Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

It's a delight to be asked to provide a contribution to the debate on the Education Legislation Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022 on behalf of the opposition, and to put our position on the record. At the outset, it's good to go through a bit of background and context for this legislation. The purpose of this bill is to give effect to six measures that were introduced by the former coalition government, and also a new measure by the government to cease the 10 per cent discount for the upfront payment of student contributions.

Six of the elements of this bill were included in legislation introduced by the former coalition government that lapsed at the end of the previous parliament. The measures include the extension of the FEE-HELP loan exemption, to apply until the end of the year 2022, with retrospective effect from 1 January. FEE-HELP is the Commonwealth loan program available to domestic full-fee paying students to pay their tuition fees. It usually has a 20 per cent loan fee applied to undergraduate students. The students that access FEE-HELP generally study with private higher education providers, which is an interesting fact. The coalition waived the FEE-HELP loan fee as a COVID-19 relief measure from 1 April 2020 through to 31 December 2021. This measure provides a further exemption of the loan fee to 31 December 2022. This measure encourages students accessing FEE-HELP who have been financially impacted by the effects of the pandemic to commence or continue their studies. This measure is expected to assist approximately 30,000 students, which is certainly no small number.

The second measure contained in the six measures I have already referenced was to support the development of microcredential courses by extending FEE-HELP eligibility for students accessing these. This element of the bill supports those wishing to undertake what is known as a microcredential unit of study by allowing them to access the same FEE-HELP for this unit. The larger microcredential pilot program, which was introduced by the coalition government, encourages universities to develop and deliver new microcredential programs supporting the national priority to build a highly skilled workforce through more flexible and industry-focused models of higher education.

Microcredential courses, for those wondering, are standalone single-unit certification courses. They're not formal degrees and they're not qualifications per se, but they still have an assessment component and provide additional or complimentary learning to upskill the workforce. This is very important given the dynamic nature of workforce needs and the time capacity of students and those entering into studies. The feedback from industry, students and providers has shown that short courses are an important study option, providing flexibility and fast-tracked higher education qualifications.

The former government provided $32½ million to the higher education sector to develop these courses to domestic and international students. Scaling up industry-focused microcredentials was one of the seven recommendations of the University-Industry Collaboration in Teaching and Learning review. The review findings complimented the coalition's support for the delivery of innovative higher education models, research commercialisation and reform of the Australian Qualifications Framework. This specific change supports students—typically those that are full-fee paying and engaging in one of those courses—to access FEE-HELP, which provides them with a loan, for want of a better term, so they can access these courses and upskill or reskill to a new profession.

Complementary to this change, the bill clarifies the status of enabling courses in the context of the lifetime student learning entitlement. The student learning entitlement is a lifetime limit on the amount of Commonwealth support a student can receive through a Commonwealth supported place, or a CSP. It is currently at seven years. An enabling course is a course to assist students who are new to academic study to pursue a higher education—for example, essay writing. This change is extremely important to ensure that students are fully equipped with these essential skills to succeed in their higher education studies without it impacting on their course attainment for PhD or master's qualifications.

The bill also makes some technical changes requiring students to provide their USI to their higher education provider on or at the time of a place offer to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance. From 1 January 2021, as part of the government's commitments to extend the USI to higher education, students have been required to have a USI to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance. This measure is a technical change requiring that students also provide their USI to their higher education provider to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance.

Higher education providers are required to report students' USIs to the secretary of the Department of Education, Skills and Employment. Without an explicit requirement for students to give their USIs to their providers, their providers have had difficulties complying with their reporting requirements. This has in turn impacted the broader policy aim for the USI to be used as a student identifier across the tertiary education sector. This measure addresses the issue by clearly linking the provision of a valid USI to the student's provider with their eligibility for Commonwealth assistance.

A further change is to clarify the requirements for New Zealand citizens who want to access HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP. This measure will introduce a requirement for New Zealand citizens to be resident in Australia for the duration of a unit of study to be eligible for HECS-HELP assistance and FEE-HELP assistance for that specific unit. This measure will ensure consistency across the citizenship and residency requirements for non-Australian citizens accessing Commonwealth assistance.

Under the existing framework New Zealand students have been able to undertake study outside of Australia while accessing FEE-HELP, contrary to the policy intention of citizenship and residency requirements for non-Australian citizens for Commonwealth assistance. Current students will not be affected by this measure. This measure will affect only students seeking Commonwealth assistance in relation to a unit of study with a census date on or after 1 January 2023.

The bill no longer includes the legislative changes for the HELP for Rural Doctors and Nurse Practitioners initiative that provides a debt reduction for rural doctors and nurse practitioners who reside and practise in regional, rural or remote Australia. We have been assured by the government that these legislative changes will be included in a separate bill—the Higher Education Support Act Amendment (Measures No. 1) Bill 2022—which will be introduced. We are grateful to the government for continuing to support this important measure which will encourage initial employment and increase retention of doctors and nurse practitioners in those communities across Australia that I've already mentioned.

Last but not least, the bill gives effect to the government's election commitment to end the 10 per cent Higher Education Contribution Scheme-Higher Education Loan Program, HECS-HELP, discount for upfront payment of student contribution amounts from 1 January 2023. The bill removes the 10 per cent discount for students who pay all or part of their student contribution amount upfront, with a minimum $500 payment. This discount has a long history. It was initially introduced by the Hawke Labor government and has been amended over the years to its current iteration. It was a measure that helped students bring forward their payments, should they wish to do so, and reduce the debt burden they would face once they concluded their studies and reached the required salary level, which I'm advised in this financial year is $48,361. Contrary to the rhetoric that is often floated around this issue, this measure was not designed to benefit rich kids. Students from all walks of life and of different ages and courses benefited from this measure.

In concluding I would like to reflect on the coalition's strong record in backing the higher education sector. The last budget of the coalition government committed almost $20 billion towards higher education. This was part of our record $115 billion in total of government funding for universities between 2019 and 2024, with $95.2 billion of that going to teaching and learning and $19.8 billion of that total being allocated to research. In the 2020-21 budget we funded an additional 30,000 places as part of 100,000 more places over the decade. We also provided $32½ million over four years to develop and pilot microcredentials, as I referenced in an earlier part of this speech. We put an additional $1 billion into university research during the pandemic, and in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 budgets we committed $277.9 million for higher education providers to offer short course places in 2020-21 and $298½ million for national priority and innovative places from 2021 through to 2024. Based on data provided by universities in October 2021, around 12,586 short course places were estimated to have been delivered in the year 2021.

We also had a strong commitment to regional education, with funding delivered for regional university centres to help students in regional and remote areas access higher education. Our $242.7 million Trailblazer Universities Program is helping to support Australia's best minds to produce cutting-edge research that can be used to deliver real-world outcomes. The coalition will continue to back measures that strengthen and grow our higher education sector, ensuring that all Australians, should they wish to do so, can access a world-class higher education, whether they live in the cities, the regions or the remote parts of our country. The former coalition government is very proud of our commitment to this sector and what it has provided to those who are beneficiaries of it and the future they can derive no matter where they live.