Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPORT AMENDMENT (SAVINGS AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2013

The Coalition Government is committed to ensuring that Australia has a strong, high quality university system now and in the years and decades to come.

This Bill will give effect to higher education savings measures of the previous Government, announced by the then Minister for Tertiary Education on 13 April and confirmed in the 2013-14 Budget.

These are Labor's cuts. These cuts of April came on top of repeated attacks by Labor on support for universities, for students, and for research. These cuts show just how damaging to the University sector the previous government was. They show clearly that Labor is no friend to universities. They show that Labor is no friend of students or higher education.

We are pleased that we have been able to reverse one of Labor's most foolish and damaging measures—the cap on tax deductibility of self-education expenses. The vast majority of those who claim for self-education expenses earn less than $80,000 a year. This cap was going to hurt our nurses, teachers, doctors and other frontline services. Not only that, it would add to the burden on universities and professional and other bodies.

By 'scrapping the cap' this Government is sending a clear message that the resources available to universities and students will be greater under the Coalition than they would have been under Labor.

However, given the fiscal mess we have inherited from Labor as a result of their incompetence and wasteful spending, we have no responsible choice but to proceed with the other measures announced by Labor in April. We need to fix the Budget for the long term and only by doing so will we ensure the sustainability of funding for the higher education sector. In addition to the measures in this Bill, the Minister for Social Services will bring forth measures to implement the other part of Labor's April decisions—Labor's decision to convert start-up scholarships for students into loans.

Turning to the specific provisions of this Bill: Schedule 1 of the Bill amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) to abolish the HECS-HELP discount. Schedule 2 amends HESA to abolish the HELP voluntary repayment bonus. Currently, students receive a discount of ten per cent on their student contribution by paying the amount up front and an additional five per cent reduction in their HELP debt by making a voluntary repayment of $500 or more.

Schedule 3 of the Bill amends HESA to apply an efficiency dividend of 2 per cent in 2014 and 1.25 per cent in 2015 to Commonwealth contribution amounts under the Commonwealth Grant Scheme. The efficiency dividend will not be applied to student contribution amounts but does impact on university revenues over 2014, 2015 and the years following. Future years will be indexed from a lower base because of this cut from the previous Government.

Schedule 4 makes a minor amendment to HESA to reflect the change of the name of the University of Ballarat to the Federation University. The Victorian Parliament passed the University of Ballarat Amendment (Federation University Australia) Act 2013 earlier this year to change the name of the University with effect from 1 January 2014. The new name, a decision of the Victorian Parliament, reflects the planned broader role envisaged for the university and evident in the transfer of Monash University's Gippsland campus to it.

The Coalition Government is committed to a strong, vibrant university sector. The fiscal mess that has been left to us by the previous Government leaves us with no practical alternative but to proceed with Labor's cuts. Their mismanagement has meant that the Budget which they inherited in significant surplus has now become a Budget in massive deficit, with the nation saddled with huge public debt.

As a result, our high performing higher education sector is required to live with measures that contribute to restoring the Budget to health. That we have no option but to enact Labor's cuts does not in any way diminish our commitment to supporting a high quality and accessible higher education sector in Australia. Labor's cuts show how empty their claim is, to be a friend of universities and students. This Coalition Government is the true friend of universities, of high-quality teaching and learning as well as of research, and of students. Coalition governments have a proven track record of support for universities—and also, sadly, of having to clean up Labor's messes.

As the Prime Minister pointed out in his address to Universities Australia in February, the principal founder of the Liberal Party, Sir Robert Menzies, had what he himself described as a 'passionate belief in pure learning'. The creation of new universities, the increase in the numbers attending them and much greater support for students was one of the main legacies of his long tenure.

The Prime Minister also pointed out that, over the term of the Howard government, the number of students in higher education increased by 63 per cent, the number of post-graduate students by 118 per cent, the number of students from low socio-economic backgrounds by 23 per cent and the number of students with disabilities by 140 per cent.

Under the Howard government, as the Prime Minister said, total government funding increased by 13 per cent in real terms and total funding by 65 per cent. And of course, we established the $6 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund (since raided by Labor) to provide a guaranteed stream of income to the higher education sector for improved capital works and research facilities.

In that same speech, the Prime Minister laid down seven principles and policy directions for higher education that the Coalition would follow if elected to government. The first and most important is to be a stable and consultative government. The second is to encourage Australian universities to protect their academic standing so that students can be confident that their degrees are taken seriously. The third is to work with universities to expand their share of the international higher education market. Fourth, we committed to a New Colombo Plan, building on the original one that brought tens of thousands of students from around our region to study in Australia by sending Australian undergraduates to study in the Asia-Pacific region. Fifth, we committed to encourage universities and institutes to ensure that their research work is world class, effectively delivered and well-targeted, and to reduce the burden of grant applications. Sixth, we said that we would help to foster the creative and economic potential in our education and research sector by reducing their regulatory and compliance burden. Seventh, and finally, the Coalition committed to helping Australian universities to be able to take advantage of the growth in online learning, such as the development of Massive Open Online Courses.

In the few weeks that this Government has been in office, we have already taken many steps that implement these pledges and that demonstrate our commitment to higher education. We have been engaging in real consultation with our universities. As well as scrapping Labor's cap on tax deductibility for self-education expenses, we have acted to support the capacity of our universities and other higher education providers to attract international students to Australia. We have simplified the Assessment Level framework and extended the scope of Streamlined Visa Processing for international students, and we are working towards a national strategy for international education and other measures recommended in the Chaney report and mentioned in my recent speech to the Australian International Education Conference. We are working towards the pilot programs for the New Colombo Plan, with Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan all having agreed to be Australia's partners in these.

We are recognising the most outstanding university teachers and programs that enhance learning in Awards for University Teaching created under the Howard Government. We have announced $522 million in grants and fellowships to support 1,177 research projects recommended by the Australian Research Council following competitive peer review processes. We are lifting the heavy burden of compliance and regulation on our universities through giving a Ministerial Direction to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to engage in genuine consultation, including through an Advisory Council we are creating; to deregulate; and to report progress, including on cost savings to universities from this deregulation. We are ensuring that the burden of reporting requirements on universities is reduced. We are taking stock of the progress of the demand-driven system for higher education funding with expert reviewers assessing how the system is performing, and how it can be improved, including to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to ensure the high quality of graduates from our universities.

Labor's cuts—outlined in this bill—would be unnecessary but for Labor's profligacy, their sustained and irresponsible spendathon, and their disregard for the sound financial management that is essential for the health and vitality of our universities. This Government is committed to ensuring sound financial management, and to ensuring that Australia has a world-class university system now and for the future. Cleaning up Labor's mess is an essential starting point for this.

IMPORT PROCESSING CHARGES AMENDMENT BILL 2013

The Import Processing Charges Amendment Bill 2013deals with legislative change to implement a revenue measure that was announced as part of the 2013-14 Budget. The increase to import processing charges was intended to be implemented from 1 January; however, legislation to effect the measure was never introduced. This Bill amends the Import Processing Charges Act 2001 to increase import processing charges that will be levied on air, sea and post consignments with a value of $10,000 or more from 1 January 2014.

Under current legislation, an import processing charge is levied on consignments that have a customs value greater than or $1,000. Consignments that are valued at $1,000 or less are currently exempt from the import processing charge. The current rates of import processing charges will continue to apply for consignments above $1,000 but less than $10,000. There is no change to the exemption for consignments valued at $1,000 or less.

In 2013-14, it is estimated that 3.3 million import declarations will be lodged of which 99 percent of these import declarations will be lodged electronically. Of the 3.3 million declarations that will be lodged in 2013-14, 55 percent of these relate to consignments valued at greater than $10,000. This Bill provides the legislative authority for changing the structure of the charges that will be levied on air, sea and post consignments, which will be reflected in the amended Import Processing Charges Act.

The current import processing charges recover only the commercial aspects of cargo and trade related activity. The Bill will amend the Import Processing Charges Act to broaden the cost base of the import processing charges so that all of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service's (ACBPS) costs associated with cargo and trade related activity, including community protection costs, are cost recovered. Under the new arrangements, the increased import processing charge will recover all costs associated with this activity including; cargo screening costs, targeting and risk assessment costs; compliance, investigations and prosecution costs as well as all other cargo and trade related activities.

The Bill will also introduce a two tiered charging arrangement with increased charges to apply for air, sea and post import consignments with a value of $10,000 or more. The import processing charge will increase for sea consignments lodged electronically from $50.00 to $152.60 and sea consignments lodged manually from $65.75 to $152.60. The charges for air and post consignments lodged electronically will increase from $40.20 to $122.10 and for air and post consignments lodged manually; the charges will increase from $48.85 to $122.10.

Import processing charges have not been increased since 2005-06 and the new increased charges will now recover all import processing costs associated with the ACBPS's cargo and trade related activities. The previous government agreed to a tiered charging structure to address the issue that low value imports would experience higher increases in charges as a proportion of their value, due to the import processing charge being a fixed dollar amount.

The changes being made to both broaden the cost base of the import processing charges as well as increasing the charges to be levied on air, sea and post consignments valued at greater than $10,000 will see Industry make a greater contribution to the full costs of delivering effective border management and the end to end costs of trade and goods delivered into Australia.

It is anticipated that implementing the previous government's revenue measure will generate an estimated additional $674.3m across the forward estimates. Failing to introduce this measure or any delay in its passage and commencement would have a negative impact on the Government's budget balance as this amount has already been factored into the forward estimates.

The changes to the structure of the import processing charges that are contained in this Bill comply with the requirements of the Commonwealth's Cost Recovery Guidelines and are consistent with the requirements of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as the revised charges will not "exceed the approximate cost" of cargo and trade related activities undertaken by the ACBPS.

The Import processing charges are collected under taxing legislation, and therefore any revenue collected by the ACBPS is returned to consolidated revenue. The ACBPS receives revenue as part of its annual appropriation to administer cargo and trade related activities.

Ordered that further consideration of the second reading of these bills be adjourned to the first sitting day of the next period of sittings, in accordance with standing order 111.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.