Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to the bill and I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

We have a good education system.

But it can be a lot better and a lot fairer.

This bill is an important part of achieving that goal.

It is the first stage of the implementation of the Universities Accord.

It will wipe out about $3 billion of HELP debt for more than 3 million Australians.

It will introduce, for the first time, a Commonwealth Prac Payment. That is Commonwealth Government financial support for teaching students, for nursing students, for midwifery students and social work students, to help support them while they do the practical part of their degree.

And it massively expands Fee-Free Uni Ready Courses—the courses that act as a bridge between school and uni, and help ensure that more Australians get a crack at uni and succeed when they get there.

All are key measures recommended in the Final Report of the Universities Accord, led by Professor Mary O'Kane AC.

Professor O'Kane is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide and NSW's first Chief Scientist and Engineer as well as the first woman to be a Dean of Engineering at an Australian university.

Professor O'Kane was supported by an esteemed group of Australians, including:

The Accord Panel has provided us with a blueprint to reform higher education over the next few decades.

Funding it and implementing it is going to take more than just one budget.

We have to do this in stages.

But we have bitten off a big chunk.

29 of the 47 recommendations, in full or in part.

That includes the measures in this Bill, which amends the Higher Education Support Act2003 and related legislation.

First, the bill amends the Higher Education Loan Program, or HELP, indexation methodology to be based on either the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index—whichever is lower.

This change applies to HELP (or what we used to call HECS), VET Student Loans, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans and other student support loan accounts.

The big hike in student debt last year hit a lot of Australians hard, in particular a lot of young Australians.

They've made their voice heard. The Albanese Labor Government has heard them and we're acting.

That's why this bill will wipe around $3 billion in student debt for 3 million Australians nationwide—easing pressure on workers, apprentices, trainees and students across the country.

It will provide significant relief for people with a student debt while continuing to protect the integrity and value of student loans systems, which have massively expanded tertiary access for more Australians.

And we are going further.

The bill backdates this relief for student support loans including HELP, VET Student Loans and Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans that existed on 1 June last year.

In other words, we're going to wipe out last year's unfair CPI indexation rate of 7.1 per cent and replace it with the lower WPI rate of 3.2 per cent. It will also wipe out the 4.7 per cent from this year and reduce it to 4 per cent.

For someone with an average debt of $26,500, they will see around $1,200 wiped from their outstanding loan this year.

For someone with a debt of $45,000, it will mean that their debt is cut by about $2,000.

For someone with a debt of $60,000, it will mean that their debt is cut by almost $2,700.

Corresponding changes are made to the VET Student Loans Act 2016, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans Act 2014, Social Security Act 1991 and Student Assistance Act 1973 to ensure that the revised methodology also applies to VET Student Loans, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans, Student Start-up Loans, ABSTUDY Student Start-up Loans and the Student Financial Supplement Scheme.

Second, the bill amends the Higher Education Support Act to allow for grants to be paid to higher education providers for a new Commonwealth Prac Payment.

This is an important reform.

A lot of students tell me that when they do their prac they've got to give up their part-time job, or they've got to move away from home or work fewer hours.

Sometimes that can mean they delay doing their degree or don't finish it at all.

That's why for the first time ever, we are introducing this payment for eligible teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students.

This will give people who have signed up to do some of the most important jobs in this country a bit of extra help to get the qualifications they need.

This is practical support for practical training.

Just to give you one example of what this will mean, a few weeks ago I met a midwifery student at UTS who told me this:

"I'm a first-year mature-age midwifery student. This payment is going to be absolutely life-changing for me. As a mother of two small children, I'm often balancing between practical work, placement and looking after my babies.

"There are literally some days where I'm doing 16hour days between my study and my work and looking after my children.

"I cannot wait for this payment to be available for myself and other future mature-age students who might also want to enrol in this course who previously couldn't financially afford it."

That's what this reform is all about.

Third, the bill establishes a new Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding cluster for "FEE-FREE Uni Ready Courses".

These free courses are effectively a bridge between school and university to give students the foundational skills they need to succeed at uni.

Some universities offer these courses already.

Not many do it better than Newcastle Uni.

They have been doing it now for 50 years.

One in five people who get a degree from Newcastle University today, start with one of these FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses.

People like Jennifer Baker.

Jennifer was a mum at 19. She worked in hospitality for 10 years and one day saw an ad for one of these free courses in the local paper.

Now she's got a science degree. An Honours degree. A PhD. And a Fulbright Scholarship.

She's a computational medicinal chemist.

That's what these courses do.

And what this bill does is effectively uncap FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses, right across the country.

Giving more Australians the life-changing opportunity to get a crack at going to university.

Another good example of this is the University Preparation Program at the University of Tasmania where 51 per cent of students who go through the program are the first in their family to attend university.

And 39 per cent are from a low SES background.

Mr Speaker this reform is expected to increase the number of people doing these free uni ready courses by about 40 per cent by the end of the decade and double the number in the decade after that.

Fourth, the bill requires that higher education providers allocate a minimum of 40 per cent of the student services and amenities fees revenue they collect from students to student-led organisations.

This will ensure that students have a significant voice in how their services and amenities fees are spent.

Universities can apply to the Secretary of my Department for a transition period to implement this change.

Any transition arrangements for public universities must be completed within agreed timeframes, up to a maximum of three years.

These are all recommendations of the Universities Accord.

And they are all important measures in themselves.

But they are only one part of what we need to do to build a better and a fairer education system.

Under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, the number of Australians finishing high school jumped from around 40 per cent to almost 80 per cent. That was nation changing stuff.

We're now taking the next step.

We've set a target for the nation that by 2050, 80 per cent of our workforce hasn't just finished school, but they've also gone on to TAFE or gone to university.

If we hit that 80 per cent target the economic dividend is real.

For individuals it means they earn more.

The evidence is if you go to university, then you earn more.

It also means the whole country earns more.

My Department estimates the economy will be better off to the tune of about $240 billion in additional income up to the year 2050, in today's dollars.

So how do we hit this target? How do we build a workforce where 80 per cent have a tertiary qualification?

The short answer is we can't unless we build a better and a fairer education system.

And this bill is part of that.

What the Accord says is to hit that target, we need to break down two big barriers.

One of those barriers is artificial. The other one is invisible.

The artificial barrier is the one we have built ourselves between vocational education and higher education.

We are not going fix the skills shortages we have, and will have, unless they are more integrated.

Unless they are more joined up.

Unless we fix things like recognition of prior learning.

Make it easier for what you have learnt in TAFE to be counted towards a degree at university, so you can get the degree quicker and cheaper.

In the Budget, we announced $27.7 million into immediate measures aimed at breaking down the barriers between VET and higher education to ensure a more seamless and aligned tertiary education system, including recognition of prior learning and streamlining regulation for dual sector providers.

And we are already doing things here.

One: we are working on the business case now for a National Skills Passport.

An app where you can upload all of your skills, qualifications and work experience to make it easier for employers to find the people they need.

Two: we are investing about $650 million with the states to establish up to 20 Centres of Excellence. These are places where TAFEs and unis come together. Where you can get a certificate, a diploma or a degree.

But what the Accord says is to get the two sectors working more closely together, we need one body that can help better integrate the two and what they do.

They recommended an Australian Tertiary Education Commission to do this job.

And that's what we are doing.

We want to get this right so we're consulting with the sector about the design details.

The second barrier we have to break down is the invisible barrier that stops a lot of people from poor families, from the outer suburbs of our big cities and from the regions going to uni in the first place, and succeeding when they get there.

This bill lays the foundations to massively expand the number of people doing FEE-FREE University Ready Courses.

We've released consultation papers on the design of a new funding system for higher education that includes managed growth and needs-based funding to help people who start a degree to finish.

Feedback from stakeholders will help shape these important reforms.

But this is also just the start.

The truth is, if we are going to be successful, reform can't just happen at the university gate.

We have got to reform every part of the education system.

That means fixing funding for public schools and tying it to practical reforms.

At the moment, the number of kids finishing high school is going backwards. In the last seven years it's dropped from 85 per cent to 79 per cent.

And in public schools that drop is even bigger, from 83 per cent to 73.6 per cent.

We've got to turn this around. That's what the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement I tabled in Parliament yesterday is all about.

All up, I have put $16 billion of additional investment for public schools on the table.

To put that into context—this would be the biggest increase in Commonwealth funding to public schools ever delivered.

I have made it clear this funding must be tied to reforms.

Practical things like phonics checks and numeracy checks, evidenced-based teaching and catch-up tutoring, to identify kids who need additional support and make sure they get it.

The sort of things that will help more kids catch up, keep up and finish school.

But reform also doesn't start there.

If we are serious about this, we have to go back even earlier.

The first five years of a child's life are everything. Everything they see, everything they hear, everything they eat, every book they open, every lesson they learn shapes the person that they become.

And what we know is, it's children from poor families who are the least likely to go to early childhood education and care, and the most likely to benefit from it.

The Productivity Commission's final report is on my desk right now and it will help chart a course to building a universal early education system.

If we're going to build a universal system, then the first step, the very first thing we need to do is build the early education and care workforce.

And that involves better reward for the work that our early educators do.

That's why last week we announced the Government will fund a 15 per cent wage increase over two years for early childhood education and care workers.

This is good for parents and good for educators.

It's good for the economy.

And most importantly, it's good for our children.

The child care debate is over. It's not babysitting. It's early education and it's critical to preparing children for school.

The US President makes the point that if a child goes to preschool, they're 50 per cent more likely to go to college or to university. So this isn't about changing nappies, this is about changing lives, and that's what our early educators do.

And if we are going to hit that 80 per cent target by 2050, then we need to be building a better education system for the children in our early education centres and primary schools right now.

Children like my little guy in 2nd class.

Or his little brother still in nappies.

And for the babies who will be born tomorrow and the day after that.

Into poverty and into wealth, and everything in between.

They will grow up in big cities and outer suburbs, in the regions and the bush.

They will go to school in the 2030s and TAFE or uni in the 2040s.

This bill is an important first step in making sure that we are ready for them.

I commend it to the House.

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

The Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 amends the Higher Education Support Act to give effect to several measures from the Australian Universities Accord final report. These measures include changing the way HELP indexation is calculated to use the lower of either the consumer price index or the wage price index backdated to the 2023 and 2024 indexation years; the introduction of a Commonwealth prac payment for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students; FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses for students to undertake preparatory courses to prepare for university studies; and a requirement for universities to provide 40 per cent of the student services and amenities fee to student-led organisations. This bill also lists University of Adelaide as a table A provider, which will support the merger of the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide.

While the coalition do support this bill, we are proposing several amendments, which I will discuss in due course. Fundamentally, we do raise very serious concerns about the way in which Labor has imposed such a massive impost on student debt for three million Australians. The Minister for Education, Mr Clare, has talked a very big game on the support mechanisms for students but we do raise concerns about the deficient way in which this government is in fact supporting students in practice.

While escalating student debt is a direct consequence of Labor's high inflation and economic mismanagement, the bill is proposing to change HELP indexation to the lower of WPI or CPI. It's very important not to gloss over what has happened and what Labor is trying to do. Under Labor, HELP indexation has risen by almost 16 per cent: 3.9 per cent on 1 June 2022, 7.1 per cent on 1 June 2023 and 4.7 per cent on 1 June 2024. For someone with an average loan of $24,700 as at June 2022, this has meant a crippling increase of around $4,000. It's very important to contrast that with the average annual indexation of just 1.7 per cent, which occurred under the former coalition government.

This government can attempt to rewrite history, but three million Australians will never forget what has happened to them under this government. Student debt is out of control. And let's not forget that there are many young Australians who are struggling just to pay the rent or put food on the table. So, while this bill changes how HELP indexation is recalculated and backdates that indexation formula, let's not forget that this still means an increase in student debt of 11.1 per cent. In the face of Labor's cost-of-living crisis, this is still a kick in the guts for struggling students and the three million Australians with a student loan.

The other really important point to make to counter Labor's false narrative about delivering refunds of some $3 billion is that most students will not see a refund, as Labor is trying to suggest, and that, of course, provides no cost-of-living relief. That is because, for most students, there will be a rebate applied against each person's HELP loan account, which, of course, will be eroded over time by reason of future indexation, depending on how long it ultimately takes to pay off the debt. So, of the three million Australians, it's estimated to be only about 200,000 who will actually receive a refund, and that refund will be contingent on the clearing of any other Commonwealth debts which are owing before cash will be back in the bank. Of course, the fact that the government is talking about refunds and cash in the bank is also ridiculous, because we don't know when this is going to occur. We have for many months sought details about when this rebate, refund or reduction will be applied and we are none the wiser.

What we do know is that the claims that the government are making that they will wipe $3 billion in student debt are very misleading. Under Labor, indexation has gone up by a staggering $8.1 billion, so this is all smoke and mirrors from this government to try and cover up the absolute mess it has made of HELP debt because of the fact that Labor has mismanaged the economy. It has kept inflation higher for longer, and that's had a very detrimental impact on all Australians, including, of course, Australians with a HELP debt. Recognising the mess that the Albanese government has made of student debt in this country since the election, the government has also announced several other student debt policies, including lifting the HELP debt repayment threshold and lowering the minimum repayment to $450 a year. As we've made very clear, this could lead to a lifetime of debt, and we've raised serious concerns about that.

The government has also made an election commitment of a discount of 20 per cent to student debt for all debtors, which is a policy reeking of unfairness and elitism, because, as we know, the people who are going to get the most out of that policy are just 55,000 people who have a HELP debt of between $100,000 and $200,000, meaning that, under this policy, Labor would effectively deliver them an average pay cheque of $25,000. Three million people may receive this discount. First of all, Labor's not serious about this policy, otherwise it would have brought this legislation forward in this parliament. This is nothing more than an election bribe. But what does it say to all those millions of hardworking Australians who've paid off their HELP debt? What does the fact that this is going to cost $16 billion in the hit to the bottom line, or $1,600 for every household, say to all the Australians who've seen a collapse in living standards and in their disposable incomes under Labor? I remind the chamber of what leading economist Chris Richardson said:

… handing $16bn to graduates is a reverse Robin Hood: it's a tax cut targeted to the big end of town, with money going from the less well off to the better off.

This is grossly unfair. It reeks of elitism and just sums up what this government is all about.

I will just make the point that Labor has imposed the most horrific cost-of-living impost on all Australians, driving up food costs by 12 per cent, health costs by 10 per cent, education costs by 12 per cent, electricity costs by a staggering 31 per cent, gas costs by a staggering 34 per cent, housing costs by 13 per cent and rent costs by 16 per cent. This government is just tinkering at the edges and doing nothing more.

The bill, as I mentioned, also makes provision for Commonwealth prac payments for students studying teaching, nursing, midwifery or social work. They, of course, work enormously hard, but there is enormous uncertainty about this payment. The universities have, in fact, raised serious concerns about this. It will be delivered not via Centrelink but through a grant bucket, and then the universities will need to seek payments from that grant bucket. There has been very little or no consultation with state and territory governments or the industry as to how this measure will be implemented, and we are deeply concerned about the lack of consultation.

We learnt during the committee hearing in the Senate hearing process that there's no detail as to which students will be eligible, how they will be means tested or how and when they will receive this prac payment. As a result of the enormous uncertainty, the coalition will pursue a substantive amendment requiring the government to table the eligibility and means test requirements for the Commonwealth prac payment before the new grant payment can commence. Importantly, this will provide transparency ahead of the payment commencing to ensure students and the providers who will be accessing student applications understand the requirements before the payment begins. Without clear eligibility guidelines, students remain in the dark about this payment.

The bill also includes provisions in relation to the delivery of fee-free university courses. We have raised a number of concerns in relation to that, because, at the moment, under the enabling places, which already exist, students can study right now at no cost. While providers will receive a higher base funding rate per place of some $18,278, the loss of enabling funding will mean an overall reduction in funding for students who need additional support. There have been some concerns raised about the way that the government has changed the availability of enabling courses, which were very much directed to particular courses and offered to students to support them to kickstart their university studies.

We are also particularly concerned about the requirement in this bill that a minimum of 40 per cent of the student services and amenities fee revenue be directed to student led organisations, including student associations, unions and guilds. This is concerning, and, for that reason, we will be introducing an amendment which seeks to remove the 40 per cent allocation requirement to allow universities the flexibility to distribute these funds in ways that best meet the needs of all students, rather than prioritising student led unions.

The universities have also raised concerns about this. There are some transition provisions in this bill, but we don't think that they're strong enough. This is also a measure directing this additional money to support student led organisations, which is driven more by ideology than by common sense, because a lot of smaller universities don't have well-established student led organisations which can deliver the sorts of support that students need, and that support is really, really important. That support is critical to giving students the support they need, whether it's legal advice, health advice or mental health advice and support. As I say, we are concerned that this provision is all about supporting student unions to run their activities. In particular, if the amendment fails to separate out and vote against this allocation, we are proposing to safeguard these funds from being used for student elections, student protests or protest related activities to ensure these resources directly benefit student welfare and essential services. We have heard anecdotally of a number of instances when student led organisations have used moneys held by them for what I regard as improper purposes. It's very, very important that we have this safeguard, otherwise this is a mandate that's ideologically driven and overlooks critical concerns raised by universities about the misuse of funds. We are seeking the support of the Senate for that amendment to make sure that student support funds are used properly to support students and not for other improper activities, such as student protests and the like. I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate notes that:

(a) the Albanese Government's economic mismanagement and high inflation has resulted in escalating student debt for some 3 million Australians with a HELP (Higher Education Loan Program) loan,

(b) the proposal to change HELP indexation to the lower of the wage price index or the consumer price index would still result in student debts increasing by 11.1 % since June 2022, with no date by which student debt credits will be applied or refunds paid,

(c) whether it is student debt, housing or paying bills, Australians continue to suffer acute cost-of-living pain under this government,

(d) the Government has failed to detail eligibility criteria for the Commonwealth Prac Payments or how students will receive those payments, noting that students studying in other areas of workforce shortage such as occupational therapy, psychology and veterinary studies have been excluded from the scheme; and

(e) the Government's decision to mandate that 40% of the Student Services and Amenities Fee revenue be directed to student led organisations, including student unions, associations and guilds, lacks any transparency measures to ensure money is spent on services that support student welfare".

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

Students and graduates are being crushed by the ballooning burden of student debt, placement poverty and a cost-of-living crisis that is disproportionately affecting young people and women. Seventy-one per cent of student debt is owed by people under 35, and 59 per cent of student debt is owed by women. They are bearing the burden of this cruel and cooked higher education system. Following years of campaigning and pressure from the Greens, the community, the activists, Students Against Placement Poverty and the National Union of Students, amongst many others, the Labor government is finally taking some tiny steps forward.

Let's be clear that the proposals in the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 fall woefully short of the changes that are actually required to address the scale of the crisis in higher education. This bill is a tepid response to the nature and extent of the problems of ballooning student debt and placement poverty. It does not provide any substantive cost-of-living relief for students and offers only bandaid solutions that do not match the scale of the problem that people are facing, especially at this time in the cost-of-living crisis. Nearly three million people currently owe over $81 billion in student debt. Student debt repayments are eating into people's weekly pay packets, they are locking people out of getting their first home and they are disproportionately impacting young people and women.

The Albanese Labor government has sold this bill as wiping student debt. While it's nice to see them taking the Greens' lines, this is not what they are doing. This bill is not wiping student debt. Their rhetoric doesn't match the reality. Firstly, shaving some indexation off the top of student debt is just tinkering around the edges, and it is not a cost-of-living relief measure, as the government purports. It does not put money back in the pockets of the vast majority of people with student debt who are struggling to make ends meet. Under this term of the Labor government, student debt has gone up by a whopping 16 per cent, and this tokenistic plan for student debt indexation still means that debts will rise by 11½ per cent by the end of their first term of government. Indexation shouldn't really exist. HECS debt shouldn't really exist. Uni and TAFE fees shouldn't really exist. Unless that happens, more and more graduates will spend their entire lives repaying their student debt. Education should never be a debt sentence.

Labor's bill does nothing to tackle the root cause of mounting student debt. Student debt can't be fixed, because student debt shouldn't exist. That's why last week I announced the Greens' plan to wipe all student debt. The Greens plan will be paid for by taking on price-gouging corporations and coal and gas giants to make them pay their fair share of tax so people can have more in their pay cheque. Our plan, for someone who has an average student debt and who owns an average income, would result in a debt of $27,600 being wiped and a saving of $5½ thousand a year. That is enough to cover more than six months worth of groceries.

In the Prime Minister's home city of Sydney—my home city as well—more than 615,000 people owe almost $19 billion in student debt. If Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could go to uni for free, so should everyone else. Under pressure from the Greens, Labor has recently made some pledges to increase the minimum repayment income and to wipe 20 per cent of student debt. Obviously, it's nowhere near enough, but still it's inching forward under pressure from the Greens and the community. But wait! Even with this pledge, there's a catch. They will make these changes only if they are elected and only in July next year. It is, frankly, irresponsible and cruel to be dangling student debt relief to win votes for an election when Labor is in government right now. We have the opportunity right now. We have the numbers right now to make these changes. It is no wonder that people are sick and tired of being treated as pawns in this political game that Labor is playing. Pledges are not enough. Pledges are not going to pay the bill. Pledges are not going to reduce the burden, the heavy load of student debt. Spiralling student debt must be addressed immediately. There is no reason to wait until July to legislate these changes.

If Labor can bring in a bill to give free TAFE places, then surely we can also bring in a bill right now to legislate this promise that Labor has made to reduce student debt by 20 per cent. In the absence of Labor doing this, I will be bringing in amendments to this bill to legislate the Albanese government's own pledge and policy, wiping 20 per cent of student debt, raising the repayment threshold and making the repayment structure fairer for all. Let's do this. Let's do this right now. Let's do this today so that people have some faith in their governments and their politicians. These Greens amendments will be a chance for Labor to show that they actually care about those struggling under the weight of student debt right now.

Let me now come to one of the most egregious higher education policies that we have seen in a long time in this country and which the government is ignoring. That is the Morrison government's Job-ready Graduates scheme. It's all well and good for the Liberal politicians to stand up here and cry about the rising student debt, completely forgetting that one of the causes of us now having $50,000 degrees is something that they implemented. This bill that we're debating today is an extraordinary missed opportunity to rectify the punitive fee hikes and funding cuts of the Morrison government's Job-ready Graduates scheme. The Labor government's own accord found that this scheme was a failure and that it required urgent remediation, so where is this urgent remediation? Students who have been condemned to $50,000 arts degrees can't afford to wait a day longer for Labor to scrap these fee hikes and stop student debt from spiralling even further.

Absurdly high university fees and shifting the cost of education increasingly onto students shows how broken the HECS system is, and the only way to fix that—and I keep saying it again and again because it is the only way to fix it—is to wipe student debt and to have degrees cost zero dollars. Till the Labor government introduced their reckless international student caps plan, the coalition's disastrous Job-ready Graduates scheme was the most universally disliked and opposed higher education policy in recent times. Everyone, from universities to NTEU and NUS, want it to be scrapped and replaced, yet the government have refused to do so. The intention of the Job-ready Graduates scheme was objectionable to start with. It was a complete furphy that the scheme would encourage students into so-called priority degrees, as defined by the coalition. Four years on, there is now proof that the scheme has utterly and miserably failed, so just get rid of it, Labor. The JRG has condemned generations of people to decades of debt and pushed universities into further strife. Even Labor admitted the policy is deeply flawed, is irrational and is economic and cultural vandalism. So why haven't you scrapped it? Do it immediately; do it now.

As if the burden of student debt and the cost-of-living crisis weren't enough, so many students are further crushed by placement poverty when they have to do hundreds of hours of unpaid placements to get their qualifications. I do welcome the government's decision to establish Commonwealth prac payments for students studying nursing, teaching and social work. It is a move in the right direction, yet it reflects a real lack of understanding of the severity of placement poverty and its impacts on students. The proposal in this bill, again, is inadequate. Why are these such small measures? We need some transformative change.

The government has the opportunity to deliver genuine relief to students and graduates; instead, the measures in this bill merely scratch the surface, and this view is supported by many who gave evidence to the inquiry into this bill. Ngaire Bogemann, the President of the National Union of Students, told the committee about the increasingly common stories of young people skipping meals, sleeping in cars and going without necessities to make it through their studies. Unpaid placements are just unfair and unjust, and they exacerbate existing inequalities. Students have to cut back on paid work, give up paid work or work around the clock to make ends meet. They have had to take up loans to survive or receive financial assistance from friends and families to cover living expenses.

Placements should benefit student learning, not exploit their unpaid labour. The government's proposal also leaves out hundreds of thousands of students who are required to undertake mandatory placement as part of their degrees. The decision excludes students studying courses such as medicine, vet studies, psychology, allied health and youth work, which are just some that require hundreds of hours of mandatory placement work. It is deeply disappointing that we continue to put students under immense financial and mental health stress. Many of these professionals are desperately required in the workforce, including in regional and remote areas. All students required to undertake mandatory placement should be paid. That means every student should be paid for every hour of work that they are required to do, otherwise this is just plain exploitation.

Labor's proposal for Commonwealth prac placements amounts to $8 an hour for those who are lucky enough to receive this payment, which is obviously going to be means tested—and we don't even know what that means. It will still be more than $16 an hour below the national minimum wage. How does that make any sense? All mandatory placements should be paid, should be universal, and students should be paid at least minimum wage for their work on placement, not a lesser supplementary amount.

This bill also only provides an avenue for grants to be made for placement payments; it does not guarantee that a single student actually receives that payment. Payments for mandatory practical placements should be enshrined in legislation as a legal entitlement. Placement poverty is taking a huge toll on students and is pushing them to the absolute brink, yet Labor's limited policy, even with the limitations that it has, won't even start until July next year. Students need help right now. They cannot afford to wait for another nine months.

While the Job-ready Graduate scheme drastically increased the burden of students completing higher education, the burden on students, rather than the government, it also represented just one further step in what has been a long-term trend of successive governments from both of the old parties increasingly shifting the cost of delivering a university education away from the government and onto students. When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese completed his economics degree at the University of Sydney, Commonwealth contributions amounted to almost 90 per cent of the total revenue of universities. By 2022, this had fallen to only 38 per cent, and this dramatic decrease in the proportion of government funding to our public universities not only has placed the burden on students faced with ever increasing student loans but has led to the broader crisis of corporatisation of our public higher education institutions.

Today we are seeing rampant wage theft, casualisation of staff and job cuts left, right and centre, while university vice-chancellors walk away with million-dollar pay packets. The result is a poorer education, poorer research outcomes and a burden for both staff and students. The abandonment of the higher education sector over the decades by both Labor and the coalition has transformed it from a public good and a cornerstone of societal development to a corporatised enterprise that is fuelling inequality. We used to have a model that worked and was fully funded by the Commonwealth.

I foreshadow I will be moving a second reading amendment and substantive amendments to fix this bill.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a great deal of pleasure in speaking on the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024, because it provides the most significant changes and improvements in Australian tertiary education—universities and TAFEs—that we've seen in many a decade. These changes will make a significant difference to Australia's higher education educators and students, who are the key to greater productivity in the economy and to innovative research. Higher education is also a key export industry.

There are longstanding problems that are putting up barriers for prospective students who want to go to university or TAFE and for students who want to stick to their degree until they're finished: student debt that keeps growing rather than getting smaller as former students enter the workforce; gaps in service delivery; and a lack of consistency in the funding of student led organisations, which provide an advocacy role and community on campus. Unlike those in the opposition, we believe those student organisations also play a critical role in developing our democracy and—heaven forbid!—mean that those over the age of 18 can have responsibility for their own organisations. That's a fundamental of the democratic process and system. There are difficulties in transitioning prospective students who didn't quite land the high school score they needed to go into higher education, and there are students who must undertake placements that are mandatory for their degree but are unpaid, sometimes for thousands of hours.

The Australian Universities Accord final report was the result of more than 12 months of work, informed by public submissions, a ministerial reference group and an extensive consultation with students, First Nations peoples, businesses, unions, government agencies, universities and the TAFE system. I commend the minister and the department for this monumental task, because it offers a long-term vision for the sector. The report made significant recommendations to government which will take time to implement, but this bill and others will be dealt with by this Senate this week. The Albanese government is acting to safeguard the future of this critical sector and ensure that students are supported while they are there.

I'll start with the HELP debt indexation. The accord final report recommended that the government set HELP indexation at the lower of the consumer price index or the wage price index. This bill fulfils recommendation 16 so that former students who are in the workforce and are paying off their loans don't go backwards. This change to indexation will also be backdated to 1 June 2023, in recognition of the higher than usual CPI rate of 7.1 per cent that was applied to student loans in 2023. This will wipe around $3 billion in student debt for three million Australians nationwide, easing pressure on workers, apprentices, trainees and students across the country. For someone with a debt of $26,500, their debt will be cut by around $1,200; for someone with a debt of $45,000, their debt will be cut by around $2,000; and, for someone with a debt of $60,000, their debt will be cut by almost $2,700.

The new methodology would also apply to other Commonwealth loans, including VET student loans, Australian apprenticeship support loans, student startup loans, Abstudy student startup loans and Student Financial Supplement Scheme loans. There was overwhelming support for this measure in the inquiry. Charles Darwin University said:

… these changes represent a significant step toward achieving greater equity in higher education and ensuring that financial barriers do not hinder their academic and professional aspirations.

The National Tertiary Education Union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the Australian Services Union all welcome the changes as a positive first step.

Detractors in the Greens and the coalition argue that this change would not make any substantial difference to the hip pockets of students and former students. That's fine for them to say—I just read out the thousands of dollars that will be saved—but I challenge them to say that to the National Union of Students president, Ngaire Bogemann, who told the committee about stories of students who are unable to get home loans because of their HECS debts, which the former government enacted. Their indexation settings also left students at the mercy of inflation. This government is picking apart their broken scheme and providing tangible relief for current and former students. This is especially rich from the Liberals and Nationals, who introduced the disastrous Job-ready Graduates Package, which drove up the cost of degrees and didn't make an ounce of difference to the choices of students.

I'll move on to the changes to the student services and amenities fee. This bill will set a requirement for universities to allocate a minimum of 40 per cent of revenue from the SSAF to student led organisations. Additional funding will help student volunteers and elected officers to deliver welfare services—such as food banks and free breakfasts—run campaigns to address issues on campus, including access to psychology sessions, and address gender based violence. Many universities already meet that standard, but many regional universities fall short. That's why it's important for there to be consistency across the country.

There's nothing new about this idea. In Western Australia, they have had a minimum allocation of 50 per cent for student led organisations for almost a decade. I note that those opposite are saying that's not good enough. Quite clearly, the University of Western Australia found it most efficient. In actual fact, the University of Western Australia are paying 50 per cent out of the same fund, rather than the 40 per cent proposed by this bill. Luke Sheehy, from Universities Australia, told the inquiry:

It's a long-established practice in those universities that balances both the interests of students and student representation and, obviously, governance relating to the administration of that money.

Despite supporting the measures in principle, several participants at the inquiry expressed concern that universities that don't already have a student led organisation would find it difficult to assist students to set up one by the time the requirement kicks in. The bill takes that into account and includes three- and five-year transition periods for providers if the measure creates challenges or issues.

This bill also massively expands the number of FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses. The Universities Accord says that, by 2050, 80 per cent of our workforce has to not just finish school but also go on to TAFE or to university. These FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses are effectively a bridge between school and university, and the expansion of these courses are an essential part of reaching that lofty goal. There are also important courses and measures that TAFEs have. TAFE is a very important institution in its own right—not only as a pathway to university.

The University of Tasmania told the inquiry that they already deliver a university preparation program and welcome funding for it to be extended. They told the inquiry:

Since 2020, this program has supported over 1,300 students to build the knowledge, skills and confidence to study at university. Of these students, 51% are first in family to attend university, 39% are from a low SES background, and 65% are under the age of 24.

Contrary to what those opposite say in regard to this bill, it has significant advantages for those on low incomes as well as for people who are having their incomes held back by excessive charges. Unlike those opposite, we want all Australians to access the benefits of higher education no matter where they live or what background they come from. From our perspective, it is a worthwhile investment to help students to bridge the gap between secondary and higher education.

This bill introduces funding to education providers for paid practical placements so that teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students get some financial support when they are required to do work experience as part of their degree. This will affect 68,000 students each year. We're talking about three million students paying lower fees. We're talking about 68,000 students getting financial support for practical placements. And we've got those opposite and the Greens saying these aren't significant figures. Well, they are millions and tens of thousands of people receiving the benefit of what this government's putting forward. These are substantial amounts of money. The Universities Accord report recommended that the government introduce financial support, but it also said that priority cohorts should be prioritised, especially occupations which have higher representations of women and First Nations people and which often have lower levels of earnings potential than other industries.

The submission from the Australian Services Union notes that social work students are currently required to do 1,000 hours, or 26 weeks, of unpaid placement. According to a survey from the ASU, the Australian Services Union, the current situation is causing drop-out rates to increase, with more than one in five studying a community services degree withdrawing from study due to financial stress. This will be life changing for students who are forced to choose between finishing their degree and paying their rent or putting food on the table.

Education providers also supported this measure. In their submission, the Australian Catholic University said this measure:

… will help students in these fields of study complete their degrees and reduce the bottleneck in the supply of higher education graduates in these critical fields of workforce shortage.

The University of Sydney backed it in too, saying:

This initiative is very welcome as a first step towards addressing the issue of 'student placement poverty'.

There were calls by several participants at the inquiry for payments to be means tested and allocated to students by government agencies like Services Australia. But key groups criticised this suggestion. The Australian Services Union said that universities are closer to students and have a closer relationship with them than Services Australia. The National Union of Students agreed and said that cutting out the middleman here and having students apply directly through the university is the simplest way to make sure this payment will be effective. The Department of Education said that the proposed approach ensures that higher education providers remain responsible for providing a quality practicum experience, including managing changes for practicum arrangements. It's also important to note that, to address the potential administrative burden of delivering these payments, the bill includes a five per cent loading to providers.

Other participants at the inquiry questioned whether eligibility for these payments should be extended to other courses. I note that Minister Andrew Giles announced on 19 August that the Commonwealth is also administering the Commonwealth prac payments for VET students and providing a $12 million boost for skilled teachers and trainers. As I said earlier, the Universities Accord and the commitments made by this government represent a step change for an industry that was left to drift by the Liberals and the Nationals, those opposite. We on this side are on the side of students, teachers and education providers, and the bills that are before the Senate this week are a down payment on the future of the higher education sector. I encourage those across this chamber to support this bill.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024. Firstly, I'd like to thank the committee and the committee chair for conducting the inquiry that we held into it and the collegial way in which we approached matters. Even when we disagree, we actually do work well together and we're able to prosecute the matters that are before the committee in a civil way. So I thank the committee for the way that we undertook this inquiry. I say that as the deputy chair of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee.

The coalition does support this bill, though we will be proposing several amendments. But in my contribution here today I want to join with Senator Henderson in calling out the government for some of the failures that they have been presiding over in the higher education sector. We note that there are broad failings of the Albanese government, including its economic mismanagement and its homegrown cost-of-living crisis, which, of course, is affecting all Australians and, indeed, students.

I think students face higher costs of living than anyone else. I have a higher-ed-age student, who is about to commence next year, living in my home—my daughter. It's difficult for young people to be able to work out how to make ends meet, and that's what many students across the country are facing.

At a recent hearing of the Select Committee on the Cost of Living, we heard that an analysis by the Australian Financial Review in August 2024 illustrated that Australian households have experienced the largest fall in disposable incomes across the OECD over the last two years. This supports the body of evidence provided to the committee demonstrating that, in the last 2½ years, the cost of essential goods has increased rapidly while household incomes have not kept pace; therefore, any kind of HELP indexation relief from this bill is automatically swallowed up by the persistent and ongoing inflation, including the higher grocery prices.

This government seems to have little understanding of exactly what Australians are facing. By their actions they're demonstrating that they do not grasp the challenges that Australians are facing. Everyday prices have skyrocketed across this country. The cost of food is up 12 per cent. Health costs are up 10 per cent. The cost of education is up 12 per cent, housing 13 per cent, rent 16 per cent, electricity a whopping 31 per cent, and gas a staggering 34 per cent. It's little wonder that economist Chris Richardson said earlier this month on 3 November that handing $16 billion to graduates is 'a reverse Robin Hood'; it's a tax cut targeted to the big end of town, with money going from the less well off to the better off. He says it is 'a fairness fail', and he says: 'Worse still, that $16 billion does nothing for the nation's future.'

The education committee that I'm on held its public hearing on 24 September, and on 2 October the EEC was advised by the Department of Education and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations that questions on notice resulting from the hearing would not be available until 11 October, well after the inquiry reporting date. That, frankly, is completely unacceptable. This committee does important work on behalf of all senators here in this place, and when we ask questions, we expect that those answers can be provided. When we're given a deadline to report back by the majority in this Senate, we need a timely response to the questions that are asked. In this case, we had questions that couldn't be answered by the department until after we were to have reported back to the Senate. This is unacceptable. It's an agenda and a timeline that is controlled by the government, using the numbers that they have here in this place. It's unacceptable that timelines that are set by the government cannot be met even by their own departments and, worse still, without instruction then being given to their departments to satisfactorily meet the deadlines that they need to meet in order to facilitate parliamentary procedure occurring—to facilitate an inquiry to properly examine all issues. Important questions are asked and not answered in a timely way.

The Senate inquiry process is meant to ensure that non-government senators and stakeholders—it's very important that we hear from stakeholders through these inquiry processes—are able to properly scrutinise government legislation and have access to the information required to better inform the process. As I said, it's the responsibility of the government to ensure that their own departments are able meet the deadlines. Sometimes there are reasons for delays. Sometimes the gathering of data can take some time. We accept that. But why, then, do the government, who are in control of the agenda in this place, set timelines that they themselves are not able to meet through their own administration? It's unacceptable. It's not proper governance. It really is a smack in the face for the constituents that voted for us and put us, in all parties, here in this place. Importantly, stakeholders have particular views that need to be considered and represented through our committee reports and our deliberations here in this place. When the government doesn't respect that, it really does slap the processes in this place, and it's a real shame. It demonstrates a continuing pattern right across the whole term of a Labor government that has treated the inquiry process with disdain.

I returning to the bill. Because of Labor's crippling cost-of-living crisis, more than three million Australians with a student debt have been hit with crippling increases to HELP indexation. Under Labor, HELP indexation rose by almost 16 per cent. That's 3.9 per cent in the first year of their government, 7.1 per cent in the following year and 4.3 per cent in this last financial year. For someone with an average loan of $24,700 as at June 2022, this has meant a debilitating increase of around $4,000 on top of their balance. In contrast to the average HELP indexation of only 1.7 per cent under the former coalition government, this increase constitutes a very significant increase in student debt.

What are the risks with the proposed changes? Mr Andrew Norton, a respected professor in the practice of higher education policy at ANU, appeared before the inquiry in a personal capacity and highlighted the dangers with the proposed changes to HELP indexation. He said:

My concern is that this leaves us vulnerable to a period where the CPI and the WPI are both high simultaneously—

that, of course, is what we're dealing with—

kind of like we had in the 1970s. I don't think that's likely right now, but nor did we expect this kind of resurgence of inflation.

In response to questions on notice, Mr Norton also stated:

The function of a loan scheme like HELP is to help people achieve their educational and career goals, doing so in a way that balances managing their personal financial risks and the government's fiscal position. All parts of the system—the original fees charged, the indexation arrangements, and the repayment system—need to work together in a coherent way to achieve these objectives.

How will the government's changes assist regional students? This is an important question that needs to be asked. Regional Universities Australia said:

These amendments will provide little to no cost of living/cost of study relief to those students enrolled at Australia's universities today, who face the immediate pressures of study during the current cost of living crisis. Nor will there be any substantial, immediate benefit to Australians currently paying off their HELP loan. If these students are already in the workforce, their ongoing HELP loan repayments remain fixed and unchanged under this amendment.

So who will benefit? It's unfair to millions of Australians who do not have student loans. Only people who have paid off their HELP debt—estimated to be around 200,000 out of the total of three million debtors—will receive an actual refund. But those refunds are only payable once all other Commonwealth debts, such as for child support, are cleared. As I said, this is not delivering the help that is needed, particularly for those facing the high increased costs of living.

In the short time I have remaining I want to address another matter of this bill—that is, the student services and amenities fee. This bill mandates a minimum of 40 per cent of student services and amenities revenue be directed to student led organisations, including student associations, unions and guilds. Students studying at university or with a higher education provider pay what is known as the student services and amenities fee. It is set to a maximum each year—this year it is set at $351—and is collected by universities to provide non-academic support. This includes help with housing, health and welfare, career advice, the provision of library or study areas, financial advice, legal services and providing food and drink. In 2023 more than $278 million was collected through these fees, of which, according to the Department of Education, $110 million, or 38 per cent, went to student led organisations.

The Accord report noted that while universities have discretion on how they use these funds—as long as they use them for the intended purpose—it is a financial source that student unions rely on heavily.

This measure appears to be driven more broadly by ideology rather than by common sense, a pattern that we see continuing to recur with this government. Some student organisations do not have the capacity to deliver appropriate student services, and some universities have also raised these concerns. We are deeply concerned that this bill lacks any measures which require transparency and accountability as to how student union guilds and associations would be using this funding. There must be clear rules. There ought to be clear rules. These are hard-earned student levies that are being paid by students. Those fees that are paid should be accounted for.

During the inquiry, many providers raised concerns in their submissions about the likely unintended consequences of this proposal, including that student led organisations 'do not have the capacity or the expertise to deliver essential supports for students, such as mental health assistance or, indeed, food banks'. Submissions also noted that the changes may result in 'employment uncertainty for some staff'. Universities Australia recommended:

…that changes to how the SSAF is used be deferred until the proposal has been further developed in consultation with the sector because of substantial concerns raised by UA's members.

There should be clear rules about approved expenditure to ensure that only essential services which directly support students are funded. It's abhorrent, for instance, for any such funds to be used by any organisation for anti-Jewish or anti-Israel student protests, which we have seen. It should be clear that the funds cannot be used for those types of activities. It should be absolutely crystal clear, but it's not under this bill; it's a free-for-all. Safeguards need to be put in place to prevent this from occurring.

The coalition seeks an amendment to remove the 40 per cent allocation requirement to allow students the flexibility to be able to distribute SSAF funds in ways that best meet their needs, and we want to see accountability in it. Transparency and clear guidelines for SSAF expenditure are essential to ensure that only essential services directly supporting student needs are funded, rather than allowing for potential ideological misuse of student fees.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an indictment on both major parties and successive administrations that Australian governments collect more money from HECS than from the petroleum resource rent tax—not just a little bit more, a lot more. In 2022-23 petroleum resource rent tax collections totalled nearly $2.3 billion, compared to $4.9 billion in student loan repayments. If you want to know what state capture looks like, this is it: a country that is happy to be one of the top three gas exporters in the world, yet it collects more from students repaying their loans than from these gas companies in petroleum resource rent tax. It's disgraceful, and I think it should form part of this debate, because it goes to our priorities. It goes to the kinds of things that we're seeing this Senate and this parliament deal with and the kinds of things that are being kicked down the road and not being dealt with.

For those who might be asking what the petroleum resource rent tax is, it's what we should be getting for our offshore LNG exports. States and territories don't have a levy on that. I was up in Darwin for a Senate committee looking at Middle Arm. We were out on the harbour talking to some NT government officials. We were hearing about the impact that IMPEX and its export facility were having on the harbour. Fishers were saying that they're seeing a decline in sea life. Researchers were saying that they're concerned that dolphins and other sea life seem to have declined by about 50 per cent since IMPEX set up this facility. I said to the NT officials, 'What do you guys actually get out of having IMPEX here on the harbour?' They looked at me a bit sheepishly and said, 'We get payroll tax,' which I think is extraordinary. They said, 'Don't worry. Australia will get the petroleum resource rent tax.' But when you go to Treasury and ask them, 'How much PRRT have you got from offshore LNG exports?' it's zero dollars and zero cents.

This is nuts. It is totally nuts that we allow this to happen. What are our priorities as a country? Are we happy to saddle students with debt while, at the same time, we let all these multinationals basically take our gas for free, export it and then weave some crazy narrative about how much they contribute because they're paying payroll tax, which everyone does? You look at the experience of Norway—a $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund—while Australia has $1 trillion of national debt. Come on! We have to see a change here.

I recently had a young man come into my office to talk about HECS. He had heard some of the debate and he said, 'After hearing politicians talking about HECS, I wanted to show you a real example.' He'd printed out a list of his HECS and his compulsory repayments. He'd completed a bachelor of arts degree and a masters degree, which he said ended up getting him the job that he has—he learnt that, because so many people applied, they basically excluded people who didn't have a masters. He has a HECS debt of over $83,000—a debt that, despite him making regular compulsory payments, hasn't gone down in almost a decade. Even the government's promised 20 per cent debt forgiveness won't cover the quantum paid in indexation. Clearly, the system here is broken. The cost of degrees is too high, and the way that we index students is not working. How we're indexing HECS is totally unfair.

I'll acknowledge that the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 goes partway to fixing it. The change in the rate of indexation is very welcome, but clearly more needs to be done. I don't understand why the government is waiting. I don't understand why they're kicking hard reforms that will make such a huge difference to Australians down the road. The Australian Universities Accord final report could not have been clearer. The Job-ready Graduates system needs to go. It's the primary driver of increased fees and long-term debt for students. It is fundamentally unfair and ideologically driven. The government were very happy to say that in opposition. Yet after almost a full term—we're in the last two sitting weeks of this year and probably of this term of government—what have they done? They've put off the hard task of reforming Job-ready Graduates and they've given it to the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, a body that hasn't even yet been established. How's that for a handball? How's that for kicking a can as far down the road as you possibly can? My second reading amendment goes to this issue.

It also goes to the issue of timing when it comes to the indexation of student debt. Changing the rate of indexation is terrific. It's a great, welcome move. Why, at the same time, aren't we changing the date of indexation? How can we in good conscience charge people with a HECS debt indexation, which is essentially interest, on repayments that they've already made? Can you imagine trying to do that anywhere else? Imagine if you had a mortgage and the bank said: 'Pay us all this back for 11 months, and then we're going to charge you interest. We're not going to include the 11 months that you've just paid off.' It's nuts. This makes no sense. How have we allowed this to happen? If banks tried that or if someone who gave you a loan to buy a vehicle tried that, it wouldn't cut it, and I guarantee you that this place would fix the problem in a matter of days. But, when it comes to students and to Australians who are really struggling in a cost-of-living crisis, why don't we see the same urgency?

I also think we should be considering and moving on pausing indexation until compulsory repayments kick in. It's one thing to delay when compulsory repayments start, but obviously, with compound interest, you're ultimately setting yourself up for more repayments. So the one thing is welcome, but we're not actually fixing this underlying issue. Again, to come back to the start of this, government and Treasury will say: 'Well, we can't afford everything you want. You're on the crossbench and you're not in government. You can't come up with all these airy-fairy demands.' Until we fix the petroleum resource rent tax, you have no argument to stand on. To give away our gas, to get more from HECS than from the petroleum resource rent tax and to be one of the top three LNG exporters in the world doesn't cut it.

I really think it's time to stop tinkering. It's time to put away the bandaids and bring out the serious policy reform options, because Australians are doing it tough. They're doing it incredibly tough, and there are a lot of people looking to the parliament and saying: 'What are you doing for us? You've got to know how hard we're doing it here.' Young people are putting off their future and delaying making decisions. Where has the reform been when it comes to competition? We know we have tragically condensed sectors of the economy here in Australia, whether it's supermarkets, banks, insurers or airlines, and it's no surprise that that's been overseen by the ultimate duopoly, the duopoly that is now telling us that they're going to ram through electoral reform to protect the duopoly in the land of duopolies in a matter of weeks, without parliamentary scrutiny, after we hear so much about the need for proper process and parliamentary scrutiny. When it's in their interests, stuff can happen very quickly in this place.

Well, I think we should be acting quickly in the interests of Australians, and I just want to put on the record how many Canberrans—I know a lot of people think Canberrans are wealthy—whom I've spoken to who are genuinely doing it tough. Coming up to Christmas, we all know there's expectation and there are more families than there should be in this country who are looking at Christmas, at the festive season, with a sense of trepidation and are concerned about what that means for their family.

I welcome a number of measures in this bill—I thank the government for them—but I urge the government to stop tinkering. Australians are looking to us for wholesale change on things that are fundamentally broken. If the system is broken, let's not just try and patch it up and say, 'Well, it'll keep going for a bit longer; she'll be right.' Let's actually change it. That seems like the reason that people put us in this place.

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Education unlocks economic opportunity, which is why the education of Australians, from early childhood all the way through to adulthood, is a focus for the Albanese Labor government. We've got a pretty good education system, but it can be a lot better and a lot fairer. The Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 is an important part of achieving that goal. This bill is the first stage of the implementation of the Universities Accord, responding to 29 of the accord's 47 recommendations. We know that, after 10 years of coalition neglect, the tertiary system will have to be reformed in stages. Piece by piece, we will build up Australia's tertiary education system to be one that is high performing and truly fair.

First, this legislation alters the indexation formula of the Higher Education Loan Program. The annual indexation of HELP debt will now be based on the consumer price index or the wage price index, whichever is lower. We know HECS debt is negatively impacting the lives of many Australians, particularly gen Z and millennials. Many of them are trying to start their adult lives, boost their education, kick start their career, make a living and/or purchase their first home. This is against the backdrop of global cost-of-living pressures, climate change and a tumultuous geopolitical environment. That's why this bill ensures that HECS debt won't grow faster than wages and will help students to be students and to study without stress. It will erase around $3 billion in student debt for three million Australians across the country, providing relief to workers, apprentices, trainees and students.

Our government understands the economic pain caused by the opposition's unfair indexation hikes, which is why these changes will apply to all student support loans that existed on 1 June 2023. This means that last year's consumer price indexation of 7.1 per cent will be replaced with the lower wage price index rate of 3.2 per cent while also reducing this year's indexation from 4.7 per cent to four per cent. As a result, an Australian with an average student debt of $26½ thousand will see around $1,200 wiped from their student loan. For someone with a debt of $45,000, it will mean that their debt is cut by around $2,000. For someone with a debt of $60,000, it will mean their debt is cut by almost $2,700.

Second, this bill allows for grants to be paid to higher education providers for a new Commonwealth prac payment. Students have told us that mandatory placements not only see them work without pay but prevent them from working jobs outside of their studies. This means that many Australians either delay finishing their degree or don't finish at all, simply because they cannot afford to. The Albanese Labor government hears these concerns and has introduced a payment for eligible teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students. The other thing that these industries have in common is that they are female dominated industries, so we know this will be better for women too. We know how important these jobs are to our country, which is why we're providing the support that these students need.

Third, the bill establishes a new Commonwealth grants scheme funding cluster for fee-free university-ready courses. These fee-free courses provide a bridge between school and university, providing Australians with the foundational skills they need to succeed at university. Across Australia, we will uncap fee-free university-ready courses, giving more Australians the opportunity to pursue university study. Fourth, the bill requires higher education providers to allocate at least 40 per cent of the student services and amenities fees revenue they collect from students to student led bodies. We know how important it is that students have a say in how their services and amenities fees are spent and we are acting accordingly.

Our higher education system was neglected by the previous government for over a decade. Not only was it neglected by the coalition but it was made more unfair through changes made to lower payment thresholds. Our government is fixing this by making further changes related to student loans and their repayments. The Albanese Labor government will raise the minimum repayment threshold for student loans and cut repayment rates to make the repayment system fairer for all three million Australians with a student debt.

The lifting of the minimum repayment threshold from around $54,000 in 2024-25 to $67,000 in 2025-26 will allow Australians to keep more of what they earn at a time when many are looking to save for a house deposit or start a family. We are also introducing a system where repayments are based on the portion of a person's income above the new $67,000 threshold. For someone on an income of around $70,000, this will mean they will save around $1,300 a year in lower repayments. The government's move to a marginal repayments system is informed by the architect of the HELP system, Professor Bruce Chapman, and responds to another recommendation of the Australian Universities Accord. These changes mark the most significant reform to Australia's higher education system in more than 35 years.

When our government came to office, we inherited an economy in distress. Inflation was at 6.1 per cent and climbing dangerously in an upwards spiral, reflecting the troubled economy and policy vacuum left by the former coalition government. In recognition of the pressure that the coalition's unjust economic policies placed on Australians with student debt, the Albanese Labor government will, if re-elected, wipe 20 per cent off all existing student loans by 1 June next year. In doing so, we will erase around $16 billion in debt for more than three million Australians with a student loan. The wiping of student debt builds on our changes to the HELP indexation formula and will save a university student with an average HECS debt of around $26,500 more than $5,000. All up, the average student loan will be around $6,500 lower if the Albanese Labor team is re-elected, and it will be done by 1 June next year.

The Albanese Labor government understands that our tertiary system doesn't include just universities. In the past decade alone, we have seen state and federal coalition governments defund and shut down our TAFEs, which are invaluable in providing our workforce with the workers that Australians need. That's why the government will introduce legislation to permanently fund 100,000 fee-free TAFE places a year from 2027 onwards. Permanent fee-free TAFE builds on the government's existing partnership with states and territories to deliver 180,000 places in 2023 and 300,000 places over three years from 2024. Since the Albanese government introduced fee-free TAFE in January 2023, the program has seen 508,000 enrolments in courses in areas of priority for the Australian economy. This includes 131,000 in care, including disability and aged care; 48,000 in technology; 35,000 in construction; and 35,500 in early childhood education and care.

Our government is not just talk; we are about action. We are expanding Australians' access to our tertiary system. A record 170,000 young Australians, 124,000 jobseekers and 30,000 First Nations Australians have enrolled in TAFE courses under our government. I am proud to be part of a government that prioritises education pathways for Australians, no matter who you are and no matter where you come from. This is starkly different from the former coalition government's blatant disdain for vocational study.

The Universities Accord is not only bigger than one piece of legislation but bigger than one term of parliament. This is a historical commitment of national importance. Minister Jason Clare and the broader Albanese Labor government will continue to ensure Australians' tertiary system is fit for purpose for modern Australia. It's time we make it right and it's time we make it fairer.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Student debt in our country has spiralled out of control as people graduate with bigger and bigger debts that grow every year and take longer to pay off. Total student debt in Australia sits at a whopping $81 billion and it's holding our young people back. From western Victoria to Gippsland, I'm hearing from students across Victoria about how student debt is forcing them to juggle multiple jobs just to make ends meet. They're graduating from university and TAFE facing a decade of debt during a raging cost-of-living crisis and struggling to pay their rent or mortgage. I'm hearing about how student debt is locking people out of the housing market, how it's causing people to delay having families and how it's crushing kids' dreams of going to university. Education shouldn't be a debt sentence, but the reality in this country is that it is.

The Greens have relentlessly pushed the Albanese government, since they came to power, to deliver desperately needed student debt relief, and the pressure has worked. We have secured changes to indexation, as well as the most recent commitment to raising the minimum repayment income and cut student debt by 20 per cent after the election. This is a big win for the Greens and for all of those in the community who have pleaded and pushed for action to tackle skyrocketing student debt. Our campaign has made this progress socially and politically possible.

Sadly, Labor's tweaks to student debt won't provide relief to the millions of people struggling under the weight of ballooning debts in a cost-of-living crisis today. Labor's plan to cut 20 per cent of student debt after the election will be too little too late. People need cost-of-living relief now. The government's plan to provide student debt relief will still see student debt rise by 11½ per cent in its first term. Student debt keeps going up and up. In fact, even after these changes, student debt will have risen by over 10 per cent in Labor's first term of government.

Labor say they're wiping $3 billion from student debt, but they're just shaving a tiny bit of indexation from the top of a giant swelling debt pile—$3 billion off $78 billion is but a drop in the ocean. Let's be clear: 80 per cent of a lifetime of debt is still a lifetime of debt. Labor's rhetoric of wiping student debt simply isn't correct; its policy ambition doesn't match its social media messaging. We have thousands of students drowning in debt in a broken university system, yet we have a Prime Minister who went to university for free saying he'll scrape a little bit off your student debt—like your parents would cut the mould off a block of cheese—but only if you vote him back into government for another term.

Now, I'm not sure if there are any spaces available in politics 101, and the Prime Minister might actually have to pay for the course this time. In it, he might learn that the benches over on that side of the chamber are where the government sit. They have the ability to implement this, and we Greens are over here willing to pass it right now, because students cannot wait.

If Anthony Albanese can go to uni for free, everyone else should be able to. The young people of our country deserve to have the same opportunities as the Prime Minister had. We need an overhaul of the way that we do higher education in this country. The Greens are proud to be the party of public education. We will keep pushing and fighting to wipe all student debt and to make uni and TAFE free, unburdening almost three billion people of their debts and allowing people to keep more of their income. Free uni would boost our economy, reduce economic inequality and give countless more people the opportunity to follow their passions. Let's not forget that it wasn't that long ago that university was free in this country, and it's still free in numerous countries around the world—France, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Student debt shouldn't be dangled like a carrot on a stick and held hostage to the next election. People are sick and tired of the political game being played with their lives. The Greens are calling on Labor to bring in a bill right now to fulfil their promise of wiping 20 per cent of student debt, like they have done for free TAFE places today.

There is no reason to wait until after the next election to legislate these changes. The Greens are ready to work with Labor to deliver these changes that will make life better for millions of people. We have the numbers in parliament to do it right now. Labor needs to get on with passing student debt relief immediately. Then we'll work with Labor to wipe all student debt and make TAFE and university free. Wiping all student debt will make real, tangible difference to so many people doing it tough, especially in a cost-of-living crisis. Wiping student debt will put money back in the pockets of people who desperately need it to make ends meet, pay rent, save for a deposit for their home and buy their medicine. Wiping student debt is the right thing to do.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024, which aims to bring in legislation that will give students a fairer go, uplift Australia's world-class higher education system and take the first steps in implementing the Universities Accord. This bill will wipe almost $3 billion in student debt for more than three million Australians. Students from across Australia have cried out for a fairer loans system after last year's indexation spike, and our reforms are addressing just that by capping the HELP indexation at the lower of either the consumer price index or the wage price index. We're backdating this change to 1 June 2023. If you're a student and you have an average debt of $26,500, you will see up to $1,200 wiped from your loan. If you have a debt of $45,000, you will see about $2,000 wiped from your loan. If you have a debt of $60,000, you will see almost $2,700 wiped from your loan. This relief is timely and well deserved by Australia's students past, present and future.

Our bill means more relief is on the way. If you're studying to be a midwife, nurse, teacher or social worker, you will receive practical support for your practical placements. Around 70,000 higher education and VET students will benefit from paid prac, and for many this will be absolutely life changing. Without this support, students have made the difficult choice to delay or even leave their qualification, unable to support themselves through their placements. Yet they're working towards careers in absolutely essential industries and in some of Australia's most important sectors. We absolutely can't afford to lose them. Universities gave broad support for paid prac payments, with our largest educator of teachers and nurses in Australia, Australian Catholic University, saying they are 'greatly supportive of this measure, which will help students in these fields of study complete their degree and reduce the bottleneck in the supply of higher education graduates in these critical fields of workforce shortage'. Similarly, the social work action group at RMIT University welcomed these changes as well, saying they were 'a long overdue step to address student poverty, inclusive education and workforce shortages'.

Recently in Gippsland, I met Louise Allen, a nursing lecturer at Federation University, and we had a long discussion about how these prac payments will help her students. She told me just how important these payments will be for regional and rural universities and students. Many of her students are taking up a degree later in life, so they've already got their cost structures set up. Many of them are some of the 40 per cent of Federation University's students who are the first in their family to study at university. These changes—these practical solutions, these prac payments—will allow students to focus on what is important, which is their studies, by giving them that little bit extra financial support. For a young mum from Morwell studying to be a social worker at Federation University, this will mean practical support for her practical training, so she can complete her studies and then go on and do what we really need her to do, which is to give back to her community, utilising her degree.

This bill not only delivers relief for students here and now, but it also paves the way for more Australians to achieve a tertiary education, with the expansion of FEE-FREE University Ready courses, which bridge the gap between school and university. We want to support and uplift the aspirations of all Australians, and this reform is expected to increase the number of people doing these free courses by about 40 per cent by the end of the decade and then double that number in the decade after that. If you want a university degree, these courses will help you get the skills to get there.

My own mother was a passionate teacher and she was the first in her family to attend university. I had no choice, and my brother and sister had no choice either, but to inherit the belief and the commitment that it is education that makes a real difference in life. That is a sentiment shared by this Labor government. So many of us are the first in family to go to university and so many of us are the children of the first in family to go to university, so we are absolutely passionately committed to making higher education accessible and more affordable to all Australians who want the opportunity to do it.

Whether you're the first in your family or the fifth to seek out formal higher education, you deserve a fair go and you deserve a system that will support you every step of the way. By wiping student debt, introducing paid prac and strengthening FEE-FREE University Ready courses, we are making progress, we are creating pathways and we are helping Australians into the good, secure jobs that await them at the end of their courses. After all, Labor is the party of education.

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024. At the outset, I should say this bill is better than no bill at all. I'll be supporting the bill, more out of desperation than joy. We need action in this space, and some action is better than none. But, I have to tell you, I'm disappointed we haven't done more to fix the real problems facing our students.

Take student placement units. These are units that the student completes externally. They don't go to university to do it; they go somewhere else, with no classes, no tutorials, no workshops. They are not taught by any university employees; no university facilities are used. The cost to the student with this bill and without it is the same as a unit delivered fully within the university campus by university employees. We're still charging students the same fees for their placement units as we do for their regular classes. How can that be right? These are our future nurses, teachers and social workers we're talking about.

Yes, the new Commonwealth prac payment is a step forward. As someone without a degree, as someone who's experienced what it's like to go without, I get what it feels like to wonder whether your rent money is coming in, so I'm all in favour of helping you out. But we're still asking these students to pay full university fees while they're basically working for free. This problem is particularly concerning when I think about placement overseas. We have students doing placements in places like New Zealand or Singapore, and they're still paying full Australian university fees, even when the overseas hospital or school is doing most of the teaching. That's not right. It's not fair.

Think about what we're asking of these students. They're often having to cut back their paid work hours. Some are having to move away from home. For students studying things like clinical psychology or occupational therapy, we're talking about more than 1,000 hours of placements. That's an awful lot to ask of anyone, let alone young people who are just starting out. While I appreciate the government's trying to help with this new payment, I have to say I'm worried about how it's all going to work. How will they decide who gets what? How will the universities manage it? We need much clearer answers.

The bill does some good things. Changes to HELP debt and the FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses are steps in the right direction. But we need to be honest about this placement fee issue. We're asking students to pay full price for something that isn't a full service. Whether they're studying here, at home, or gaining valuable experience overseas, they deserve better than this.

The argument about students dropping out during placements often focuses on money. People say students can't afford to work for free, that the financial pressure causes them to quit, but when we look closer it's not that simple. Take medical students—they do some of the longest unpaid placements you can imagine, yet they're the most likely to stick with their studies. These are students who got very high marks in school. They could have chosen any course that they wanted. They're in medicine because that's exactly where they want to be. Compare that to courses with lower entry requirements like social work. Goodness knows we desperately need more social workers in our regional communities. Some of these students might be there because it's what they could get into, not necessarily what they dreamed of doing. Their connection to their studies might not be as strong, so when the going gets tough, when they're facing unpaid placements and financial pressure, they might be more likely to question if it's worth it.

This isn't about ability—I've known brilliant social workers who didn't get high marks in school. It's about how committed students feel to their chosen path. If you've worked your whole life to get into medicine, you're probably going to push through the hard times. If you're in a course because it was available and seemed okay, those unpaid placements might be the thing that makes you wonder if there is something else you'd rather do. This bill helps with affordability, and that's important, but if we really want to help our students succeed, we need to do more. We need proper support for all students during placements, yes, but we also need to help young people find the right path for them, not just the path that their ATAR happened to match. When a student drops out, we all lose. That young person loses precious time and money and our communities lose what they could have contributed. We can do better than that—we must do better than that.

I want to talk about these student services and amenities fees, because there are two things that really don't sit right with me. First, we're making distance students pay these fees even though they can't use any of the services—think about that for a moment. We're asking students, many of them parents or working full-time or living in remote parts of Tasmania, to pay for campus gyms and cafeterias they will never see. It's like asking someone in Smithton to pay membership fees for a gym in Hobart; it just doesn't make any sense. This isn't an abstract concern, either. We have many Tasmanian students who are required to either travel long distances or study remotely. For mature-age students who work full-time and study after hours, how many times are they going to the uni pub? Do they really benefit from cheaper parties? There are not as many students using these services—full stop—because there are not as many students spending hours a day on campus.

The world of university has changed so much in the last 30 years. When I talk to students in my community, many of them are studying online. They're juggling family responsibilities, they're working to make ends meet, they're fitting their education around their lives—and that's wonderful. It's giving more people the chance to learn and grow. But our thinking about the fees is stuck in the past. This bill does try to do something about student fees. It says universities have to give 40 per cent of this money to student led organisations. That sounds good on paper. Our students should have a say in how their money is spent. But this brings me to my second concern: why 40 per cent? Why not 50? Or 60? No-one seems to be able to explain this figure. I have read through everything, and I can't find any justification. Think about it—this is money our students are paying. Many of them are from families who count every single dollar. Why shouldn't students have an even bigger say in how it's spent? Why not half? Why not more than half? I've heard some people say that giving more money to student organisations might mean universities can't provide important services like mental health support, but that doesn't quite add up. Universities already fund these vital services through other channels—that's not what this fee is about. So we have two problems here: we're charging fees to students who can't use the services, and we're not giving students enough say in how their money is spent. Our thinking needs to catch up with reality.

University today is not just about sitting in lecture halls and hanging out in the student union. For many of our students, it's about logging in from their kitchen table after their kids are in bed. We need to fix both these things. Our distance students should haven't to pay for services they can't use. If we truly believe in giving students a voice—and I do—then we need to explain this 40 per cent figure and ask ourselves honestly: are we giving students enough say in how their money is spent?

The bill shifts the calculation of HELP debt indexation to using the lower of CPI or WPI, instead of just using CPI. This will rarely make a difference. Maybe every seven or eight years it will matter, but it won't matter for most students. Something that would make a meaningful and fair change to the HELP debt indexation system would be to change the timing of the indexation. Imagine you have a HELP debt of 40 grand. You're doing the right thing: working hard and making your repayments through the tax system all year long. Let's say you've paid off four grand over the year. You'd think your debt would be $36,000 when they calculate the interest, wouldn't you? That would be fair. That would make sense. But that's not what happens. Instead, on 1 June, they pretend you haven't made any of these payments. They add the interest to your full 40 grand. Only after that do they take off your $4,000 in payments. It's as if they're charging you interest on money you've already paid back.

Here's what makes this even worse. Remember that we're charging students full fees for their placement units, so a nursing student doing their placement is racking up HELP debt at the same time at the same rate as if they were in lectures every single day. They're working full time and unpaid in a hospital, and we're charging them thousands in fees. Then we're charging them interest on those fees before we count their repayments.

The member for Goldstein and the member for Warringah support the same change I do: change when we add the interest and do it after we've taken off the repayments people have made. It's not complicated; it's just fair. But are the government fixing this? No. They're patting themselves on the back for using a lower interest rate, but they're leaving this fundamental unfairness in place. They're leaving our nurses, our teachers and our social workers stuck in this cycle. Think about what this means. A student nurse doing their placement is earning nothing, being charged full fees and building up HELP debt. Then, when they start working and making repayments, we don't even calculate the interest fairly. It's as if we are making it as hard as possible for them to get ahead.

This isn't some technical detail; this is about basic fairness. These students take on these debts to get an education, to build better lives and to serve our communities. The least we can do is make sure the system treats them fairly when they're paying it back. The government needs to fix this, not next year or in some future reform but now. With the unfairness of placement fees and this interest calculation, it's too much. Our students deserve better than a system that feels like it's designed to keep them in debt. Take it from someone who never went to university, I see the value in university education. I believe in university education. I think it's hugely important. I believe it should be open to everyone who wants to learn and who wants to build a better life. That's why it breaks my heart to see what's happening in our universities today.

Look at where we are now. Our universities spend more time and money marketing themselves in South-East Asia than they do looking after students from places like northern Tasmania. I don't blame the universities for this. They're just trying to keep their doors open. They're doing what they have to do to pay their bills. The sad truth is that teaching Australian students isn't profitable anymore. Think about that for a moment. Our own universities can't make ends meet by educating our own people. That's how broken this system has become. They have to rely on international students to keep the lights on. So what happens? Our domestic students become an afterthought. Universities charge them as much as they can and spend as little as they can get away with, not because they want to but because they have to. We've created a system where you can't run a university in Australia unless you have an office in Singapore, Jakarta or Shanghai.

This bill makes some small improvements. It helps around the edges, but it's not addressing the real problem. It's not fixing the fact that our universities see Australian students as a secondary concern compared to what actually pays the bills. One day I hope we see a bill that really tackles this problem, a bill that makes teaching Australian students sustainable again. That is the bill I'm waiting for. That's the bill I will be truly excited to support. This isn't that bill. It's something, and something is better than nothing, but let's not pretend it's more than it is.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, this parliament is chock-a-block full of folks who had access to a free university education. From Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on down, there is a massive group of Labor MPs and current Labor ministers who had access to a free university education. It's the height of hypocrisy that now a government chock-a-block full of Labor folks who had access to a free university education supports massive charges in the form of HECS that actually saddle people who want to go to university with a massive debt.

Labor's announcement that they would wipe 20 per cent of student debt if they win the next election is testament to a massive community campaign—through a massive effort by so many people, including the Greens in this place led by our awesome deputy leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi—not only against student debt but to wipe the entirety of student debt in this country. It is not only testament to that campaign but also a massive missed opportunity by Labor, because there is no reason, no reason at all, why Labor couldn't come in here and legislate that plan today. The numbers are here to pass that legislation through both houses of this parliament if the Labor Party would get on board.

Interestingly, Labor have introduced legislation to make some TAFE places fee-free in the future. They've introduced that legislation, but they are not introducing legislation to wipe 20 per cent off student debt. It is a toxic move by Labor to make that legislation contingent on their re-election. The Greens stand ready to legislate today to wipe 20 per cent off debt levels to give effect to Labor's new policy. In fact, we not only stand ready today but we will give Labor a chance to vote for their policy when we move an amendment to this legislation to wipe 20 per cent off student debt starting on 1 July next year. We don't need to wait for election to legislate to give effect to Labor's policy; we could do it now. We call on the Labor Party to stop playing base politics with this issue and actually start delivering for people who are getting smashed by high levels of student debt. People are hurting. People need relief now. They don't need that to be contingent on election results in the first half of next year.

What Labor are saying is that they don't have enough commitment to their own position to legislate for it now. What Labor is saying to people with students debt is, if you want 20 per cent wiped off your student debt, you have to do what the Labor Party is telling you. What Labor is saying and effectively admitting to people is that this isn't about their levels of student debt at all. It's not about people's levels of HECS debt; it's about trying to leverage votes for the Australian Labor Party. It's well beyond time that Labor got serious about this, like they are with their legislation to make some TAFE places fee-free. If it's good enough to legislate this year to make some TAFE places fee free in the future, then it should be good enough to legislate to wipe 20 per cent off student debt, and to give effect to that this year. But Labor's too interested in playing political games and not interested enough in actually doing something meaningful to help people who are getting smashed with high levels of HECS debt now.

What this exposes is that Labor is becoming more and more worried about young people in particular voting for the Greens. That's what this is about. We see you, Mr Albanese. We see you, Dr Chalmers. We see what you are doing. We see this cynical play where you are refusing to introduce legislation to give effect to your own position because you want to make the delivery of that position contingent on a particular election outcome. We see you, and we see right through you. That's why we're going to introduce amendments to this legislation that will give effect to your policy. Let's see what you do. Are you going to do the right thing and vote in support of your own policy to wipe 20 per cent off student debt from 1 July next year, or are you going to vote against your own policy? What you do here will make very clear what your motivations are. If you really care about people who are getting smashed by student debt, vote this week in this place to ensure that, from 1 July next year, 20 per cent will be wiped off student debt in this country.

If you are—and I suspect this is far more likely—simply announcing this policy as a cynical electoral ploy, that'll be revealed if you vote against your own policy. My prediction—and I make this with a high level of certainty—is that you're going to vote against your own policy this week. You're going to do that because you care more about yourselves than you do about people who are getting smashed by high levels of student debt. That's where we're going to find ourselves this week. People like Mr Albanese, who had access to free university education, and people in his cabinet and people in his caucus—dozens of them—who had access to free university education back in the day, are going to take a position that will expose them as nothing more than cynical political players. It will expose that they're actually not proposing this policy because they want to help people; they are proposing it because they think it's in their own electoral interests. That is the height of hypocrisy.

Student debt should be wiped completely in this country. University should be free in this country—like it used to be free, like it was free for the Prime Minister and like it was free for dozens of his cabinet and caucus colleagues. University should be free, because we should not be disincentivising people to go to university. We should be encouraging anyone who wants to go to university and get a tertiary education for free, just like it used to be. It is the height of hypocrisy for this Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, and for his dozens of caucus and cabinet colleagues who had free university education, to oppose a free university education today.

Well, let's see what you do when the Greens serve up your own policy to you this week. Let's see what you do. I predict very, very confidently that you're going to vote against your policy. You're going to vote against the Greens' attempts to legislate your own position, and, in doing so, you will expose the fact that you are not proposing to wipe 20 per cent off student debt levels in this country because you want to help people, but that you are doing it because it's in your own political self-interest to do so. If you were serious about helping people, you would vote this week to legislate your own policy.

The evolution of this debate and this issue shows the power of having the Greens on the crossbench in this place. And I use that word 'power' unashamedly. People put the Greens into this position of having the balance of power so that we could fight for them—so we could fight for things like putting dental and mental health into Medicare; so we could fight to raise income support; so we could fight for climate action; so we could fight to save our beautiful forests; so we could fight to make GP visits free; so we could fight to make big corporations pay their fair share of tax; so we could use that revenue to help people who are getting smashed by the cost of living and accelerate the transition into renewable energy. That's why people put us in this place, and that power and that campaign—where we have worked hand in hand with so many thousands in the Australian community to campaign to wipe student debt—has actually led the Labor Party into a position where they have had no choice but to do something. And—classic Labor—they've decided to do the bare minimum. But at least this one is a step in the right direction. Wiping 20 per cent off student debt is not as strong as it should be, because what we should be doing in this country is wiping all of student debt, but wiping 20 per cent off it is a good start and a step in the right direction, so legislate it. Legislate it this week.

By moving an amendment, we'll give you the opportunity to legislate your own position. What are you going to do? Are you going to vote with us in favour of your own position, or are you going to vote against it and, I confidently predict, line up with the opposition, in opposition to your own policy? What we're going to see—mark my words, folks—is a Labor Party voting against its own position, because it doesn't want to legislate this now. This has never been about doing the right thing; it has only ever been about appearing to do the right thing. Pressured by the community, pressured by the Australian Greens, the Labor Party has taken a classic Labor position: take the bare minimum, and then don't actually do it; just do something that makes it look like you're doing it, and tie it to an election outcome. It's classic Australian Labor Party—all about Labor, not about the people in our community.

Well, the Greens are here to fight for people in our community, and that is why we are intending to serve up Labor's policy to the Australian Labor Party this week. That is why we are going to move amendments to this bill that would legislate Labor's position of wiping 20 per cent off student debt on 1 July next year. That's what this Senate should vote for. We're going to give the Senate an opportunity to vote for that. We call on Labor to join us to legislate the position that they themselves have taken and to do the right thing for people who are getting smashed by excessive levels of student debt. We should wipe student debt. It should be dead, buried and cremated in this country. If the Labor Party won't do that, we're going to offer them the opportunity to legislate their own policy, and we demand the Labor Party join with us and provide much-needed relief.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak on the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024. The university degree system is failing our students and our country. Schoolies is happening right now on the Gold Coast and across the country. These school leavers are too busy celebrating finishing high school to be listening to this speech, yet maybe their parents will be listening. To schoolies I say: this is the last break some of you will have before heading to university. Enjoy it. Be warned: universities do not have your best interests at heart. Today, they act like a greedy corporate business, and you're their cash cow. For people heading to uni, please be aware that you're taking on a very big HECS debt. That debt is meant to be in return for something. Uni is meant to give a good qualification that students can turn into a sound career. For many people, though, universities aren't doing this anymore. Instead, unis are loading up school leavers with millions in debt for degrees that aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Many people watching might wonder how they're getting away with this. If a uni doesn't give you a degree that can enable you to earn money and you can't pay back the debt, then the unis should go broke, right? HECS is completely different. The uni gets the money upfront from the government—from the taxpayers. Then you owe HECS to the government, seemingly forever for some students. The uni gives you a degree that doesn't live up to its promises and immediately laughs all the way to the bank while you're stuck paying HECS debt to the Albanese Labor government. The universities' lust for money shows up in the data. In 2005-06, an average person with a HECS debt owed $10,400. Today, the average debt is an astonishing $27,600. That's nearly triple in a bit under 20 years.

The entire system needs a fundamental reset. One Nation believes that the future students at schoolies right now should be given all of the information to make an informed choice about their future. This bill does not help students do that. Every university should be forced to publish the average salary of graduates from each year and degree at one year, five years and 10 years after completion as a form of accountability and quality control, putting responsibility back on the universities. This would break the university scam of treating students like cash cows to load up with debt for useless degrees. It would empower school leavers to make a choice that matches their goals based on real-world data, not leave them in the dark. This data is available. Every uni student is required to have a unique student identifier number—a USI. Everyone with a HECS debt has a tax file number. These have been going for years. It would be simple to match up tax file numbers with unique student identifiers and publish graduates' average earnings, anonymised to protect identity.

But the government won't do this, because universities are powerful. They earn unfathomable amounts of money with amazingly overpaid vice-chancellors at their heads—and there's the core. As the Australian Financial Review's journalist Julie Hare reports:

In 2022, Paddy Nixon, the then-vice chancellor of the University of Canberra, which was ranked equal 421st best university in the world, took home a salary package of $1,045,000—the same as Dame Louise Richardson who was running the world's best university—Oxford.

In South Australia, Colin Stirling, boss of Flinders University—which ranked 380th in the world—took home a pay packet of $1,345,000. That's not bad, considering it was over $100,000 more than the salary of Lawrence Bacow, who was head of Harvard University! At the University of Queensland, the vice-chancellor earns over $1.2 million a year—more than double what the Prime Minister earns.

Despite being defined as not-for-profit and exempt from tax on revenue, these universities are making billions of dollars. In 2023 the University of Queensland generated $2.6 billion in revenue. Half of that, $1.3 billion, was spent on employee expenses, like the vice-chancellor's salary. The University of Queensland sits on a piggy bank of more than $4.1 billion in net assets alone. These universities are not simple little charities. They're huge businesses rivalling the top 10 companies on Australia's stock market. They have abused the social contract with our country and the generous guarantees that governments—taxpayers!—give them.

This bill would make some minor changes to the indexation of HECS debt, bringing it down over 2½ years from 16 per cent to 11.1 per cent. But it only tinkers around the edges. This bill does nothing to address the fact that the average HECS debt has tripled in two decades. It does nothing to make sure that it's worthwhile getting into debt for a degree. It does nothing to address the fact that many people going to university would be better off getting a trade qualification. It does nothing to address universities using prerecorded lectures, sometimes more than three years old, and playing them back once a week forever. There's no expense, just lots of revenue.

One Nation's plan for HECS debt and universities would fix all the things this bill does not fix—all the things that this bill neglects. Inflation is compounding in a way that the original architects never expected. We need to stop the pile-on and give people time to pay down their debt. To do this, One Nation would freeze HECS indexation completely for the next three years.

Secondly, universities must be made accountable for the degrees they're delivering and the education they're not delivering. One Nation would force universities to publish the average salaries of graduates from their degrees one year, five years and 10 years after graduation so that students know what they're signing up for. Is the debt going to be worth it?

Delivering degrees is getting cheaper, so course fees should be getting cheaper too. One Nation would cut the fees for subjects that use repeated, prerecorded lectures and large numbers of group assignments. Our universities should be focused on delivering a good education for Australian students first. They should be focused on students first and on delivering good education. One Nation will enforce English standards for international students so that universities aren't sacrificing Australian educations to increase profit from international students, to the detriment of Australian students. We've discussed that in the past. I've raised it.

Finally, having a HECS debt shouldn't mean graduates are locked out of buying a house, which they are at the moment. In combination with our people's mortgage scheme, offering five per cent fixed-rate mortgages, people with a HECS debt would be able to roll their debt into a home loan and pay it off together. Where they can't get a loan from the bank because of their HECS debt, One Nation will get HECS debtors into a stable, clean, cheap home loan.

Mr Andrew Norton, a professor in the practice of higher education policy noted during the inquiry into this bill:

All parts of the system—the original fees charged, the indexation arrangements, and the repayment system—need to work together in a coherent way …

The parts of this system are not working for the country. Instead, they're working for highly paid vice-chancellors and the consultants in the education sector.

One Nation believes in a university system that works for the students that choose to study there and in the same type of support for people doing a trade. Until we fix the core parts of the system, the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 is merely tinkering around the edges. That's all it's doing. One Nation will make the changes needed to ensure a university system to serve students and to serve our country.

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024, and I associate myself with the comments of my Greens colleagues, including Senator McKim's confident prediction made just now that Labor will vote against our amendments to take action today, voting against their own policy proposition.

Let's be clear: this student debt relief bill is nothing more than a PR stunt and will not deliver genuine cost-of-living relief in a timely way, which Australia's students and graduates need right now. Labor uses Greens' lines about wiping student because they know it's what people want and they know we can do it, but they are really just tinkering here with indexation. The Greens are the only party with a genuine commitment to wiping student debt and making university and TAFE free. Labor want people to wait until after the election to extort young people's concerns and their cost-of-living crisis and to defer action which could be taken today.

This bill amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and other legislation to give effect to some of the Universities Accord recommendations, including changes to student debt indexation. Firstly, it retrospectively ties the student debt indexation rate to the lower of either the CPI or the WPI and provides an indexation credit to reduce the 2023 and 2024 student debt indexation rates from 7.1 per cent and 4.7 per cent to four per cent respectively. Someone with an average student debt of $26,500 will see a reduction of around $1,200 in their outstanding debt as a result. Secondly, it will allow for grants to be paid to higher education providers for a new Commonwealth prac payment.

Thirdly, university enabling courses will be renamed FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses, and a new Commonwealth grants scheme funding cluster will be provided for them. This funding is expected to increase the number of students enrolling in these courses by 40 per cent by 2030. Fourthly, it will require higher education providers to ensure that 40 per cent of the student services and amenities fees revenue they collect from students is provided to student led organisations. Finally, it also makes amendments to the act to allow for the merger of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.

Some of these are positive steps, but they go nowhere near far enough in fixing the structural crisis within the tertiary education sector. The first and foremost problem is the crushing impact of student debt on too many Australians. Soaring student debt is making the cost-of-living crisis worse. It's locking people out of the housing market, causing people to delay having families and crushing the dream of going to university for too many. However, the Labor government's plan to provide student debt relief will see student debts rise by 11.5 per cent in their first term. This is simply not good enough.

Labor says they're wiping $3 billion in student debt, but don't fall for it. All they're doing is shaving a tiny bit of indexation off the top of a giant swelling pile of student debt. Taking $3 billion off around $80 billion is peanuts. Setting indexation to the lower of CPI or WPI is akin to rearranging very expensive deck chairs on the Titanic. The WPI is usually higher than the CPI, so this change will make very little difference. In fact, in the last 25 years, the WPI has been lower than CPI indexation only four times, including 2022 and 2023.

Labor's little tweaks to student debt won't provide real cost-of-living relief to the millions of people struggling under the weight of ballooning debts in a cost-of-living crisis. The root of the student debt crisis remains totally untouched by this bill. People are graduating with bigger and bigger debts that grow every year and take longer and longer to pay off. This is largely due to the Morrison government's disgraceful punitive fee hikes, which Labor is backing, against the advice of their own Universities Accord panel, which says the scheme needs urgent, immediate remediation. Next year, for the first time, arts degrees will cost more than $50,000. We've got Labor to thank for that.

There is a simple truth here: the student debt system cannot be fixed, because student debt should not exist. Higher education, like education at every level, is an essential public good that should be free, universal and provided by the government.

Many of us in this place, including the Prime Minister and many in the cabinet, are beneficiaries of free higher education. I am, certainly. I was the beneficiary of a free undergraduate economics degree, a free honours year and three years of a free PhD. That's seven years for free. And, better than that, as a kid who came from the country, I had help with living costs. At the end of the month, my household—with my sister who was studying to be a nurse—could afford a slab of beer and, as a consequence, we were the party house. So I didn't just start with free education; I actually had a livable income, which meant I could be a student who didn't spend 30 hours a week trying to earn an income to finance my living while I was studying, and I didn't start my working life with thousands of dollars in uni debt—an average now of $26,000—and facing a cost-of-living crisis, a housing market out of control and, now, $50,000 arts degrees.

Well, shame on us. Shame on us as a parliament to say to the next generation or the current generation, 'You walk out of your university with thousands of dollars in debt around your neck, into a housing market that's impossible to meet, with insecure jobs in too many of our industries.' We are a wealthy country. Why are those of previous generations who enjoyed free uni education passing on an obscenely expensive set of debts that will hobble future generations, hobble productivity and hobble our economy? It's all wrong and, in this wealthy country, we can and should be doing better.

Then there is the problem of placement poverty. We've got a widespread issue of poverty for those who must do placements within their qualifications. Hundreds of thousands of students are required to complete work placements as part of their study, many of which are unpaid. Work placements are especially common in feminised fields of study, which further entrenches gender inequality. A teaching bachelor degree mandates four months of unpaid full-time hours to qualify. Nursing takes five months and social work more than six months.

This bill creates the power for grants to be paid to higher education providers for a new Commonwealth prac payment but provides zero detail as to the payment and how it will work. The detail of the payments will come in disallowable regulations, meaning that it'll be up to the minister to decide the eligibility criteria and the payment level. There is no guarantee that any student will actually receive it, and that's totally unacceptable. We need that detail now. According to the government's announcement, the payments intended for eligible teaching, nursing and social work will be at a rate of $319.50 a week, or $8 an hour for anyone doing a full-time placement. This amount is woefully low. And so many will miss out—dentistry students, vet students, physio students, psychology students and medical students, for example.

During this cost-of-living crisis, unpaid placements are forcing students to choose between putting fuel in their car to get to their placement and putting food on the table every day. Mandatory unpaid placements are causing students to forgo paid work or drop out of uni, and this is taking an intense toll on students' wellbeing and their health. Students are being pushed to the limit, going months without a day off, finishing their placements at 5 pm and going straight off to paid shifts at the pub or grocery store. Students are being burnt out before they even begin their careers and are left with absolutely no time to have a social life, enjoy their youth or enjoy all of the activities, excitement and expansion of being in a university environment.

How on earth are students expected to live when they have to give up hundreds of hours of paid employment to do unpaid work placements? How on earth are students expected to support themselves for weeks or months just living off their savings—if they have them, of course—during a time when the cost of living is soaring and we're seeing huge increases in rents across the country? This is pure exploitation. Students should not be forced to provide their labour for free, and they definitely should not be forced to juggle work and placement both at the same time just to scrape by.

Students experiencing placement poverty need urgent relief. Labor has said that this policy will only commence on 1 July 2025. What are people supposed to do until then, and what about all of those who are left out? Every student should be paid for every hour of work they're required to do as part of their degree, and yet government is excluding so many, including those vet students who undertake a mandatory 52 weeks of unpaid placement to complete their vet qualifications. Students should be paid at least a minimum wage for their work on placement, not a lesser supplementary amount.

This bill also adds the new Adelaide University as a table A provider and removes the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide from the list following their merger, in view of the expected commencement of Adelaide University in 2026. The Greens have previously expressed concern about this merger. University mergers can result in negative outcomes, including things like program restructures and elimination, staff lay-offs, course cuts, decreased competition and reduced student satisfaction. The Greens share the concerns of the National Tertiary Education Union and the anxieties that staff have expressed around this specific merger. A June 2023 NTEU survey of 1,100 university staff found that only 25 per cent supported the establishment of the new university. Many are feeling concern. Additionally, 75 per cent indicated that they had not been appropriately consulted by the South Australian government. Some uni students and staff found out about this plan via the Advertiser, not through consultation. This is not good enough.

The South Australian Greens did not support the Adelaide University Bill in the state legislative council. They did, however, move 23 amendments to try to secure better outcomes for staff and students. These amendments included requiring the uni to be an exemplary employer, various transparency measures and a requirement to divest the new university of fossil fuel and its assets in the defence industry. Sadly, only one of those amendments passed. These contracts—and some of them were with Deloitte and other big consulting firms—have not been made available and transparent to the South Australian public. They should be. We want the university merger to publicly reveal those details and to be clear about the business case. The Greens will always stand for robust universities and for accountability and transparency. We wish the university staff and students well as they transition through this phase.

Overall, while this bill in all its parts makes some positive changes, the entrenched issues within our tertiary sector require urgent, widespread and structural reforms. We call on the government to wipe all student debt, to make university and TAFE free and to pay all students doing mandatory placements no less than the minimum wage. We have relentlessly pushed the Albanese government to deliver desperately needed student debt relief since they came to power. This pressure has worked. It's worked in securing changes to indexation, as well as recent commitments to raise the minimum repayment income and to cut student debt by 20 per cent—but after the election, in Labor's notion. There is no reason to wait. Student debt relief shouldn't be dangled like a carrot on a stick and held ransom to the next election results. We can act now. We have the numbers in this parliament to lock in these changes now. Labor could move a bill to do it right now.

The Greens are going to keep up the pressure through amendments and changes in this bill to wipe all student debt. We want to see TAFE and uni free. We want to work with Labor to deliver the changes, like wiping all student debt and making TAFE and uni free, that will make life better for millions of people so that the next generation, the current people coming through our universities and those who have gone through university in recent times can enjoy the same opportunities and the same benefits of higher education that I did, that the Prime Minister did and that so many in this place and in the parliament enjoyed. The next generation should have the same privilege.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024. I would like to associate myself with the comments of my colleagues and, in particular, of our spokesperson on higher education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi.

Now, don't be confused—and this is to the students up there watching this—this isn't the bill that would make some, not all, TAFE places free. Nor is this the bill that would reduce student debt by 20 per cent. I note, of course, that that's not 100 per cent; it's only 20 per cent. This is a bill with some tweaks. Sure, they're welcome tweaks, but 'tweaks' is perhaps a generous description. It's a bill that tweaks the rate of indexation on student debt. So this will make an impossibly awful situation ever so slightly less awful for uni graduates who are graduating with debts that perhaps have been unmatched in history so far. This is a step in the right direction, but it's the tiniest possible step that anyone could possibly take. Once again, we see our hearts being broken by this government, who gave us such great hopes for real reform to tackle the issues that people are facing. Student debt is one of those key issues in a cost-of-living crisis, and not deterring people from further study is something that should be top of the list for any government. So, unfortunately, we see that we have the tiniest possible change to this area of policy, which really merits broader and deeper reform to actually help people.

I remain baffled at why this government lacks the courage to enact the changes that people deserve and that, frankly, I think it was elected to deliver on. I don't understand where the breakdown in communication is between students, who are facing the biggest amounts that they've ever had to pay for higher education, whether that's TAFE or uni, and the government, who think, 'We're just going to make some tweaks to the inflation rate of that debt.' If these changes are made—and the Greens will support them being made—student debt will still have increased by 11½ per cent under this government's watch. Where's the bill to cancel student debt completely?

We've said, 'Of course we will back in your proposal for these indexation tweaks and we'll back in your proposal for a 20 per cent reduction of student debt.' But it's not enough, folks. I'm sure that 20 per cent will be welcome, but that compound interest is killing students. I want to flag that I had to pay for my education. I wasn't like some of the others in this chamber and the other place who got their university education for free. It took me getting elected to the Senate to pay off my student debt for my environmental science degree and my law degree at Griffith University in Meanjin/Brisbane. Get yourself elected so you can pay off your HECS debt—that's hardly a policy solution that will apply to everyone, is it? Of course, we need more ordinary people elected to this place. But it took me that long to pay off my HECS debt and half of a drama degree that I'd done prior to that. The compound interest was already making my debt worse, and the situation has only gotten worse in the meantime.

We see degrees that are now costing more than they ever did. Compound interest and inflation are turbocharging those debts, and now we have a timid government that's dangling the tiniest of fixes to that situation, making some slight reductions to the indexation rate, which we will support. But it's just not what students actually need. We want to see student debt cancelled. I remember, when I was still at uni, I was having a discussion about how much our degrees cost, and I said: 'It's alright. The Greens will be in government one day, and they'll just cancel my student debt.' Perhaps I was needing to be a little bit more patient. But here we are, with the potential to make some changes, and, once again, the government are choosing to make absolutely the most miniscule amount of reform that they possibly can.

I would urge the government to listen to the real pleas and needs of students, who deserve to be able to go to uni without crippling debt, should have their existing debt cancelled and should be able to get their degrees for free. Free university, free TAFE and cancelling student debt was one of the amazing reforms of the Whitlam government that this Labor government should be proud of and should be trying to get us back to. We could have these things. You have the numbers to pass those reforms. We beg you, we invite you and we urge you to do those things. We will vote for them. We will back those in. We've been pushing for these reforms for decades. You're in government. You've got the chance to do that, and you've got the numbers to get it through. Why are you so timid? Why are you so disappointingly beige in actually tackling the issues that students are facing?

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being 1.30 pm, I interrupt the debate to call on two-minute statements.