Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2006 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2006. Our education policy in Australia is dangerously adrift. The current government’s approach to higher education has been characterised by budget cuts, fee increases and a lack of policy direction. Our universities are too important to ignore, yet under the Howard government they seem to be seen as little more than a target for ideological vendettas—from extreme industrial relations conditions, to VSU, to the front line of the Prime Minister’s culture wars.

Labor values our universities as a national asset that it must treasure and protect. And, unlike the government, Labor has both the vision and a plan to do just that. Labor does, however, support the passage of this higher education legislation amendment bill. Before I continue speaking on that legislation, I want to make a comment on the government’s attitude to the referral of this bill to committee.

The government majority report, and recent comments in the House of Representatives by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training, criticised the referral of the bill to committee. We all know in this chamber—or perhaps those on this side understand—that scrutiny of legislation is an important role of the Senate and one which should not be dismissed because of apparent inconvenience to the government. The referral process did provide senators with valuable further information through questions to the department on how provisions of the bill would impact on higher education in Australia. In particular, more information was provided on the new approvals guidelines and the determination of different levels of fee contribution. This detailed information from the department in response to senators’ questions is vital to our role as a house of review and scrutiny—although, of course, since the government has taken a majority in this place, it is a role the government would prefer to avoid.