David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the VET Student Loans Bill 2016, the VET Student Loans (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2016 and the VET Student Loans (Charges) Bill 2016.

These bills restrict the dollar amount of student loans for vocational education and training and restrict the number of loans that will be issued. These loans are extremely concessional, and the Liberal Democrats believe they promote bad decisions and unfairly burden the taxpayer. For that reason, I will support these bills but I do so reluctantly. The bills restrict the dollar amount and the number of loans in the worst possible way. They restrict the dollar amount of loans by authorising bureaucrats to set caps based on the assumption that bureaucrats know the correct price for a course to become a pilot, mechanic, florist or winemaker. These bills restrict the number of loans that will be issued by empowering bureaucrats to select the courses that can come with concessional loans, by imposing taxes on private providers and by banning brokers and agents from providing information to students on student loans. Unsurprisingly, this bureaucratic approach will add $45 million to the costs of the education bureaucracy by 2020.

It would be far better to restrict the dollar amount and number of loans by making them less concessional so that people put serious thought into taking out a loan. This would mean some decided against taking out a loan, while providers would compete for price-conscious students by keeping their fees low. A real interest rate should be imposed on student loans. And you should have to start repaying your loan once your income exceeds the minimum wage rather than the current threshold of $52,000. Your minimum repayments should be a reasonable share of your income rather than the current level of two per cent. And debts should be repaid not just when you leave the country, but also when you die with an estate. These options were not properly explored in the previous parliament and are completely untested in this parliament. These bills will save taxpayers money so I support them, but we could do a great deal better.