Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Education is the cornerstone when it comes to building a better life. Equity in education is vital to make sure all Australians have the same opportunities. In an egalitarian nation, education should not be about the haves and the have-nots; education should be for everyone. It is the great transformational social policy. It is one of the reasons I became a teacher many years ago, with 11 years of teaching English, geography, history—yes, it is a noble profession—and that is why the Albanese government is removing the discount for people who can pay their HECS-HELP fees up front. This initiative amends provisions to remove the 10 per cent discount on upfront payments made by HECS-HELP students. This will ensure that all students pay the same amount for the same courses, regardless of their ability or their parents's ability to pay up front. This is a commitment that the government took to the last election and we are now delivering on our promise. It is a pretty simple electoral contract that we have: we make a promise, we take it to the election and then in government we carry it out.

This upfront discount was reintroduced by Prime Minister Morrison on 1 January 2021, not that long ago. It allowed students who have the financial capacity to pay up front for all part of their contribution to get that discount. I'm not sure how this is fair or equitable to differentiate the amount students pay for their course, based on how much money they or their parents have. So, in essence, this meant that someone who was fortunate enough to have the financial support from a parent, grandparent or family member, gets a financial head start compared to someone who doesn't. The removal of this unfair discount will promote equality so students will pay the same amount for the same degree—equal education for all.

With the removal of the discount set to take effect on 1 January next year, it's projected to save $144 million over the forward estimates. These savings will help to fund the extra 20,000 new university places that the Albanese government announced that it will make available. It was pleasing to hear Minister Clare state that these extra 20,000 university places have been allocated to support students who are currently underrepresented in our universities. I remind you about who those are: students from poorer families, students from regional Australia, First Nations students, Australians with a disability and students who are the first in their family to ever set foot in a university.

Could I give a bit of a shout-out to the people from my year 12 class from 40 years ago, in 1982. It doesn't seem that long ago, but it was 40 years ago. We're actually getting together at the end of this month to celebrate our class. I came from the little country town of St George, where not many people did go to university. If we can give that little bit of a boost to kids in the bush, I know it's something that many in the National Party would appreciate. I will repeat again that education is the cornerstone of building a better life. It certainly gave me many opportunities in life. I look forward to finding out what the people from St George State High School who graduated in 1982 are getting up to in their life when we catch up at the Aussie hotel later on this month. Education should be available to every Australian, no matter their financial position or their postcode.

Another important part of this amendment is the extension of FEE-HELP loan fee exemptions. The FEE-HELP loan fee was initially waived as a COVID-19 relief measure. That started in April 2020 and ceased on 31 December last year. The Albanese government understands that there are still plenty of students who weren't able to work to support their study, and this extension of the exemption until 31 December this year will help them out greatly. This extension is expected to help around 30,000 undergraduate students who access FEE-HELP to continue their studies. The loan fee exemption will be automatically applied for student loans submitted by a provider to the department after the passage of this legislation. Loans made for units of study with census dates between 1 January this year and the commencement of the measure will be adjusted accordingly. Whilst we, as a rule, are against retrospectivity, on this occasion it's a good thing.

Another major addition to this bill allows students undertaking microcredential courses, as part of the Australian government's microcredential pilot, to be eligible for FEE-HELP. Microcredentialing is a modern educational trend that's perfect for today, with short, sharp courses fast-skilling the workers that businesses need right now. With the current worker shortages in basically every industry, in every region, in every street and in every town in Australia right now, microcredential courses allow people who may work broadly in a particular industry to quickly attain new skills to meet demands or to get that promotion. It is also great for people looking to re-enter the workforce in a new industry to gain the relevant skills to do so.

What this bill will do is amend the provisions of the Higher Education Support Act that relate to FEE-HELP eligibility to allow these microcredentialing students to be eligible for FEE-HELP. The larger microcredential pilot program encourages universities to deliver and develop new courses to help build a more highly skilled workforce through more flexible and industry focused models of higher education.

We want to have a robust and skilled workforce of Australians ready to engage in work in new industries and industries of the future. This financial assistance through FEE-HELP will help us build it through microcredential courses.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16:43 to 16:5 7

Deputy Speaker Chesters, long time no see. An additional component of this amendment before the chamber is the better use of unique student identifiers, or USIs, within the tertiary education sector. Since 2021 higher education students have been required to have a USI to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance; however, there was not a requirement for students to provide their USI to their higher education provider or the secretary of the Department of Education, and this has meant that providers, who are required to report students' USIs to the department, have had difficulties complying with the reporting requirements, as they have experienced difficulties in actually collecting that data from their students. This of course has impacted the broader policy aim of the USI to be used as a student identifier right across the tertiary education sector.

This amendment addresses this issue directly by clearly linking the student's provision of a valid USI for eligibility to Commonwealth assistance with a requirement to provide this to the provider or the department. This may simply be a technical change, but it's a change that will make life much easier for the tertiary education sector, and it needs all the help it can get at the moment. This is a change requested by higher education providers and this change was drafted after feedback was received by the department. This is an excellent example of the Albanese government listening to and working with stakeholders to achieve good outcomes for everyone.

This amendment will also introduce consistency across the citizenship and residency requirements for New Zealand citizens accessing Commonwealth assistance. It will introduce the requirement for New Zealand citizens to be resident in Australia for the duration of the unit of study to be eligible for HECS-HELP assistance and FEE-HELP assistance for that unit. Right now, under existing arrangements, New Zealand students are able to undertake study outside of Australia while accessing our FEE-HELP scheme. This flies contrary to the policy intention, which is that New Zealand citizens who want to access Commonwealth assistance should be residents of Australia while studying.

As a government, we also understand that sometimes life throws up some challenging circumstances for everyone, and students aren't immune to the challenges of day-to-day life. That's why this amendment provides exclusions for residency requirements for the entirety of a study unit, where a student had intended to reside in Australia but, through something like COVID, where travel restrictions applied, they weren't resident—so we don't want to punish them, basically, for wanting to study in Australia. Current students will not be affected by this change, as this measure will apply only to students seeking Commonwealth assistance in relation to a unit of study with a census date on or after 1 January next year.

The bill also makes other amendments to the Higher Education Support Act to clarify and improve its operation. It clarifies arrangements about enabling courses. Enabling courses help prepare students for higher education study, like a bachelor's degree. The measures in this bill clarify that these enabling courses will not count towards a student's lifetime limit of Commonwealth support.

Another minor and technical change contained in the bill is to improve the operation of the Higher Education Support Act, clarifying provisions dealing with higher education providers' obligations to repay the Commonwealth in certain situations. There are also minor and technical amendments being made to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act, the TEQSA Act. These changes deal with the compliance with the tuition protection requirements as a condition of registration for certain registered higher education providers. The providers affected are those which are subject to part 5A of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act. As with the changes to the unique student identifier, TEQSA were consulted about this change and are supportive of the amendments before the chamber.

Returning to the core of this bill: it's about meeting the human right to have equity of access to education. It recognises the important personal, societal, economic and intellectual benefits of education and how this access helps change lives.

The removal of the 10 per cent discount for paying upfront levels the playing field for many Australians who simply can't afford to pay all or some of their tuition upfront. It just isn't right to, in essence, charge someone more for the same opportunities simply because they lack the financial resources to pay upfront or don't have wealthy-enough parents. Again, I want to thank education minister Clare for making sure the savings from this change will go to assist more First Nations people, people with a disability, students from poorer families and students from regional Australia—from country towns like St George—who will have the opportunity to access tertiary education. I recommend the bill to the House.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition, as you're aware, Deputy Speaker Chesters, is supportive of this particular bill, the Education Legislation Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022, especially given that it delivers measures announced by the coalition in the 2021-22 MYEFO budget update. The measures extend the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption for students and enable eligible students studying microcredentials to defer their tuition fees to FEE-HELP.

Other measures in the bill include strengthening the unique student identifier requirements, aligning Commonwealth assistance eligibility requirements for New Zealand citizens, and minor and technical amendments. The bill will also make minor and technical amendments to section 26A of the TEQSA Act, which deals with the compliance with the tuition protection requirements as a condition of registration.

As to the VET FEE-HELP loan exemption, this measure within the bill extends that loan fee from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, encouraging students who have access to FEE-HELP who have been financially impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to commence or continue their study in 2022. This is expected to assist approximately 30,000 undergraduate students—a really important measure. The FEE-HELP eligibility for microcredentials also allows students undertaking microcredentials delivered as part of the Australian government's microcredentials pilot to be eligible for FEE-HELP.

There have been changes to the New Zealand citizen requirement too. As the previous speaker discussed, there is a requirement for students to provide their unique student identifier to be eligible for help or assistance and to study as a Commonwealth-supported student. There are also minor and technical amendments to the HESA Act and to the TEQSA Act contained in this bill. There is the removal of the 10 per cent HECS-HELP discount for upfront payments of student contribution amounts. I would note at this point that the current HECS debt in Australia sits at $52.7 billion.

The last budget of the coalition government committed almost $20 billion towards higher education as part of our record $115.1 billion in total government funding for universities between 2019 and 2024. There was $95.2 billion in teaching and learning, and $19.8 billion in research. In the 2021 budget we funded an additional 30,000 places as part of 100,000 more places over the decade. We have a very strong commitment to rural and regional education and saw this very directly in so many ways. I make no apology for focusing on rural and regional, given they are the people I represent.

I look back to some of the issues that we on this side had to deal with during our time. I remember when Labor was in government and the then minister for education excluded inner regional students from access to youth allowance, which had a massive impact in my region and right around more of the inner regional areas around Australia. This was a really serious issue for young students who could not get access to and could not afford to go to university and follow their dreams. It was something that we fought very hard on.

While in government, we also committed to regional education through the regional university centres to help students in regional areas access higher education in situ, essentially where they were living or could get to, which is another really important issue in Western Australia. We had three of these, the Great Southern University Centre, the Geraldton University Centre and the Pilbara University Centre as well. I officially opened the one in Albany and saw firsthand how important this is to these young people in the region who were looking to improve their skills and improve their opportunities in life, not just in education. We increased this funding over time and also included funding for additional supported places for students being supported by the centres. That was a really important part of what we were delivering into the regional and more remote parts of Australia. They are doing just a fabulous job. Talking to the students there, I listened to their stories about the opportunities that they had that they never thought they would have, especially to be able to stay in Albany and follow their educational opportunities. This is very important given the disparity between the opportunities for higher education that young people face in rural and regional areas.

The Rural Clinical School is also a very important part of trying to not only give young people from our region the opportunity to become a GP or something similar but also to bring people from Perth or from a city area to spend time in a regional community as part of their study. Hopefully, more of them would come back and live and work. We have a shortage of rural doctors and this was part of our approach to get more clinical representation in the regions. I have met so many of those students.

Equally, the tertiary access payment we introduced from 1 January was made available for students who live in rural and regional Australia to help them with the costs of moving to study. They were payments of $3,000 to $5,000, depending on where the family home was situated. Inner regional areas were $3,000, and outer regional—places like Scott River and Warner Glen in my part of the world—that was really important. It's the small things that matter when you get two parents with kids who want to go to higher education working their hearts out so their kids can get the opportunity. I remember back to the fight over youth allowance when I met a mum in a supermarket who said to me: 'I have to decide which one of my children can go, and I have five.' If there was ever some wind beneath my wings to fight hard for rural and regional people that certainly caused it.

Tertiary access payments also helped to overcome the financial barriers that young students from regional and more remote areas face. There is an additional cost to living away from home. We've done several inquiries in this space. It can be anything from $20,000 up, over and above, plus these young people have to live away from their families and the people who support them while they're doing that. The research and evidence shows that if you live in a rural or regional area you're 50 per cent less likely to have a university degree by the age of 35 than if you live in the city, because people in the city have direct access. This really is an important opportunity that we keep giving young people who live in regional areas.

I worked hard to get a university department of rural health into ECU, Edith Cowan University, in Bunbury, in my electorate. We are so short of allied health workers, not only the GPs I referred to through the rural clinical school but also allied health workers. I fought hard for this one because it is so important for our region. We have a very fast growing region. It is very, very attractive to people who are retiring and who choose our part of the world to spend their years in retirement. But that increases the demand not only for GPs and specialists but also for allied health workers. We really need to train more of those people in situ so they stay with us. So many of the people I meet love what they do. They love looking after our more senior citizens or even just being in the health system. For them be able to have this training at ECU in Bunbury is fantastic for the South West. I was so pleased to be able to get this over the line. Edith Cowan will prove to be a very sound partner in this program, and it will be the 22nd university to provide increased rural and regional and remote training across Australia under this program. When you see the shortages in regional and remote areas, you know how important this program is. It helps to support universities to deliver teaching and training to an equivalent or higher, and that is what I think ECU will do. They will deliver the higher standard that I'm sure they are aiming than that which is achieved in metropolitan settings.

Most importantly, we know that health professionals who graduate from rural placements are more likely to stay in the regions, and we really do need them to stay with us. We need them to stay committed to what they've trained do, which is provide such essential health and care for citizens of all ages, particularly those people who are of a mature age who are choosing to retire and spend the later years of their life in the South West of WA. We are seriously short of GPs. Unfortunately, the changes that were made by Labor, straight after the election, to the allocation of overseas trained doctors have seen doctors become targets of outer metropolitan areas, attracting them back into those areas. It has become far more competitive for us in trying to retain our GPs. It's an ongoing issue for us to keep fighting for, but I'm really hoping that ECU will able to help with the broader medical profession and that, through the rural clinical schools and other measures, we will see more GPs from our region go away to study and come back when it suits them with their families to live and work in what is a fabulous part of Australia, which is rural and regional.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the second reading of the Education Legislation Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill and commend the contribution from my colleague the member for Forrest. As the opposition indicated in the shadow minister's contribution earlier today, the coalition supports the passage of this bill.

There are a couple of key elements I'll touch on, but firstly I want to start by commending the tertiary sector and, in particular, the three universities in my home state of South Australia: the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flinders University. I have a lot to do with all three of those institutions. I meet regularly with the vice chancellors, and I myself am an alumnus of Adelaide university and have appreciated my engagement with them. I have a University of South Australia campus in my electorate. In a city the size of Adelaide, our universities are not geographic, really; all the universities have an enormous impact, citywide and statewide regardless of where they're located. They're both multicampus and have a lot to do with my constituents in Sturt.

It's been a tough couple of years in the sector, of course. The closure of borders and the impact on international students has been very significant to the university sector in South Australia for a long time. We've been very proud of the way we've attracted international students into our institutions, not just through the universities I might add. But the three universities have all done an excellent job in making themselves sought-after institutions to study at, and all three have a very impressive cohort of international students.

I saw media reports earlier this week, or over the weekend, about the return of international students and the fact that enrolments now, at least in the three South Australian universities, are just ahead of enrolments pre-COVID. The significant caveat there is that the international students aren't all physically attending the universities in South Australia; there's still a lot of online learning going on. Frankly, for the benefit of the South Australian economy, I look forward to that diminishing dramatically and, hopefully, ceasing largely as soon as possible. International students make an exceptional contribution and impact both on the South Australian economy and on the South Australian society. They tend to be from nations that have significant multicultural representation in our community, and international students are very well supported by the universities and also by the communities in our city and state who themselves have come from similar nations to make their future in Australia. So we welcome that.

As the shadow minister mentioned, a few of the elements in this bill were put forward by the previous government. One that seems fairly common sense is to standardise the USI, Unique Student Identifier, so that it becomes the single required identification for students. That will make the standardisation of reporting on a whole range of metrics a lot more straightforward. I don't see how anyone could see any controversy around that.

I also commend and welcome making it easier for people to access enabling courses—that is, for people to not have the enabling courses applied against the limitation that would be put on how much Commonwealth support they can receive. This means we can provide a better pathway towards university qualifications for people that need to undertake some of those enabling courses that bridge the gap between them having access to undergraduate related courses and not. That seems extremely sensible.

The one that is probably the most noteworthy, which we've indicated we're happy to support, is to remove any form of discount that is provided to upfront fee payers. The way in which the public accounting works for HECS has always fascinated me, because of course it is effectively using the government's balance sheet and its significant discount to support the financing of student loans, which is excellent. No-one wants to see any curtailment around supporting everyone with the financial burdens of accessing higher education in this country. HECS has been an excellent system, which I availed myself of with my undergraduate degree many moons ago, as I did with FEE-HELP for a postgraduate degree. So that's excellent.

This does remove any discount for any portion—either the entirety or a minor element—of an upfront payment. The indication from the government is that has a significant return of revenue over the forward estimates. I understand all of the arguments, which I won't litigate, around the pros and the cons of providing any discount for upfront payment, but in this case we in the opposition are happy to support the government in that reform as well.

To reiterate, I support the bill and thank all of the tertiary institutions—in particular in my home state of South Australia, but also across the country. We've had challenges over the last few years which no-one could have predicted. We're very proud of our tertiary institutions in this country. The size of our international student cohort demonstrates that they are held in high regard across the globe. We hope that the years ahead are much more smooth and predictable and see our higher education institutions continue to flourish even further. With that, I commend the bill to the chamber.

Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is well known that we are currently living through a cost-of-living crisis. Families are struggling to put food on the table, rents everywhere are skyrocketing and income support is still woefully inadequate. University students, who are often forced to live on income support well below the poverty line, study full-time and are now faced with rents rising at rates far outpacing inflation and their own incomes. Students and young people seeking higher education must oftentimes work additional jobs just so they can support themselves through their education. On top of this, student debt across the country is increasing at an exorbitant rate.

On 1 June this year HECS debt was indexed at 3.9 per cent. This is a substantial increase from last year, when the figure sat around 0.6 per cent. As a result, we're now in a situation where many students are paying off their HECS debt at a slower rate than it is accruing interest, potentially leading to situations where students can never fully repay their debt or where the cost of their degree balloons to even more unsustainable levels because they don't have the income to match the indexation rate. Concerningly, due to predicted increases to the inflation rate, it's likely that indexation could approach nearly 10 per cent. Such a high rate of indexation will make taking on HECS debt impossible for many students and force those studying to cease their education for fear of attracting a debt they will never be able to pay off.

My electorate of Brisbane is home to many higher education institutions and to one of the youngest populations of any federal electorate. Many of the students in my electorate have spoken with me about the challenges of studying up to 40 hours a week, on top of having to work unsustainable hours because the rate of income support is so low that they aren't able to cover their basic expenses like rent and food. Many of them have spent entire years navigating the challenges of virtual learning in the wake of the pandemic. After years of struggling to make ends meet and achieve the results they want, they're still left in tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

The system urgently needs reform. Once again, we're seeing Australian students being left behind. We're also falling far behind our international counterparts, who appreciate the value of making education more accessible and affordable, and who have seen the vast economic and social benefits that have come from expanding free public education to include the tertiary sector. New Zealand has adopted a policy of one fee-free year of higher education. Even the United States has taken steps to cancel up to US$20,000 of student debt. Once again, Australia is left playing catch up.

Tertiary education has the potential to be an incredible force to boost the skills and research capabilities of our country. We need to value it with the importance it deserves, we need to properly fund higher education and we need to ensure it is accessible to Australians of all backgrounds—regardless of class or postcode—because every Australian deserves access to the world-class education we have the potential to provide. We need to give those Australians hope that the financial barriers they face do not make them undeserving of the education they want.

The Greens welcome this action that the government is taking on this bill, particularly changes to ensure that all students pay the same rate for courses they are enrolled in regardless of their ability to pay upfront. This is a small step, but we must continue the process of reforming how we value education in this country, because the positive outcomes of higher education are numerous and far reaching. Whether it's increases to innovation, higher workforce productivity or workforce specialisation, we must value higher education and the improvements it brings to both our economy and society as a whole. If we are to truly recognise the value education brings to Australia, we must make it universally accessible for all Australians and remove the financial barriers in place, particularly during the cost-of-living crisis we're currently in. The first step on that path is to acknowledge that no-one should be in debt for receiving an education and to wipe student debt.

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

I want to thank all members for their contributions to this important debate. As I said when I introduced the bill two weeks ago, the Education Legislation Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022 will improve equality of access to higher education and supports the government's commitment to building a highly skilled workforce.

Our election commitment to remove the 10 per cent HECS-HELP discount for upfront payments is projected to save $144 million over the forward estimates, savings which will help to fund our 20,000 new university places which have been allocated to students who are under-represented in our universities: people from poor families, people from our regions or remote parts of Australia, Australians with a disability and Indigenous Australians. It's another step forward towards fairer access to higher education for our country.

The extension of the FEE-HELP loan fee exemption for a further 12 months will support full-fee-paying undergraduates and their providers as the sector recovers from the COVID pandemic. The bill also supports the development of innovative, flexible and industry focused higher education programs by extending FEE-HELP to the government's microcredentials pilot. It also improves the operation of the Higher Education Support Act by clarifying the treatment of enabling courses and unique student identifier requirements and aligns HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP citizenship and residency requirements for New Zealand citizens accessing a Commonwealth supported place.

Once again, I thank all members for their contributions to this debate. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.