Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to the debate on the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill. Of all the misrepresentations the Labor Party have been guilty of through the course of this parliament, their lies about the higher education bill just about take the cake. These are reforms that increase access to higher education. These are reforms that make an individual's access to trades training not reliant in the least on their family's means. This class rhetoric that Labor's reliably falls back on when in doubt is the antithesis of reality. In Australia the only determinant of one's access to higher education is one's academic merit. This is a bill which will not only enable Australia's universities to excel on the world stage but, critically, provide opportunities to potential students who would otherwise miss out due to location or financial issues.

But that is Labor for you. That is the Labor we have come to know. If the choice is between a crucial economic deregulation reform that provides a sustainable system which at its heart opens education to participants with aptitude rather than just participants with means and a politically profitable scare campaign, Labor will reliably embrace the latter, even to the detriment of poorer Australians. Don't take my word for it. Professor Ian Young, the Vice-Chancellor of the ANU here in Canberra and the Chair of the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australia's elite universities, has also stated that it will not have $100,000 degrees.

These higher education reforms come at a critical time for the university sector. In a recent submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, Universities Australia said the following:

We have a choice. We can keep going as we are where the demand for quality university education continues to outstrip the capacity of the system to pay for it; or we do something different.

I commend Minister Christopher Pyne for acknowledging and tackling this problem.

The future viability of our university system is essential in extending the knowledge base and the prosperity of future generations, but it is only part of a suite of programs which this government is endorsing to create jobs. In addition to the higher education reforms we see before us, we have introduced Trade Support Loans, which will provide up to $20,000 for apprentices to assist with their daily costs and the purchase of tools and supplies as they complete their training.

As a South Australian, I was concerned to see that in 2013 Australian apprentice and trainee commencements fell by 39 per cent—the worst performance of all states and the lowest South Australian commencement rate on record. There has been 12 years of Labor government in South Australia, and what do they do? They call for a new minister for trades training in the northern suburbs. Their only answer is to put more bureaucracy in place. I see Senator Cameron shaking his head over there. These are the very people who in your union days you used to represent. You would stand on the picket lines and chant about the inequities. We are trying to get more apprentices and you have watched over a decline of 39 per cent over that period. Six years in federal government and a 39 per cent fall—the worst performance of all states and the lowest South Australian commencement rate on record. Well done!

Something needs to be done, and the passage of this bill will ensure that the rot that has set in will abate. It is noted that one of the key impediments to people undertaking and completing their apprenticeships is the cost of equipment and other necessities. By supplementing apprentice wages with Trade Support Loans, we will be encouraging apprentices to go the whole way with the course, which in turn stands them in good stead for a higher income and stable employment. The Trade Support Loans scheme will work identically to the HELP scheme, a system which ensures that students do not have to pay a cent up-front for their higher education. This allows students to attend university without any discrimination as to their wealth or their socioeconomic status.

It is only once they earn about $50,000 per year that HELP recipients are required to repay their loans—thoroughly reasonable and thoroughly equitable. Nonetheless, as with other loans, people are able to pay it down faster with their own contributions earlier, should they desire. This government is spearheading policies which are designed to minimise the pressures of pursuing further education for people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Over 80,000 extra students will be provided support under this new scheme by 2018. This comprises 48,000 more students studying diploma, advanced diploma and associate degree courses and 35,000 additional students undertaking bachelor courses.

The government is investing $371.5 million expanding the current higher education system, which will allow institutions to offer more courses to more students. This increased diversity in courses will give a prospective student more choice in what they want to study, which provides career opportunities and pathways to further qualifications, should they choose.

The subbachelor sector will also receive a significant boost. Each year, this sector supports thousands of students in developing their skills and their skill sets, as well as expanding their knowledge of the trade they intend to pursue. When considered alongside the training components of, amongst others, the Green Army and Industry Growth Fund programs, it just goes to show how committed this government is to upskilling and enhancing the job prospects of Australians. The expansion of the higher education system includes more support for the regional sector, where for too long choice in higher education has been limited. The potentially off-putting trek from the country to the city to study is quite often a barrier for teenagers who have grown up in the country, and the need to obtain accommodation outside of their home towns can certainly place a financial burden on families. Many will now be able to pursue higher education outcomes closer to their family and friends.

Regional universities will receive an additional loading for the cost of running a non-metropolitan campus. They will be able to offer more courses and compete to attract more students. Further to this, the new Commonwealth scholarship scheme will create a major support pathway for disadvantaged students wanting to go to university. Under the scheme, universities and higher education providers will provide funding to students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. This funding may take the form of a needs based scholarship to meet the cost of living, covering fee exemptions, tutorial support and other items.

I have spoken before in this chamber about the staggering youth unemployment rate in my home region, particularly in the Wakefield electorate in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. The need for education reform could not be greater. As I said before, under the state Labor government the youth unemployment rate in that region has hit 45 per cent. Across the whole of South Australia, 31 per cent of 2013 school leavers are not engaged in full-time study, work or training—well above the national average.

I note that Senator Day is in the chamber, waiting to make his contribution to this debate. His sector is the building sector while mine is the wine sector. He knows, as do I, that these two industries—so critical to South Australia's prosperity—have suffered as a result of the constraints on our education sector, as well as from the lack of South Australian government support for affordable land. The policies of the state Labor government do not promote growth in the building industry. They do not promote growth in apprenticeships—or trades or training—to the extent that, as I said earlier in this contribution, there has been a drop of 39 per cent in trades training starts over the period. That is an appalling statistic and is something that will obviously be an issue for the building trades—stonemasons, plumbers, electricians and so on—in years to come.

People forget that this bill is about making change in the trades area. They think this is about universities and more doctors, physiotherapists and scientists. It is not. It is about kick-starting the engine room of the economy. As Senator Day did so many years ago, my son has just completed the third year of an apprenticeship in carpentry and is looking forward to a successful career in building. Tragically over the weekend he said to me that he was looking at moving interstate from the country centre where he has learnt a broad cross-section of skills and trades training. He said, 'I might look to go where the growth is, where they are releasing land and they are getting an increase in population, unlike in South Australia where it is decreasing.' People are leaving South Australia because South Australia is the highest state taxed state in the nation. It has an appalling record.

For us in South Australia, this higher education bill provides an opportunity for one of our most glorious exports in South Australia, which is education. We have three universities—the University of Adelaide, the Flinders University and the University of South Australia. This will strengthen their position on their core subjects which they are very good at. Not all universities are good at everything. But the way in which the system works now promotes mediocrity in just about everything. Those universities which have a long history and some very good academic support for headline subjects and courses will excel. They will be able to afford to put money into those courses and attract students from all over the world. Likewise, universities in South Australia and, indeed, around Australia will be able to play to their strengths. Isn't that what a market economy is all about? This is no different.

This provides the higher education sector the opportunity to go to a market economy. For what they are very good at they will have a high level of applicants. They will be able to offer those courses competitively with courses around the world. This is about being globally competitive. This is about getting our universities in the top 100 universities around the globe. This is about all the emerging wealth of people in India and China and them looking on Australia as an aspirational place to come and study. This is about not having to have a Colombo Plan like in the 1960s and 1970s. This is about having the ability to attract a lot of people from these emerging economies around the world and having them come in Australia. Whether it is Murdoch University, the ANU, Sydney university, Bond University, Adelaide university, the Melbourne universities or any of the universities in Perth, Sydney or Queensland, they will all develop their strengths in their various areas because they will be open to a market economy. They will do what they do best and what they excel in now. They will not have to be dumbed down into a position where they have mediocrity across all levels and all courses and a funding base which is based upon offering courses that they really are not equipped to run.

This crosses over into the agricultural sector as well because in South Australia there are none better served than we are by the Roseworthy Agricultural College campus. I say that because it has produced many fine natural resource people who are working on the environment. It has also produced many fine viticulturists who are working in our great wine industry. It has also had many oenologists graduate. These are graduates from courses which will be, by virtue of the passage of this bill, opened to the global market economy. I feel sure that these courses will be competitive. They have such good reputations and they will attract international participation.

The higher education reform package will deliver outcomes for all Australians. For those who had already intended to study, the university system will be open and competitive, making universities specialise in specific areas and offering best in the world courses for students. For those who had not considered further education, there will be more funding for sub-bachelor programs and training courses which will allow them to enter or re-enter the workforce with new skills. With HELP being extended, there will be opportunities for first generation students and their respective families. The need for reform was glaringly obvious, and it has taken this government to deliver the reform that will stand the children, families and workforce of Australia in good stead for many years to come.

Before I finish this contribution, I will say that I spend quite a lot of time at the University of Adelaide. I just recently attended its 140th anniversary celebration. It came into existence with a group of people who founded South Australia who had foresight and vision and were able to inspire fundraising to build that magnificent facility that we have today. It is an aspirational university. I was at Flinders University yesterday, a Sunday, going around the grounds there. It is another magnificent university. The sprawling west end of the University of South Australia is also ever growing.

Universally when people from these universities speak to me they tell me that they want this reform. The people who run these universities are now looking to be globally competitive, with everybody vying for a good education sector reputation. Those people want this bill to pass. They understand what Minister Pyne is seeking to achieve. They also want to be able to play to their strengths in their syllabuses. I think that those on the other side should spend some time with the vice-chancellors, boards and students of these universities. I commend the bill to the chamber. (Time expired)