Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contributions to this debate. The Education Legislation Amendment (Startup Year and Other Measures) Bill 2023 will support the development of the skills needed to drive the businesses and technologies of the future. It will extend up to 2,000 startup, income-contingent HELP loans each year to eligible students participating in higher education based accelerator programs. These programs under this new loan type will build skills in entrepreneurship and connect students with the support, mentorship and facilities that they need to develop their startup ideas. It will commence with a pilot program and then be rolled out to universities that are approved through an application process. The success of the free programs currently offered by universities, of which the opposition have spoken, proves the point that structured courses that confer a qualification are not only sensible but in demand.

Universities have been vocal in their support for this kind of structure around the development of entrepreneurial skills. That appears to have been lost on some of those opposite. Senator O'Sullivan read from the Universities Australia submission as part of the government's consultation process. He neglected to refer to the evidence given by Universities Australia at the Senate committee hearing on this bill after the input from the consultation had been actioned by the government. At that hearing Universities Australia said that it supports and applauds the government's initiative in the establishment of the startup year. Universities Australia described the consultation process with government as first class. When asked by Senator O'Sullivan as to whether there was a value proposition for students and universities, the response from Universities Australia was, 'Absolutely.'

In the same hearing the Australian Technology Network said, 'We fundamentally think this is a great program.' The University of Technology said in its submission to the inquiry that the bill will help the next generation of young Australian entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life, and that it commends the government for exploring innovative and long-term solutions to fund and support startups. And yet the opposition have flagged that they'll oppose this bill and have tried to remove the Startup Year program from it. They say their opposition is because of a lack of detail or some uncertainty about the program. The opposition have had the benefit of briefings, the Senate committee inquiry and even the provision of draft guidelines and the program handbook well ahead of schedule to assist in their understanding of the program.

I now table the draft guidelines and handbook, noting that they will be amended further following the passage of this bill. The opposition have chosen to ignore much of the evidence from the Senate committee hearing and report. To offer paltry amendments while also opposing the bill is 'no-alition' politics at its most basic. I encourage the opposition to support this initiative in upskilling our brightest young innovators. In response to a request from the Scrutiny of Bills Committee, I table an addendum to the exploratory memorandum as well.

The bill also amends the Higher Education Support Act to list Avondale University as a table B provider, following its recent registration as an Australian university by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. The bill also mends the Australian Research Council Act 2001 to apply current indexation to funding for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years and insert a new funding cut for the 2025-26 financial year, resulting in an additional appropriation to the ARC of just over $1 billion. As I referred to, this bill was considered by the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, which recommended passing the bill. In response to the dissenting recommendation by coalition senators, the Australian government is providing targeted cost-of-living relief that does not add to inflation, addressing supply-side problems and investing in future growth. We're making our nation's finances more sustainable. These include the government's energy package, legislation to reduce childcare costs and reductions to the costs of medicines on the PBS.

The government also intends to move an amendment in the committee stage which will align the Higher Education Support Act with the government's recently announced pathway to Australian citizenship for New Zealand citizens. The new pathway will allow eligible New Zealand citizens seeking Australian citizenship to access HELP loans whilst they do so. It fixes a long-existing gap in the HELP system where New Zealand students missed out on HELP loans for a portion of their Australian citizenship pathway. The amendment I will move is to ensure that eligible New Zealand citizens on the existing pathway to Australian citizenship will be treated the same as those embarking on the government's new pathway. As a matter of fairness, it will allow them to access HELP loans in the same way. This is a modest but important amendment, and one which deserves the support of the chamber.

The measures in this bill deliver on our election commitment and further the government's dedication to supporting our higher education sector. I commend the bill to the chamber.