Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

University learning and research are a fundamental public good, and students should always be able to study what they want to study, not what the government of the day wants them to study, which is what the coalition was trying to do. Universities should not be seen as job factories but places of knowledge creation which hold power to push society forward. The Job-ready Graduates package was a shameful, shameful, punitive mess that was misguided from the start and must be immediately reversed.

I must say, Labor did speak a big game in opposition to that package when it was introduced, calling the scheme broken beyond repair, but they have done nothing to reverse it; it is a pathetic abdication of responsibility on the government's part. The government should have binned it the second they came into power but there was no action. All that scheme has done is condemn generations of young people to decades of debt and push universities further into strife. It has entrenched gender inequality, as women overwhelmingly study the courses which were hit hardest by fee hikes and are incurring more and more student debt, so it needs to go and it needs to go now.

No-one should ever have to experience sexual violence yet every week hundreds of students experience it in university settings, and nearly one-in-three university staff are sexually harassed. That is completely unacceptable. The government and universities have failed quite miserably in their duty to keep students and staff safe. It is clear the universities cannot be left to regulate themselves. The bill establishes the framework for support for student policy, and the content of the policy is being developed by the department here in parallel. This policy must explicitly address sexual assault and harassment as issues that impact a student's ability to complete their studies. It should require universities to offer academic accommodations for students and provide an appeals and complaints process for when university policies are inadequate or have been applied unfairly. This would be a first step to improving universities' failure to respond to sexual violence, but there is so much more work to be done.

We need a regulatory system that has expert-led oversight of universities, of the actions that universities take to end sexual violence, and meaningful accountability for universities when they fail to keep staff and students safe. We need complaints mechanisms that are trauma-informed, timely and that students can trust, and we need transparency on what each university is doing to respond and prevent sexual violence. Oversight, accountability, complaints avenues and transparency, these are the key functions of a system which are needed to address sexual violence in universities that campaigners like End Rape on Campus and Fair Agenda are calling for, and the government must deliver on that.

TEQSA is meant to be the regulatory agency for higher education but has been totally missing in action on sexual violence. It is shameful that TEQSA has failed to take any meaningful action in response to the countless complaints of sexual violence that have been put to them by students and student groups. We do need an independent review of TEQSA to understand why their regulatory response has failed to do what it was supposed to do. We must also recognise that international student survivors face particular difficulty in getting adequate support from universities, and that's something that needs to be specifically addressed. Every week students and staff are suffering from violence. There are more reports, more working groups and more meetings, and that's not good enough. I think the government needs to act right now to make staff and students safe right now.

University and TAFE should be fee-free for every student, and all student debt should be wiped. You will keep hearing this from me until we get there, because education is a fundamental public good and right. At the moment, more than three million Australians owe in excess of $74 billion in student debt, and this debt is rising faster than it can be paid off. The current annual minimum repayment income is just $51,550, which is only around $5,500 above the annual minimum wage. People are struggling to survive in this cost-of-living crisis. They desperately need this money to use for essentials, not to cover their student debt. It is a terrible political choice by the government to keep this system in place.

As to student placements, I have said this before and I will say it again: they are an exploitation of students. The exploitation of compulsory unpaid placements is putting tens of thousands of students under even more pressure. Students have shared shocking reports of having to choose between putting petrol in the car to get to their placements and having a meal. Unpaid placements are especially common in feminised fields of study, like teaching, nursing and social work, which is further entrenching gender inequality. Even international students are undertaking unpaid placements and are under huge pressure, especially at this time, because of the restrictions on their work rights, and we know how they are struggling to pay their rent or even find a proper place to live. It is also particularly difficult for students with parenting responsibilities and those already marginalised, including First Nations people and migrants. In inquiry after inquiry, the Labor government has heard how desperately in need of support these students are; the message has been loud and clear. All mandatory placements must be paid, and Labor must work with students and experts to explore other reforms to improve the placement system.

Another group of struggling students I want to talk about and shine a light on is PhD students. PhD stipends are not even at $30,000 per year, which is obviously well below the minimum wage. I know that some universities top it up, but data on 189 PhD programs shows that only 42 programs offer above the government stipend, and all do not meet the minimum wage. Students cannot effectively live in dignity in these conditions. Many are forced to quit their PhD programs, rely on their partner's income, cut back on food, or work extra jobs during the night. Despite conducting research full time, PhD students cannot access paid parental leave entitlements as other working parents can. This must change, and the Labor government has the opportunity to do this. They refused it earlier this year, when they voted against the Greens amendment to give PhD students parental leave, but it needs to change.

The last thing I want to say on the bill is about staff. Every month we see job cuts and underpayments at our universities. The corporate university model has completely and truly failed.

I stand in solidarity with the NTEU and their tireless campaigning on many of these issues. Labor must boost funding to universities and ensure this leads to increases in secure and well-paid employment for staff. University staff deserve the best conditions. My second reading amendment goes to the heart of these big, bold changes that we need to make to start addressing the current challenges facing universities. I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate calls on the Government to:

(a) make university and TAFE fee-free for all;

(b) wipe all student debt;

(c) pay students for undertaking mandatory vocational placements;

(d) raise PhD student stipends, and provide paid parental leave to PhD students;

(e) establish independent oversight of universities' actions to end sexual violence, and impose consequences on universities that fail to keep staff and students safe; and

(f) ensure university staff are in secure jobs and paid fair wages."