Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Job-Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students) Bill 2020. Well, that's what the government calls this bill, anyway. It might be more fitting to call it the 'higher education support amendment (Scott Morrison is making it harder and more expensive to go to university) bill 2020', because that is the reality. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his Liberal-National government want to make it harder and more expensive to go to university. At the time of the Morrison recession, the first recession in three decades—the worst, deepest and most devastating recession in almost 100 years—at a time when there are almost one million unemployed Australians and a further 400,000 Australians set to be out of a job by Christmas, at a time when youth unemployment has hit 14.3 per cent and even higher in regional areas, and at a time when there are 13 jobseekers for every job vacancy, what does this government decide it is going to do for people across Australia, including young people and people looking to reskill? The Liberals and the Nationals, led by Scott Morrison, want to make it harder and more expensive to go to university.

Labor will oppose this bill and we urge other senators, particularly the crossbench, to do the same. Prime Minister Scott Morrison famously said, 'If you have a go, you get a go,' but this bill is going to make it harder for Australians to have a go and it will make it more expensive for them to have a go. Let's face the realities of this legislation. First, thousands of Australians—many of them young Australians—will pay more than double for the same university qualification if it passes; 40 per cent of students will have their fees increased to $14,500 a year; and, on average under the government's legislation, students will pay seven per cent more for their degree. That means people studying humanities, commerce and communications will pay more for their degree than doctors and dentists. Second, this bill will cut $1 billion out of Commonwealth funding from universities. The government is going to increase the student fee burden and reduce Commonwealth funding of higher education. We know Scott Morrison loves to pass the buck with responsibilities—you know, the bushfires, the Ruby Princess, aged care and the first recession in three decades—but with this legislation the Prime Minister is literally passing the buck to Australians seeking a university education. Third, Scott Morrison's university plan won't do what he promised it would do. As is always the case with the Morrison government, they are big on the headline and the announcement and the photo opportunity but they never deliver.

This bill means that, in academic areas which the government wants to encourage students to take up, universities will receive less money to teach those students. In areas where the government wants to discourage universities, they will receive more money to teach those students. Don't take my word for it. The CEO of the Grattan Institute, Danielle Wood, has said:

I honestly think it's one of the worst-designed policies that I have ever seen … Even if you accept its stated rationale, it doesn't go anywhere near achieving it.'

It doesn't take a university degree to know that, when you cut money that supports engineering and science courses, either you are going to get worse courses or you are going to get fewer scientists and engineers.

Under this legislation, universities will receive 32 per cent less to teach medical students, 17 per cent less to teach maths students, 16 per cent less to teach engineers, 15 per cent less for clinical psychology, 10 per cent less to teach agricultural students—and that's really not so good for regional Australia—and eight per cent less to teach nurses, in the middle of a global pandemic. Even the former Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop has pointed out, in her role as Chancellor of the Australian National University:

My concern is that under these new arrangements, there is a greater incentive for universities to take in a higher number of law, commerce and humanities students than there is to take in students in engineering and maths. That appears to be contrary to the government's policy intentions.

Even former Liberal minister Julie Bishop has called it out: the government's policy will do the exact opposite of what they say it will do.

To put it simply, you can't promote science and engineering by starving universities and their departments of money. The Prime Minister has either been dishonest about the intention of this legislation or, worse, he doesn't actually know how university funding works. Maybe the Prime Minister and the Minister for Education need to return to university themselves to work out what would actually happen under their proposed plan. It's clear you cannot trust the Liberal Party with universities. All they do is cut funding, jack up prices and lock out students. They're cutting billions from the sector while doing nothing to help young people get into high-priority courses and jobs. They're depriving young Australians in years 11 and 12 of a chance to help rebuild our economy, by making it harder and more expensive for them to go to university. Scott Morrison is making students pay more for their degrees, and he's locking others out altogether.

Just like all parts of our society, COVID has wreaked havoc on our higher education system. Australian universities are in distress, classes have moved from in person to online, student unions have had to strip back their operations and estimates show that at least 12,500 jobs have already been lost in the sector. Student life has been turned on its head. International student numbers have dropped off a cliff. The ABC reported yesterday that from January to July this year Home Affairs received 40 per cent of the applications that they received in the same period last year. In June alone, Home Affairs received just 4,062 student visa applications, compared to 34,015 in June 2019.

Not only are Australian universities not receiving the tuition fees of international students; the ripples have been, and will continue to be, felt throughout the economy. Those students won't be spending money in shops, they won't be renting apartments and they won't be travelling around our country as part of their time here. International education was worth $37.6 billion to the Australian economy last year. It's our fourth-largest export industry. We won't know the true impact of COVID on the international education sector and the economy, but the Mitchell institute forecasts a $19 billion loss in student revenue over the next three years.

The international students who are in Australia are suffering because they've been left behind by the Morrison government. They've been denied JobSeeker by this government and they've been denied JobKeeper by this government. They've been forced to rely on charities and food hampers to survive because of the actions of this government. They've been exploited in their workplaces and faced shocking racial abuse. Close to two-thirds of international students say they are less likely to recommend Australia as a study destination than before the pandemic. I've met with international students and they've been in tears as they've told me how Australia, the country that they have lived in and contributed to for years—sometimes four or five years—has simply abandoned them.

Another group who have been abandoned by this government are the almost 30,000 Australians stranded overseas, and this does impact on our higher education sector. Let me explain. Australians are stuck overseas, abandoned by the government during a deadly global pandemic. They're stranded in the UK, the Philippines, the United States, Canada, Lebanon, India—the list goes on. Thousands are considered medically and financially vulnerable. They shared their stories with the Senate COVID committee only a handful of weeks ago, some with their lives at risk overseas and others with their livelihoods in Australia on the line. That's all because they're stuck overseas and have not been afforded assistance by the government. The Australian government's failure to help these stranded Australians come home is actually standing in the way of our international student sector reviving. With the support of their respective state governments, universities in both South Australia and the Northern Territory are considering launching pilot programs to see international students return to our shores. But the education minister, Dan Tehan, told ABC RN Breakfast just two weeks ago:

What's being holding that up, though, is that we've got to make sure, first of all, that we're getting Australian residents back into the country and getting them properly quarantined, so they can return home.

The Morrison government's failure to have a plan to get stranded Australians home is actually impacting Australian universities recovering. You can't make this stuff up! But, still, it should come as no surprise given the Liberal government's neglect of Australia's higher education system. They failed to save university jobs at every step during the COVID crisis and the Morrison recession. There have been over 12,500 jobs lost to date, with forecasts of 20,000 jobs lost by the end of the year—20,000 Australians, their families and their communities devastated. And what has the Prime Minister done? What has this government done? Nothing. Nothing at all.

In fact, the government went out of its way to exclude public universities from JobKeeper. It changed the rules three times to ensure that universities don't qualify for JobKeeper. Government backbenchers often attack our universities and, more specifically, academics. When they do, we need to take a moment and realise not only are they attacking academics but they're attacking the people who are educating the next generation of Australians, who will help rebuild our economy, our society and our country in the wake of COVID-19. They're also attacking everyone who works at or is connected to a university. That means the librarians, the catering staff, the maintenance and ground staff, the security guards and the cleaners, many of who have had to continue going to work during the pandemic, many with families trying to make ends meet. That's who they're attacking when they attack universities.

They're also attacking regional Australia. Universities support 14,000 jobs in regional Australia, and this crisis is already devastating our regional universities. Senator Hanson says she's for Central Queensland and for regional Queensland, but why isn't she standing up for the 300 jobs that have been cut at Central Queensland University? Will she stand up for the jobs that will be lost across regional Australia and the economic devastation that will hit those communities? No, she won't. The Liberal-National government, who want to make the changes and who include government senators sitting opposite, have benefited from Australian universities. I'm sure some of the government senators opposite would have received free university education thanks to Gough Whitlam, yet here they are today, unleashing another kick in the guts for students and uni staff. Every member of Scott Morrison's cabinet went to university, but they don't think that our kids deserve the same chance in life.

We're relying on our brilliant universities and their researchers to find a vaccine for COVID-19, but they can't even rely on Scott Morrison to protect their jobs. We will be relying on universities to drive our economic recovery, but the Morrison government is cutting funding to those very universities. We're relying on an additional 3.8 million university qualifications by 2025, but instead the government is making it harder and more expensive to go to university. Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam said:

We believe that a student's merit, rather than a parent's wealth, should decide who should benefit from the community's vast financial commitment to tertiary education.

Only Labor will ensure that a university education never remains out of reach for Australians no matter who they are, no matter what family they're born into, no matter how much money they have, no matter where they live. In that spirit, Labor is going to oppose this irrational, unfair and poorly designed legislation. We commend Senator Lambie for signalling she will also oppose this bill and we urge others on the crossbench to do the same.