of whom, like me, were the first in their family to have that opportunity and go to university. By contrast, under this government we have these cuts that the member for Griffith has, rightly, been so critical of.

The member for Hinkler mentioned the other post-secondary sector. Technical and further education, through our TAFEs; vocational education and training, through our VET providers, particularly through apprenticeships and traineeships; and further education more broadly, where people are looking to get a second chance at learning, are critically important, but the government have cut $3 billion out of that sector over the time they have been in office. And we've seen the result of that. We've seen 140,000 fewer apprenticeships and traineeships available across the country. We now have this very rushed announcement about some sort of review of the sector, led by someone from New Zealand. But he was known as Mr Fix-It and he cut billions from the sector in New Zealand, so I can't help but think that there are more cuts on the way for the sector.

In the small amount of time I have left to speak, I want to mention a group called Team UOW, a joint initiative by the University of Wollongong and TAFE students in my electorate, who competed in the Solar Decathlon Dubai, an international competition. The team designed the Desert Rose House, powered by renewable energies but also dementia friendly. The competition just wound up, and our team came second in the world. Congratulations to all of them. It was a big target because they won the last competition, but second is absolutely wonderful.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is always a pleasure to talk about what those on the other side call cuts. There are words for that: sophistry and equivocation. What they're talking about are blue-sky figures. They do it in health. They do it in education. They mention a cut because, at some time in the not-too-distant past, someone on the other side promised blue-sky figures in all sorts of industries and training. We increased funding in the last budget. We are delivering an increase, from $17½ billion in 2018-19 to $19 billion in 2021-22. That is not a cut. What they are calling a cut is a smaller increase. It is really quite deceptive and misleading.

You've only got to look at the actual figures to see how much funding of the higher education has grown, Mr Deputy Speaker McVeigh. We have the sixth highest spend on higher education in the OECD—that's out of 27 countries. We have, as at the end of last year, 620,000-odd higher education places that are Commonwealth supported. Between HECS, the university sector and the vocational education and training sector, there are huge supports.

Regarding regional and rural education, we realise that tertiary education achievement is a lot lower in regional Australia. We have fought for it long and hard in the National Party and we recently announced a whole package. It will mean that regional and rural universities will get extra funding out of the current funding package. That amounts to over $400 million. The last addition, a $152 million package for regional student access to education, as well as another $45 million for isolated children's education, are all aimed at getting more regional and rural Australians into tertiary education. There's $28 million to fund an extra 500 additional commencing bachelor and sub-bachelor courses in regional and rural tertiary education centres. I have many of them. The University of New England, Charles Sturt University, the University of Newcastle and all the other metropolitan universities have students coming from the Lyne electorate. We have extra money in the budget: $14 million to support an additional 185 places over many years in Commonwealth supported regional study hubs. We're making education accessible.

We have already announced the expansion of end-to-end medical training in undergraduate degrees across the Murray-Darling Basin. That's a massive expansion in medical education. We've got a massive expansion that's been underway for three years for nursing, physiotherapy, all the allied health disciplines and pharmacy across rural and regional Australia. We are really expanding the attainability of a tertiary education degree for regional and rural Australians. But, of those 1½ million people in higher education in the university sector, about 15 per cent don't finish, and we have a skills and trade shortage. We're bringing in people from overseas because we don't have enough technically trained people.

We've just announced the Skilling Australians Fund. It will be funding with the help and the cooperation of the states, if they bother to get on board. We just heard from the member for Hinkler that Queensland are playing hardball. They're playing politics and denying the opportunity for Queensland youth to get an apprenticeship. We are backing people. We have a special rural and regional tranche of scholarships giving a wage subsidy—75 per cent for the first year, 50 per cent for the second year and 25 per cent for the third year—for people on the skills need list, and they have to be in rural and regional Australia. Whether you're going to a regional or a rural university or have a rural or a regional apprenticeship, you will realise that the Commonwealth government is supporting people who want to get into these areas of training. The other side say that we have cut funding. It's absolute nonsense. The figures are there in the budget: $17½ billion in 2018-19 through to $19 million in 2020-21— (Time expired)

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It seems like we could be in parallel universes. Over the last couple of months, many year 12 students in my electorate of Herbert have been enrolling in university. They are enrolling into the degrees that they are passionate about in order to start their future lives. Unfortunately, many of these young people will be forced to enrol in university courses that are away from their home and away from their support systems, families and friends. Thanks to this LNP government, James Cook University has suffered a $36 million cut and Central Queensland University a $38 million cut. These cuts have resulted in 17 job losses at James Cook University, which has decimated the creative arts courses. These cuts have also resulted in Central Queensland University putting a halt on the planning to offer paramedicine and psychology degrees at CQU in Townsville. The LNP government's university cuts put structural disadvantage on regional universities that are trying to give young people in the regions the best chance of developing full-time employment in a career that they are passionate about.

Nationally, the government has ripped $2.2 billion from universities, which means that 9,500 Australians will miss out on a university placement in 2018 and again in 2019. Nine out of 10 jobs created in the coming years will need a university or TAFE qualification, yet this government has ripped $2.2 billion from universities and $3 billion from the TAFE sector. So we will see fewer degrees and diploma placements. This government's short-sighted cuts will only deliver higher unemployment rates and fewer opportunities for people, particularly in rural and regional areas.

To add insult to injury, the government's latest act of vandalism on our universities is to slash research funding in order to lift the cap on regional places. Not only is this another reckless and short-sighted decision, but it also rips funding out of an area that is already grossly underfunded—and that is research. Science, research and innovation funding in real terms has declined by $358 million since 2013.

Labor welcomes any increase to encourage young people to study at a tertiary level; however, we do not support robbing Peter to pay Paul. If this LNP government reversed the $2.2 billion cuts to universities and uncapped places, there would be no need to slash research funding to lift the cap on regional places. Labor uncapped student places in 2009 and, by 2016, had delivered an extra 220,000 students access to a university education. Many of these students were the first in their family to attend university.

When last in government, Labor also invested hundreds of millions of dollars to boost opportunity for university study in communities where graduation rates were low—and, typically, that is rural and regional areas—and it is working. Because of Labor's policies, by 2016 the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds was up by 55 per cent; Indigenous student numbers had jumped by 89 per cent; enrolments by students with disability had more than doubled; and enrolments by students from country areas had grown by 48 per cent. That is why a Shorten Labor government will once again uncap student places so that more Australians from our regions and growing suburbs get a chance at a university education. And we'll support those facing barriers with $174 million in additional funding for equity and pathway programs in areas of Australia with low graduation rates.

Labor will also set up a national inquiry into post-secondary education in our first 100 days of government. This will examine every aspect of vocational and higher education systems to ensure they can best respond to the needs of Australia's economy and society. The number of Australians going to university has increased because of Labor's uncapped uni places, but the cuts and chaos inflicted on universities by the LNP means participation is uneven. Disadvantaged students remain underrepresented, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and students from regional areas like my electorate of Herbert. We want all children to get a quality education that nurtures their individual talents and prepares them for the future.

Labor will always be the party that fights for and delivers proper and adequate funding for all levels of the education system. As a person who taught in the TAFE system for some time and taught trade training, I know firsthand the value of a quality TAFE education—a quality education that enables us to have the best tradespersons in our communities every day.

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Herbert for her contribution. There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.