Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Job-Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students) Bill 2020, because this bill is a direct response to the workforce skills and training challenges that we are facing as a nation. It's a recognition of the unprecedented impact and churn within the Australian labour market and it's an acknowledgement that we, in partnership with industry, businesses and the broader Australian community, understand that skills will be absolutely critical in driving not only our recovery but also our long-term prosperity.

As we've heard only too often, the economic shock from the coronavirus challenge is unprecedented. Each and every Australian has been impacted in some way or another, whether it be them personally, their friends or their family. Small businesses have been disrupted. Local communities have been disrupted. Entire industries have been disrupted. Indeed, the higher education sector has been disrupted. Ensuring that the Australian economy is in the best possible position on the other side of this challenge will take every policy lever available to government. We know that, as a result of this disruption to our economy and the churn in our labour market, there will be record demand on our higher education system. We need to ensure that it's ready for that and accessible to as many Australians as possible who want to get the skills that they need to enter the workforce.

This government is providing leadership on this issue. We are making sure that our higher education system will be able to respond to this enormous challenge. We're getting on with the job. We're putting in place the reforms that our nation needs to not only recover but continue to prosper. I would make the argument that this is one of those rare 'Team Australia' moments which arise in this place every so often. You would think that those opposite would be supportive of getting Australians back into work and making sure that our higher education system remains accessible to as many Australians as possible. But, no, you would be wrong. We've heard that already this morning. They have continued with their policies of fear, their rhetoric of division and the old class warfare nonsense that they come up with every now and again when they have little else to argue with.

So let's look at the facts, shall we? I know that's something that those over there on the crossbench and in the Greens fail to do more often than not. Let's look at the facts and the practical impact of these reforms. This package will create 39,000 new university places in 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. It will also provide additional support for students in regional and remote Australia. With this bill, the Morrison government's record funding to Australia's higher education sector will also increase. I know that those over there don't like these numbers because it doesn't quite fit their narrative, but here they are. Through to 2024, funding will increase by an additional $2 billion—an additional $2 billion—increasing to $20 billion. Overall, Australian taxpayers will continue to pay more than half of the costs of Commonwealth supported places, with funding prioritised to areas of high public benefit and areas most needed by the labour market.

In addition, universities will work more closely with industry to ensure that graduates have the job-ready skills and experience that they need in this challenging labour market. This means that our universities will be able to respond more effectively to the jobs and the skills challenges that we have and are facing. It will give school leavers more options to take up the career of their choice. Commonwealth supported students starting courses in key growth areas—including science, nursing, teaching, engineering and IT—will see significant reductions in their student contribution for those units. In total, around 60 per cent of students will see either a reduction or no change at all to their student contribution. By choosing degrees with electives that respond to employer needs and the future demands of the Australian economy in subjects like mathematics, engineering, science and IT, students can actually reduce their total contribution and enhance the skills that they bring to employment.

Australian employers and industries are the ones that are actually best placed to know what skills they need for their business, for the jobs that they have. They're the ones that know what they need in the near term, for immediate recovery, and in the medium and long term. That's why those who study agriculture and maths will pay 59 per cent less for their degree—59 per cent less for their degree. Those enrolled in teaching, nursing—my wife's a nurse, my sister's a nurse, my mum's a teacher—clinical psychology, English and languages will pay 42 per cent less for their degree. Why? Because these are careers that are needed, these are careers that are in demand in our economy. And students who study science, health, architecture, environmental science, IT and engineering will pay 18 per cent less for their degree. Importantly, these reforms also align the costs of completing these units with the costs incurred by the provider in teaching them. All of these decisions have been made using data from the higher education sector, which clearly show the breakdown of actual costs. These measures will be grandfathered for those students with a Commonwealth supported place who are already studying these subjects. They'll be grandfathered so that they'll either pay a lower rate or the current rate, so this notion that someone who has chosen to do a degree is now going to be faced with higher costs is an absolute untruth.

As a senator for Western Australia, I'm also very proud to be part of a government that's delivering for regional and remote students, and I know Senator Reynolds would completely agree with me. We are very proud of our regional areas in Western Australia, and this bill is going to help deliver opportunities for more and more students coming from those areas. We need to make sure that the opportunities afforded to students as part of this package are afforded to all students, particularly those who live in some of the most regional, remote and isolated parts of our nation—and Western Australia has those places in spades. It could be said that these places are often where the bulk of our national wealth comes from, but no doubt that's for another debate.

In addition to providing more student places at Australian universities overall, the government will provide more than $400 million over the next four years to increase opportunities for regional and remote students to attend university, lifting investment in regional university campuses. All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from regional and remote areas will have a guaranteed Commonwealth supported place upon admission to their university of choice. For the first time, the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program will support regional, remote and Indigenous students, in addition to low-SES students, to access and complete higher education. This bill also amends the Social Security Act to reduce from six to three the number of months a student must be receiving student support payments to be eligible to receive the fares allowance for a return journey home—another important Napthine review recommendation. Regional communities will benefit from strengthened and newly established regional university centres, enhanced regional research opportunities and regional growth through additional funding to regional university campuses. I've seen the impact of these centres, I've visited the ones that are operating in Western Australia, and I acknowledge the good work of my colleague in the other place the member for Durack, Melissa Price, for the tremendous work that she has brought into this area in seeing a newly established regional university centre in Karratha.

Continuing to support regional students to get into their careers of choice with long-term demand in the Australian economy is critically important. I don't have the luxury of time this afternoon to go over all the measures in this bill. I've seen there's a long list of speakers, and I'm sure others will take us through that. But, despite not being able to do that today, I can say this: we cannot underestimate or downplay the long-term impacts of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus, particularly the effect that this is having upon the Australian labour market. We know that in a downturn the demand on skills and higher education providers actually increases. We must ensure that our higher education system can respond to this demand from a position of strength. At the same time, we must ensure that any reform we undertake makes further education and higher education more accessible to the broader Australian public—those looking to get into the workforce, gain those skills and set themselves and their families up for life. For those looking to have a go, we want to make sure that they certainly do get that opportunity to have a go. We need to make sure that our higher education system responds to the demand from businesses and industry, and those who will ultimately end up employing these graduates. We must ensure that they've got the skills that are in demand by employers—so that people are not just training or educating for training or education's sake but are undertaking courses and getting the requisite skills required to be productive in the workplace and to hold and keep down a job.

We're in partnership with our universities. They're best placed to know what skills they need for the near, medium and long term. And I believe that this bill meets those objectives. But don't just listen to me. Let's take a couple of points that we heard through the submissions that came in through the committee process. We heard from the Australian National University vice-chancellor, Brian Schmidt:

The government has put forward a set of higher education reforms that should allow essentially everyone (young and old) who wants a university opportunity to get one.

We heard from Professor Greg Craven, VC of the Australian Catholic University:

The package is massively pragmatic, responding to real problems in real time.

Industry is also on board. Employers are also on board. The president of the Australian Primary Healthcare Nurses Association, Karen Booth, said:

This is a major boost to our profession. It will attract more students into nursing by making their university education more affordable.

These are just a sample of the comments from universities and industry. There are many, many more. And they all acknowledge the importance of putting in place a sustainable funding model—a system which will deliver skills for the jobs of the future. We're in a rapidly changing labour market environment, and we have to adapt and change our education and training sector to ensure that we're meeting the demand and the needs of those jobs that exist not just today but into the future.

These are just a sample of some of the comments from universities and industry, and they all acknowledge the importance of putting in place a sustainable model—a system which will deliver skills for the jobs for the future, and, critically, allow all Australians who want to have a go to get a go. I commend this bill to the Senate.