Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Again, no, Senator Simms. I am sure that if you put your mind to it you could create alarm in some quarters, but I think that alarm would be unfounded and misguided were it to be created. Again I would emphasise that this listing relates to access to block grant funding from the ARC, which the ARC has very careful monitoring of. I would note that Torrens has established itself as a very credible and reputable provider in relation to postgraduate student opportunities. Again, in those instances, any support that comes from the Commonwealth is strictly capped and controlled. Really, the safeguards that are in place are extremely clear. And I draw your attention to the point that I made previously, which is that Torrens does not now strictly operate as a for-profit provider with all of the connotations that that perhaps has and in fact now has a very clear public-benefit purpose that is much more similar in its nature to the way in which Australian entities have been historically allowed to operate in the not-for-profit type sector.