Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table an explanatory memorandum. I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

Australia’s thriving international education sector has come under local and international media scrutiny over the past year, following a series of violent attacks against Indian students. This follows calls for better assistance and support for international students that have fallen on the deaf ears of successive governments and opposition parties.

Since then, an intense spotlight has been placed on our international education sector with issues such as visa exploitation and discrimination within employment, student safety, questionable information provided by education and immigration agents and sub-standard educational services and support by some providers contributing to the perception of rorting within our education sector.

Currently when it comes to complaint resolution, particularly with regard to international students, the fact that there are so many overlapping obligations with state accreditation bodies and the Commonwealth department highlights the difficulties about where to go and who to trust.

The Ombudsman Amendment (Education Ombudsman) Bill 2010 seeks to create the office of the education ombudsman to cover the domestic and international education sector in Australia and act as a one-stop national authority for resolving individual student complaints; provide a further avenue for resolving academic disputes, monitoring and enforcing compliance of education institutions, and facilitating communication between state and federal governments and educational organisations.

In 2001, the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education References Committee recommended that ‘a national Universities Ombudsman be appointed, funded by the Commonwealth, after consultation with the states and national representative bodies on higher education, including staff and students, and that such an office include the power to investigate ancillary fees and charges and to conciliate complaints. Students enrolled in Australian programs off-shore should have equal rights of access to the Ombudsman.’

In November 2009, following an extensive Senate inquiry into the welfare of international students, a cross-party report was released which specifically identified the need for extending the powers of the Commonwealth Ombudsman to cover the international students sector.

During evidence presented to the inquiry, Senior Industrial Office from the ACTU, Michelle Bissett identified the virtues of having a specific ombudsman for international students. She said ‘There are two aspects of where students need to be able to go. We believe that the Fair Work Ombudsman has a critical role to play and has done some good work in identifying high-risk areas and doing audits and education programs in those areas. But in terms of visa holders, having someone independent that they can go to when they have issues about their provider and the training that has been provided to them, or about the work that they are being required to undertake as part of a training program or about what is happening to them in the workplace, we think an independent ombudsman type arrangement would be useful and appropriate for international students.’

Nigel Palmer, from the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations also informed the Committee that ‘at the very least, having a national commission or a national ombudsman’s office would be useful to give students a clear avenue for redress. Even where students are unable to have their issues resolved by that office, at least there is a vehicle for national reporting on the kinds of problems that are coming up through the system and areas which may need to be addressed by government.’

The idea of an education ombudsman has even been flagged by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. In his submission to the Inquiry he noted the need for an external, as well as an internal, avenue for complaints to be made if internal mechanisms prove unsatisfactory. The role of the education ombudsman could also be combined with the Immigration Ombudsman and compliance auditing roles to ‘address a range of systemic failures across the international student sector.’

The Hon. Bruce Baird, in his final report into the Review of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, recommended that ‘all providers must utilise a statutory independent complaints body as their external complaints and appeals process, and amend the Ombudsman Act 1976 to extend the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to include those providers without access to such a body.’

It is clearly evident that there is growing support for an independent complaints body for students to use, and this bill seeks to implement an education ombudsman to deal specifically with these issues facing both international and domestic students.

Legislating for an education ombudsman, would provide a further avenue for academic disputes, monitoring and enforcing compliance of education institutions, and facilitating communication between state and federal governments and educational organisations.

I commend this bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.