Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Minister, the Morrison government massively increased the cost of arts, business and law degrees from $16,000 to $51,000 and $85,000 for a combined degree. At the time, Labor said that this change would make it harder and more expensive for young people to get an education, and the Universities Accord agreed. When will this government address the unfair cost of university degrees?

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

I thank the member for Kooyong for her question. I know how passionate she is about this issue and, more broadly, how we build a better and fairer education system in this country. You're right: the Universities Accord made specific recommendations about this and made the point that the former government's Job-ready Graduates program had failed, and it made recommendations about how to address this. I've announced that we will establish an Australian tertiary education commission that will help to steer reform here, which includes the setting of course fees. I'm consulting with the university sector and the broader community at the moment about how we establish that Australian tertiary education commission, and its roles and responsibilities. I hope that directly addresses the question that you have asked.

The Universities Accord is a blueprint for reform of higher education for the next decade and beyond. It's bigger than one budget, but we've bitten off a big chunk of it in this year's budget—about 29 of the 47 recommendations in full or in part. That includes wiping $3 billion of student debt for more than three million Australians. It includes introducing, for the first time ever, paid prac financial support to help teaching, nursing and social work students with the cost of living while they do the practical part of their degree. It also includes—and I know you know this, because you've been a champion of this—the establishment of a national student ombudsman.

University should be a great place where you learn new skills, get the qualifications you need to succeed and make new friends. But we've seen too much evidence of when terrible things happen at university, where the system fails—where, when the worst happens, universities don't respond properly. That's what that legislation that I introduced yesterday is all about fixing. For too long, universities haven't done enough and governments haven't done enough, and that's what that legislation I introduced yesterday is about trying to fix.