Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (4) on sheet 7193:

(4) Schedule 1, item 1, page 31 (after line 17), after subsection 55C(2), insert:

  (2A) In appointing a Board member under paragraph (1)(b), the Minister must ensure that the Board members appointed under that paragraph, as a group, have qualifications or experience relevant to the operations of providers from across the international education and training sector, including providers of English language intensive courses for overseas students.

This takes up the issue of representation on the board. This does need to be tightened up. The current wording is quite loose, and it leaves it so open that it really ends up not being clear who would end up on the board. The Overseas Students Tuition Fund will pay for placement services and the cost of TPS staff and its director and the board, which is intended to represent the different sectors of international education providers. What we are dealing with here is who will be represented on that board. I understand that the sector has expressed concerns that there is no requirement in the Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation Amendment (Tuition Protection Service and Other Measures) Bill 2011 before us to ensure that representation, so that is what our amendment addresses. We are inserting an amendment requiring that the seven non-department board members represent providers from across the international education and training sector, including providers of ELICOS courses, which provide major pathways into further Australian studies for overseas students. Picking up English language courses is clearly needed here, but it is not just about that; it is about making it clearer about representation on this board in terms of the non-department participants. So I recommend the Greens amendment to my fellow senators because it is an area that needs to be tightened up, because the loose wording at the moment is a concern.