Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

Labor supports the Education Legislation Amendment (Provider Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2017. Labor recognises that there is a genuine risk that our higher education system could be targeted by unscrupulous providers and that ensuring Australia's world-class higher education system and our students are properly protected is absolutely critical to their ongoing success. Labor fully supports a robust and rigorous higher education regulatory system. We welcome an additional focus and greater scrutiny placed on the background of organisations that wish to operate in our higher education system. The reforms proposed in this bill rightly acknowledge there has been a surge in applications from vocational education providers to become higher education providers.

Labor also supports greater protections for students, particularly those who are accessing the FEE-HELP scheme. Students who take on debts for their study need to do so with confidence, and we welcome the changes the government proposes to the arrangements for accessing FEE-HELP. It is troubling that there is evidence that students haven fallen victim to unscrupulous marketing activities, and it is even more troubling that there is evidence to suggest that many providers have had tax file numbers passed on from the ATO. It is pleasing that this bill will ensure that this does not happen. It is important that we protect Australia's higher education system from some of the poor practices we have seen in the vocational education sector. The government needs to ensure that it continues to properly consult with the sector. It also needs to ensure that it properly provides the higher education regulator, TEQSA, with adequate resources to do its job. Labor supports this bill to ensure greater integrity and confidence in Australia's higher education system.