Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about the future of higher education in Australia—a future that could see many people denied the opportunity to reach their full potential because of the Abbott government's proposed $5 billion cuts to higher education; a future that will see students paying much higher fees and being saddled with bigger HECS bills.

I speak as many Tasmanian students have, just last week, received their university examination results. Some of those students will now be looking forward to graduating at ceremonies in the coming weeks. They have been able to fulfil their ambition to get a university degree, but many others will not be so fortunate.

Many Tasmanians will simply not be able to afford to go on to further education. They will not be able to afford a $100,000 price tag for a degree. The Abbott government wants to end Australia's fair and equitable higher education system. They want to put an end to fairness and equity. But Labor will never stand by and tell anyone that the quality of their education depends on their ability to pay. Never should a person's access to education be based on whether they can pay for it. And with such massive cuts to higher education and university research, students will have to pay.

These cuts are massive: $5 billion in cuts to higher education and university research; $3.2 billion in cuts to HECS; $1.9 billion in cuts to universities by reductions in government course subsidies; $202 million in cuts by indexing university grants to CPI; $172.4 million in cuts to fund and reward universities for enrolling low SES students—and I will refer to this callous measure later; $173.7 million in cuts to the training of Australia's research students, who are the scientists and academics of the future; and a $75 million cut to the Australian Research Council grants. And, of course, we must not forget that this government wants to fully deregulate student fees from 2016, which will lead to higher fees and spiralling student debt.

It has been estimated by experts that students could be faced with fees of up to $200,000. Modelling by the University of Melbourne shows that a course like medicine could cost between $117,000 and $203,000 over the course of a degree. It is clear that the Abbott government wants to wreck our current university system—a move that has been described as a crime. On his recent visit to Australia, Nobel prize winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz said:

Trying to pretend that universities are like private markets is absurd. The worst-functioning part of the US educational market at the tertiary level is the private for-profit system. It is a disaster. It excels in one area, exploiting poor children. If you’re rich your parents can pay the fees, but if you are poor you are going to worry about how much debt you’re undertaking. While we in the US are trying to re-regulate universities, you are talking about deregulating them. It really is a crime.

It is a crime because they will take Australia down the path of greater inequality.

In my home State of Tasmania the effects of the cuts to higher education will be diabolical. Not long after the Abbott government handed down the harshest budget in recent history, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania, Professor Peter Rathjen, emailed university students. He outlined what the implications would be for the University of Tasmania. Professor Rathjen said:

Our early modelling suggests a decrease to our University in CGS revenue from government of around $30 million per annum.

The ability of the university to recoup those reductions in revenue through fee premiums may be limited by the economic circumstances of the island.

In a world where competition is intensified, specialisation is encouraged and the demand on students to fund our activities is increased, we may also need to evaluate which aspects of our mission must be assigned higher value and which, regrettably, may need to be diminished or abandoned.

Today in question time, on a question asked by Senator Kim Carr about Tasmania, we had no comfort at all from the Minister representing the Minister for Education. There was no comfort to the families and students studying in Tasmania. Rosita Gallasch wrote in the Launceston Examiner newspaper on 17 June of the 'tumultuous' times ahead for the University of Tasmania:

We also have the issue of the population in Tasmania and the fact that the state is unique for many reasons and the University of Tasmania plays an integral role.

The state is unique for many reasons and the university plays an integral role—few would probably realise it is Tasmania's third largest employer after Woolworths and Coles.

However, rumours continue to circulate that a Northern campus may close in the wake of the overhaul to the tertiary education sector announced by the federal government in the May budget.

No one could deny the loss of a Northern campus, whether that be in Launceston or Burnie, would have far-reaching implications on the population.

One of the few Tasmanians not worried about the axe hanging over UTAS is the federal Liberal member for Lyons Eric Hutchinson. According to a report in the Launceston Examiner last Saturday, Mr Hutchinson said Tasmania's higher education sector should prosper under these changes. The report said Mr Hutchinson had dismissed fears that deregulation would cost UTAS $30 million—even though the vice-chancellor of UTAS had already indicated via an email to staff and students that the modelling they had done had, indeed, indicated there would be a cut of $30 million per year. Mr Hutchinson dismissed those fears; in fact, he described the changes to higher education saying, 'This is a real sweet spot for Tassie.' He went on to say:

If UTAS is not up to it you will see other universities coming here and competing here, whether they come in physically or online, I'm not sure.

These comments are simply absurd. It is ironic that in his maiden speech Mr Hutchinson spoke of the importance of UTAS to the Tasmanian economy. He said:

… it is about using our smartest and brightest people at the University of Tasmania to build on the smarter investments in schools and to encourage more Tasmanians to consider taking a course at UTAS. Peer acknowledged UTAS is the best teaching university in Australia; it is also in the top nine research universities in the country. How many young Tasmanians know this, I wonder?

I can tell Mr Hutchinson that many young Tasmanians will not ever get to know about the wonderful record of UTAS because they will rule out ever going to university because they cannot afford it—because of this government. Mr Hutchinson's Liberal colleagues, Mr Whiteley and Mr Nikolic, have also previously spoken about the importance of the UTAS to developing the state.

I could go on about the lack of support from those three Liberal members in not speaking out about the impact of these higher education cuts on the University of Tasmania. I do not have much time, so I will say to those members that they need to talk to Minister Pyne about the impact that a $30 million cut per year will have on the University of Tasmania. The Labor Party will not support a system of higher fees, larger student debt and reduced access and greater inequality.