Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the VET Student Loans Bill 2016 and related bills. I start by getting right to the point. Labor supports the bills in the Senate. We agree to support government amendments to the bills to provide for the establishment of a VET ombudsman proposed by Labor in the other place, increase transparency and reporting requirements proposed by Labor in the other place, and improve the regulation of marketing practices and the broker ban. We also agree to amendments to the bills: firstly, to give the minister the power to grandfather the VET FEE-HELP students beyond the end of 2017; and, secondly, exempt TAFEs from course restrictions and loan caps until the end of 2017, to allow time for the next skills national partnership to be finalised.

Labor has made it clear that it will see these reforms as long overdue and necessary to end the appalling rorting of the scheme that has been allowed to occur. We are pleased to see that the Turnbull government is finally prepared to come to the table and take some action on this issue, which has been growing and continually ignored under their watch. We on this side of the chamber are pleased that Minister Birmingham has agreed to several of Labor's proposed amendments and we do not intend to delay passage of the legislation through the parliament. But their tardiness in dealing with this issue is not unfamiliar. They ignore, they dither, they shift the blame and sometimes, if the problem is bad enough, they jump onboard—like they have with these bills—and try to take credit for Labor's policy.

When it comes to these bills today the government is making a habit of copying Labor's policies. In May the Liberals were falling over themselves to criticise Labor's policy proposal. Today they are trying to take credit for it. Unfortunately, these changes are too little too late. But I guess it is better late than never. We should have seen legislation to improve VET FEE-HELP before the parliament a year ago, and I remain deeply concerned about the consequences to the vocational education sector if these measures are not correctly implemented.

Thanks to this very mediocre government, today, we are now considering rushed reforms years too late. Hopefully, the government will finally come to the table to sign and get serious about fundamental reform and proper protection for students. Over the last three years the Liberals have shown they simply do not care about technical and vocational education or TAFE. There is clear evidence from the Senate inquiry into these bills that shows problems with VET FEE-HELP emerged in 2014 and that the government knew about them.

That was three years ago. But no proper action was taken before the portfolio had been tossed around between five ministers, no-one having their feet under the table long enough to read their briefs. If the government had done its job and acted sooner, billions of dollars—and I mean billions not millions—could have been invested into apprenticeships and TAFE instead of being wasted on dodgy providers. Instead, the government sat on their hands while the quality of training and courses declined. Fees have skyrocketed and students have been squeezed out of quality TAFEs and lured away by far too many shonks. The Senate inquiry into the future of our aged-care workforce has recently heard about the detrimental impact this is having on the aged-care sector. We have a workforce shortage and quality of care is spiralling.

Labor knows that reform is long overdue and urgent, but the reality is that the bills before the Senate today are only one part of the solution. The proposed changes do nothing to turn around the decline and crisis within our public TAFE system. In fact, from the middle of next year, there is nothing in this government's budget to continue the national partnership that funds TAFE and skills, nothing whatsoever. On all fronts, the government has been asleep at the wheel. This portfolio has had five ministers in three years. And there will probably be another one when Mr Turnbull does his reshuffle after we get out of parliament. There is nothing in them to boost apprenticeships—in fact, they have done the opposite and cut 128,000 apprentice places.

Whilst we support the thrust of these bills, the government has failed to consult properly on the implementation of these changes and the time frame for implementation they have set themselves is overly ambitious and seemingly rushed. We will be watching closely to make sure the rules and determinations made by the minister are fair and effective, holding the government to account as these changes are implemented.

I move now to the government's amendment in the Senate. Labor has been calling for an ombudsman for a long time and has moved amendments in the House to establish one. Almost a year ago in the Senate the minister, Simon Birmingham, gave an undertaking that he would establish one, but when these bills were presented to the House there was no provision for an ombudsman. That is a pretty mediocre government, I have to say. An ombudsman is a practical way to help those students who have been ripped off and left with huge debts and nothing to show for them.

Senator McKenzie interjecting—

That is another interjection from another mediocre senator. The least we can do is make sure there is help in this place so that these students can get their money back. Labor will continue to hold the government to account, to make sure the other legislative changes needed—to establish an ombudsman with the right powers to protect students—are brought forward by the government with urgency.

We are also very pleased that the government is bringing forward a version of transparency and reporting amendments moved by Labor in the House of Representatives. The amendment will make sure that the VET FEE-HELP debacle can never happen again. Even if the minister has dropped the ball again, or is likely to drop the ball again—as the government has done over the last few years—information about the operation of the scheme will be made public twice a year, so we will be able to keep a close eye on what the providers are doing. This is a sensible amendment, and Labor is pleased the government has decided to support it.

We also welcome the changes the government is bringing forward in light of the Senate inquiry findings to strengthen the regulation of marketing practices and the banning of brokers. The inquiry heard disturbing evidence about the risks of exploitative in-house marketing practices at training organisations and about brokers finding ways to get around the proposed ban. This must be stopped, and we will support the government in stopping it. The details will be in ministerial rules yet to be released, but Labor's position is clear: we want brokers to be banned and dodgy marketing practices to be stamped out. We will be watching closely to make sure the minister's rules are thorough and effective in stamping out rorts and shonks.

In light of the Senate inquiry into these bills, Labor is moving two further amendments in the Senate: (1) allowing the minister to grandfather VET FEE-HELP students past the end of 2017, which is very important; and (2) exempting TAFEs from the proposed course restrictions and loan caps for one year, until 2018. Over 140,000 students will need to be grandfathered in the VET FEE-HELP scheme next year so that they can finish their courses. It stands to reason that many of these students will not finish their studies by the end of 2017, when the grandfathering abruptly ends. The impact of this dead stop to grandfathering at the end of 2017 will be huge for students. They will be faced with having to pay the full cost of their course fees up-front if they want to finish. This is completely unfair, and this is set to be yet another wave of VET students that the system will turn into victims through no fault of their own. It is very concerning that the minister has not provided anything in these bills to help these students when it is abundantly clear tens of thousands of students will be put in this position. Labor is moving these amendments because we want to protect students. It is wrong that students are again coming last in the debate, and students deserve to know that, when they start their studies next year, they will be able to afford to finish them.

TAFE is the backbone of the system and, along with innocent students, it has suffered the most in recent years from Liberal cuts and mismanagement at a state and federal level. The national partnership on skills, which funds TAFE, is set to end in the middle of next year, but the government still has not committed to replacing it at all. This uncertainty is crippling for TAFE and TAFE students. That is why we are moving an amendment to exempt TAFE from the eligible course list and the loan caps for one year, into 2017. I cannot stress any more in this chamber today the urgency of these two amendments, supported by the government, in the interest of TAFE and, in particular, those students.

In recent weeks, the Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, the member for McPherson, questioned whether the national partnership on skills was even needed in the future. This is deeply concerning. The current national partnership, put in place by Labor, expires in the middle of next year. Labor has been absolutely clear: we back public TAFE. That is why we took a TAFE funding guarantee to the last election. TAFE is the backbone of our apprenticeship system, but the Liberals—just as they do on so many issues—revert back to their DNA, where they would do anything but support TAFE. It is time the Liberals joined us in backing TAFE. I urge the minister and those on the other side of the chamber to support our amendments so that we can move forward and so that there is certainty given to all of those TAFE students who will live with uncertainty until these bills are passed. I commend these bills and our amendments to the chamber.