Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

These are important benchmarks which will allow students to have the provision of information on the services that are provided to them on their health, on their welfare, on their financial services and on their various advocacy services. So this bill introduces for the first time a requirement for universities to meet national student representation protocols to ensure that universities provide opportunities for democratic student representation so that student views might be taken into account in institutional decision-making processes. What a shocking thing to do! What a horror for a government to actually ask students what they think about the provision of services on their campuses!

What this Labor government has been doing is taking a balanced and a practical and a sustainable approach to securing the future of student amenities and services while also maintaining a commitment not to return to compulsory student unionism. The provision of student amenities and services on our university campuses is a key part of providing a world-class higher education system. One thing I will agree with Senator Barnaby Joyce about is his observation that going to university is a bit more than just simply turning up to class—or, for those who do not turn up to class, filling in some assignment every now and then. It is actually about a broader engagement. And what we will see through this proposal is that we have an opportunity to provide services to students with much needed services that have been substantially reduced or have ceased to exist as a result of the negligence by the previous government when it came to provision of services on campuses.

What we saw under the previous government, one of the few governments in the OECD to reduce spending for universities, is that students were hit particularly hard with increases in prices for the provision of basic services like child care, parking, books, computer labs, sport and food. What we have heard is a lot of sanctimonious twaddle about what has been going on at universities. But what we actually see when we look at the facts in these matters is that parking fees, for example, at Monash University have risen from $80 to $280 per year. Child care fees at La Trobe have increased by $68 per week and by $800 a year at the University of Technology Sydney. We have seen the membership fees for the Sydney university sport and fitness centre raised by 500 per cent. These are the facts of what has been going on under the previous government as a result of the starvation of the university system by the previous Liberal government.

This is the great panacea that those opposite created with the voluntary student unionism regime. And what we have seen is that the cost of the voluntary student regime has been directly detrimental to students right across this country. We saw that universities were redirecting funding out of research and teaching to fund services and amenities which otherwise might not have existed at all. This is the harsh reality of the education nightmare that was created by the previous government. And so it was a pity that senators who were speaking in the debate on this bill did not reflect more wisely upon the actual experience of students today but rather reflected on their obsessions from some 20 years ago.

I think this is an opportunity for senators to correct their record of appalling abuse of students that we saw over the last decade. There was not a squeak out of any of you on that side. I sat here for over a decade and there was not one squeak out of you when it came to the cuts in higher education that were experienced under the previous government.

Just this evening we have had a number of universities trying to appeal to your better natures. I know how foolish that is, but, nonetheless, they remain optimistic of their capacity to persuade you. The Group of Eight, for instance—forever idealistic is the Group of Eight—has called on the Senate to ‘support the Government’s policy for restoring vital student services on university campuses’. It says:

The Federal Government’s decision to allow universities to support essential student services through the collection of a modest fee is a sensible compromise that will enhance the quality of Australia’s higher education system,” said Go8 Chair, Professor Alan Robson.

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The Go8 strongly supports the Government’s decision to ensure students will have the option of a HECS style loan to cover service fee costs. This means the student services fee will not pose an up-front barrier to any student.

That was pointed out to us tonight. So there is a request from the Group of Eight that this bill be passed. Obviously it has fallen on deaf ears and it is a tragedy that such ignorance is allowed to prevail. Then there is the Australian Technology Network, the ATN, which calls on the Senate to support the government bill:

… which will ensure the continued availability of quality student services to the nation’s university students.

It points to the guidelines underpinning the legislation as explicit in outlining the allowable uses of the fees.

Failure to pass this bill will have a potential negative impact on the nature of services provided for our regional students.

Reduced services is a significant threat to the level of international enrolments, to the satisfaction of international students with their on-campus experience and more generally to the global reputation of Australia’s higher education system.

Once again we have the ‘ignorance is bliss’ mentality on the other side of the chamber.

Senator Barnaby Joyce spoke about his experiences at UNE—the University of New England. Tonight the Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England, Professor Alan Pettigrew, urged federal senators to pass this legislation that will rebuild student amenities and services at universities around Australia.

‘It’s very important that the Senate consider wider issues of student welfare, and the health of the sector,’ Professor Pettigrew said.

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‘This is an issue that also goes far beyond sporting and eating facilities.’

He said that the need for the legislation was particularly pressing for regional universities. I trust that that message has actually been heard. Senator Barnaby Joyce, I look forward to you joining with the government to ensure that this legislation is carried, because otherwise we will think that this is another case of you blowing hot and strong but not actually being prepared to do anything about it. That is what we have heard from you so many times now, where you have got up and said, ‘This is what I am going to do,’ but have failed to deliver every time. What you insist upon is trying to grab the headline without actually walking the walk and talking the talk. You have actually got to cross the floor on this issue for this bill to be carried tonight.