Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Senate and those senators who have contributed on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Job-Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students) Bill 2020. This bill implements the government's Job-Ready Graduates Package, which was announced by the Minister for Education on 19 June. The bill demonstrates our government's commitment to reforming Australia's higher education sector to drive growth and support into our regions and in areas of national need and to position universities to best achieve the objective of producing job-ready graduates that help Australian drive employment creation out of the COVID-19 crisis.

The bill better aligns the funding of universities in supporting students for what it costs to teach those students. This allows the government to then support growth in the higher education sector and to support the creation and funding of an additional 100,000 university places by 2030. The bill also directs more public funding to students studying in areas of projected employment growth as well as areas of industry and community priority, meaning that there will be a significant decrease in fees for students studying in these areas. These funding changes will encourage students to pick the areas of study at university that are most likely to help them secure a job, grow our economy and ensure that universities are focused and have the capacity to produced job-ready graduates across all areas.

Importantly, this bill will reduce the student contribution amounts for more than half of all commencing students. Students enrolling in teaching, nursing, clinical psychology, English and languages will pay 42 per cent less for their degree. Students who study agriculture and maths will pay 59 per cent less for their degrees. Students who study science, health, architecture, environmental science, information technology and engineering will pay 18 per cent less for their degrees. Crucially, this all occurs in the ongoing framework of the HECS-HELP system that ensures no Australian student need face upfront fees in relation to their access to university. The bill includes grandfathering arrangements to ensure no student enrolled in a course prior to 1 January 2021 is worse off as a result of these reforms. These grandfathering arrangements will extend the amended Commonwealth contribution amounts in the bill, ensuring universities receive the same Commonwealth contribution for those grandfathered students.

In response to feedback from the higher education sector, the bill will created the new disciplines of 'pathway', 'professional pathway social work' and 'professional pathway psychology' in Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding. This change will result in an increase in the Commonwealth contribution and a reduction of the proposed student contribution amount for social work or psychology units that are undertaken as part of those qualifications that are part of the professional pathway. We look forward to working quickly and closely with the sector to settle on the most efficient and effective way to implement these arrangements. The bill also extends Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding to more work experience and industry units of study, which will enable more students to gain critical workplace skills while they study.

The bill also allows the government to establish its $900 million National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund, which will provide universities with additional support to collaborate with Australian industry to design courses that best equip students with the job-ready skills and experience they need to succeed. The bill also improves flexibility for universities in how they provide places based on what they receive in Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding. This will enable public universities to better respond to student, industry, and community demand and ensure Australia's workforce has the right skills at the right time.

The bill will also introduce a maximum basic grant amount floor for higher education courses. This will provide funding certainty for public providers by establishing that their funding for higher education courses for grant years 2021 to 2024 must not be less than the amount specified in the Commonwealth Grant Scheme guidelines and for 2025 and later grant years must not be less than the providers' maximum basic grant amount for those courses for the preceding grant year.

The bill also implements some key recommendations made by Dr Denis Napthine in the National Regional, Rural and Remote Education Strategy. It will introduce demand driven funding for Commonwealth supported places for regional and remote Indigenous students. After the passage of the bill, all regional and remote Indigenous students who are admitted to a public university in a non-medical bachelor or bachelor honours course of study will be guaranteed a Commonwealth supported place. It improves access to fares allowance by reducing the number of months a student must be receiving eligible payments for fares allowance from six to three months for a trip home.

The bill also enables the government's plans to introduce grant payments through the Indigenous, Regional and Low Socioeconomic Status Attainment Fund. This will allow for more support for regional, rural, Indigenous and low-SES students to access university, graduate and enjoy the benefits that higher education offers. The bill also strengthens and extends student protection and provider integrity measures under the Higher Education Support Act.

Importantly, these amendments do not penalise students for circumstances beyond their control and include the ability to have units discounted due to special circumstances important and warranted. As such, new subsection 36-13(2) acknowledges the systems and processes that higher education providers have in place to identify, protect and provide support for vulnerable students who may be experiencing difficulty in their studies or who may not have the academic ability to undertake a specific higher education course. The bill also contains various technical and administrative changes.

I flag that in the committee stage I'll move amendments to correct some minor technical issues in the bill: to amend the proposed completion rate provision in section 36-13 of the bill to specify circumstances where a higher education provider will be satisfied that it is impracticable for a student to complete the requirements of a unit of study; to extend until 30 June 2021 the loan fee exemption for all undergraduate students accessing FEE-HELP; to reintroduce from 1 January 2021 a 10 per cent discount for students who are eligible for HECS-HELP assistance and pay part of their student contribution per unit upfront; and to reintroduce the student learning entitlement, which will commence on 1 January 2022.

I thank all senators for their contributions in debating these measures, especially those who have engaged in such constructive discussions with the government as we work to improve access to the higher education sector and graduate outcomes. Indeed, I thank many across the sector—the many stakeholders, including universities, students, employers, and industry groups—that have worked with Minister Tehan and the government to provide useful and constructive feedback on the bill and the government's Job-ready Graduates Package. I commend the bill to the Senate.