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

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to support students through fairer grandfathering provisions and support our rural, remote and very remote communities by encouraging our medical graduates to live and work in those areas.

When the former government's Job-ready Graduates scheme was introduced in late 2020 it grandfathered students who were already studying at 1 January 2021 so they could finish their course at the same student contribution rates as when they started.

In a lapsed bill the former government introduced a correction to those grandfathering provisions to include honours course students who had started but not finished their original course at 1 January 2021. That correction is included in this bill.

In my first weeks as education minister the Sydney Morning Herald published a story that revealed that a number of other students were also left out of grandfathering because their courses were changed or cancelled by their universities.

It's not fair that students face higher student contribution rates because of decisions taken by their university and which are out of their control.

This bill fixes that.

The Job-ready Graduates scheme will be reviewed as part of the Universities Accord which will commence soon, but it's important that these measures are introduced now so that these students are not treated unfairly.

This bill also introduces measures from a lapsed bill to encourage doctors and nurse practitioners to live and work in rural, remote and very remote areas of Australia.

It puts in place a scheme for eligible doctors and nurse practitioners to have their HELP debts reduced or wiped if they live and work in those areas for a period based on the length of their degree.

Doctors and nurse practitioners who live and work in a remote or very remote community for the equivalent of half the length of their degree will be able to have 100 per cent of their HELP debt wiped.

Doctors and nurse practitioners who live and work in a large, medium or small rural town will have 100 per cent of their HELP debt wiped if they live and work there for the equivalent of the length of their degree.

This means an eligible doctor with a HELP debt from a six-year medical degree and who lives and works in a remote community like Broome or Bourke for three years will be able to have their HELP debt for that course wiped.

An eligible nurse practitioner who lives and works in a rural town like Parkes for two years will be able to have the HELP debt for their nurse practitioner course wiped.

Doctors and nurse practitioners who meet half of the time requirements will be able to access half of the HELP debt removal.

Doctors and nurse practitioners working in these areas will also be able to apply for a waiver of indexation on their HELP debt whilst they live and work there.

The classification of rural and remote locations is based on the Modified Monash Model and the bill makes provision for guidelines to define eligibility and service requirements.

It is expected to help around 850 medical practitioners a year.

This measure will be effective from 1 January this year, and I look forward to working with my friend the Minister for Health in implementing this scheme.

The measures in this bill further support the government's commitment to fairness in our education system and to support services in our rural and remote communities.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.