Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to ask Senator Pocock a couple of questions in relation to this provision. I understand that this is a provision which was drafted by the government. Senator Pocock, at first blush, this appears to be another way that students can access a reversal of their Startup Year fee. My concern is that there's no compulsion to include this provision in the Startup Year guidelines. If I take you to clause 2 of item 1, it says:

(2) The STARTUP-HELP Guidelines may require higher education providers that provide *accelerator program courses to conduct internal audits, or to arrange for audits, of compliance with the STARTUP-HELP Guidelines with respect to the courses. The Guidelines may prescribe any or all of the following:

(a) circumstances in which audits must be conducted or arranged;

(b) requirements in relation to when and how audits must be conducted or arranged and reported on.

Senator Pocock, I think the government sold you a bit of a dud here, and the reason I say that—because we've also looked at this amendment—is that it's discretionary. The provision that the opposition has put forward, in relation to student refunds, puts the students first and foremost. There's a lot of legalese in this particular amendment, but the bottom line is that the government is not required to make these provisions, because of the way in which clause 2 of item 1 is drafted. I just want to raise that concern and ask you whether you also share my concerns that the government should not be allowed to be let off the hook on this and that it should be mandatory that the government provides students with the opportunity to have their fee reversed and to get the refund if, as I've talked about already in this debate, it is necessary—if a course doesn't measure up.