George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I thank all honourable senators for their contributions to this debate. The Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007 will fundamentally reshape the higher education landscape in Australia. It responds to calls from the sector for greater flexibility and less red tape. It will allow a more diverse and vibrant higher education sector to emerge, one that strives for excellence and one that can achieve its own destiny. No longer is university elitist. No longer is higher education unsustainable, as it was under the 1970s era of Whitlam. The reforms of this government will also enable the sector to break out of the ‘one size fits all’ straitjacket of the 1980s Dawkins era. The decision in the budget to fully fund university overenrolments of up to five per cent of a university’s total funding will potentially create around 21,000 additional Commonwealth supported places, thereby effectively eliminating remaining unmet demand—that is, the number of eligible applicants who miss out on a place at university. In addition, it will allocate a further 2,300 new Commonwealth supported places later this year. Essentially, anyone who wants, and is eligible for, a place at university next year should be able to get one.

This is a far cry from the days of previous Labor governments when 100,000 young Australians who were eligible to go to university missed out on a university place. This coincided with unemployment of 11 per cent when a million Australians were on the unemployment scrap heap. This bill will relax the caps on Commonwealth supported and domestic full fee paying undergraduate student places. Labor has suggested that universities will en masse convert Commonwealth supported places into full fee paying places and will turn their backs on students seeking to take up a Commonwealth supported place. I expect universities to act responsibly, and I am instructed to tell the Senate on behalf of the minister that she will not let this happen.

Government policy remains that universities must offer their Commonwealth supported places in a disciplined cluster before they offer full fee paying places. Any significant shifts in student load between clusters must be approved through the funding agreements between the Australian government and universities. The Australian government will not let Australian universities walk away from their obligation to ensure access for Australians who want, and who are eligible for, a university education. Senator Carr has confirmed today that Labor would phase out fee-paying domestic undergraduate places.