Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This past week, I have been in contact with the three universities in my home state of South Australia. The message I have received from all three is that student amenities and support services are a significant and worthwhile part of the university experience and that ultimately they result in better student outcomes. Since the introduction of the VSU by the former coalition government, the universities have worked very hard to maintain some of these important support services in the short term. It is clear, however, that in the long term their ability to do this is not sustainable. Students attending all three universities in South Australia have had to accept significant winding back of their amenities and support services and there is no doubt that it is impacting on their broader university experience.

I have previously referred to my own experiences in the education sector and it is these that have strongly influenced my views and beliefs with regard to the role and values of tertiary education. My recent discussions with the vice-chancellors of the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University have further informed the remarks I make here today.

Along with many of my colleagues in government and many of those opposite, I enjoyed the advantage of access to a multitude of activities on campus. Among services and amenities offered were subsidised health care; financial, legal and personal counselling; and student and emergency loans. There were also employment placement and careers counselling services, child care, sporting clubs and the use of grounds and facilities, student advocacy and representation, food and beverage outlets and clubs and societies. As we all know now, the introduction of the VSU legislation means that those days are gone. Those services and amenities are either no longer available or available in truncated form, available at a cost or available due only to the diversion of funds that would otherwise have been allocated to teaching, staffing, research facilities and library materials.

We have already heard about the ways in which the introduction of the VSU has impacted negatively on the provision of amenities and services to university students. We have heard that its greatest impact is at smaller and regional universities and campuses. We have heard, too, that the introduction of the VSU by the previous government had forced rationalisations and that current arrangements, some made possible by the diversion of funds, were not sustainable in the medium to long term. There are shared views, too, that the capacity for student advocacy and democratic representation has diminished markedly and that the VSU has resulted in a decrease in the vibrancy and diversity of campus life. This is particularly the case with clubs and societies, where VSU has necessarily resulted in fee increases. The number of clubs and societies and their membership has decreased and the impact has been significant.

The University of Canberra has noted that prices for students have increased by 20 per cent, while clubs and societies have decreased by nearly 50 per cent. The University of Western Sydney has made reference to the impact of the VSU as disastrous, with student organisations, newspapers, and social and sporting clubs not within its funding resources. One particular example provided by the university was that the shuttle bus services at night, so important to the safety of young people on a very sizeable campus, were cancelled. Another regional institution, Charles Sturt University, has stated that within 10 months of the VSU legislation being enacted the student associations of the university dissolved.

The National Liaison Committee for International Students in Australia is on the record stating that the VSU meant that regional campus branches of the student associations have been lost, and funding changes have impacted negatively on overseas student associations’ ability to run events and projects and to communicate with and represent overseas students. This is a really shocking state of affairs. We welcome these students and then it appears we cut them loose from what were ideal sources of support and representation. The matters to which I have referred represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the concerns of universities across Australia.

I now turn to the universities in my state of South Australia and the predicament they face in the current circumstances. The July 2008 report The impact of voluntary student unionism on services, amenities and representation for Australian university students shows that the University of South Australia was in receipt of more than $4.5 million for student services and amenities before the introduction of the VSU. At the time submissions were made, it was able to contribute only $615,000 to these areas. The ramifications of this include reduced staffing, closure of student association shopfronts and commercial shops and the loss of the student employment, loans and accommodation services, subsidised child care and legal advice. The Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia, Professor Peter Hoj, told me just last week:

There is no doubt that … VSU greatly impaired our ability to provide all the services we would like to provide for students. While we have used other cash flow to provide some services on an ongoing basis, this is not sustainable as it detracts from what we really should invest in—our core learning and teaching services and facilities.

We support the new agenda for greater participation. With that agenda there will be an even greater need for student-focussed facilities, services and a home away from home. The magnitude of that task will not be met with current cash flows, and we believe a smart Australia will recognise the need to restore our ability to meet students’ social and study needs to a much greater extent.

The Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide, Professor James McWha, concurs. The University of Adelaide was in receipt of more than $3.5 million for student services and amenities pre VSU. At the time submissions were made, it was able to contribute less than one-third of that amount to these areas. This is still the case. The ramifications of this include loss of staff, including welfare and advocacy staff, loss of honoraria, a decreased level of engagement with the community, increased isolation for international students and a decline in participation in representative positions. As well, the university has assumed the management of Union House and the food and beverage outlets.

The university also funds, from diverted financial resources, maintenance and capital upgrades to sporting fields and facilities. Existing services are struggling to meet current levels of demand. The decline of campus club life and the support campus structures it provides students is arguably the most insidious impact. As Professor McWha remarked:

The [recent] failure [of the draft legislation] is a major blow to student life and especially to the provision of sporting activities and important student services.

It increases the danger of students falling through the cracks while also damaging the quality of teaching, as universities divert funds to maintain at least a minimum level of student support.

The report shows too that Flinders University was in receipt of nearly $3 million for student services and amenities pre VSU. At the time submissions were made it was able to contribute only one-third of this amount to these areas. The ramifications of this include a reduction in student representative bodies from six to one; the closure of 60 clubs and societies and 11 sports and recreation clubs; the loss of education research and advocacy officers; the loss of the international student support officer; the loss of occasional child care; the loss of the student newspaper; the loss of honorariums; and the loss of the university’s free employment service, which is now user pays. As the Vice-Chancellor and President of Flinders University, Professor Michael Barber, told me just this morning:

With the introduction of VSU, the university lost significant funds which had been used to enhance the student experience of tertiary education.

The effect has been that a lot of the broader student experiences have had to be wound back. While the university has maintained catering and student health and counselling services, many of the associations which formerly supported student’s interests have been reduced.

Money available through a student services and amenities fee would enable increased student support, and would enrich the university experience for students, providing much more of a living learning environment ultimately leading to better student outcomes.

Professors Hoj, McWha and Barber are eminent academics. They are enormously concerned with the welfare of their students, with the provision of educational experiences of the highest quality, with continuing high-calibre teaching and research, and with their institutions’ reputations both domestically and internationally. On that final point, let us not forget that tertiary education is Australia’s third largest export industry. It is imperative that Australian universities offer high-quality education experiences and dynamic living and learning environments, conducive to the achievement of the highest educational outcomes.

I urge those senators opposite to contact their universities in their home states and ask them about the impact of the loss of these amenities and support services. When the opportunity to vote to restore many of them is again presented in this place, I urge them to make an informed decision based on the universities in their home states and the impact that such legislation will have on those universities.