Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the good member for her question, and I am concerned to hear about her constituent being misled into signing up for a particular course of study. Unfortunately, we saw too much of this behaviour as a result of Labor's failures when it made changes to the VET FEE-HELP scheme. That is why we acted swiftly to stamp out these behaviours and restore the integrity of the VET FEE-HELP system. That is why we banned the payment of inducements, to prevent students being duped into signing up for a course; that is why we banned withdrawal fees, which prevented students from withdrawing from a course; that is why we banned misleading statements, such as claiming that a particular course was free or government funded when everybody knows that they are not; and that is why we introduced rules so that students were not hit with an up-front course fee. Rather, now those course fees are accrued during the life of the course, a much more equitable outcome.

We have before the House a bill which provides additional protections for students, greater protections for those under the age of 18, and a two-day cooling-off period to prevent high pressure sales tactics.

Mr Husic interjecting—

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