Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the amendment proposed by the member for Capricornia. But I point out that there is no need for the amendment proposed by the opposition, and let me explain to the House why this is so. Providers contribute to the cost of regulation of the ESOS Act through payment of the annual registration charge—the ARC. This is a legislated charge payable by the last business day in February each year. Current procedures for taking action against providers who fail to pay by the due date are administratively cumbersome in light of the fact that this is an annual obligation and as such is a clear and regular legal requirement.

Automatic suspension of a provider’s registration for failure to pay the annual registration charge by the due date will streamline the enforcement action taken against providers who breach this legislative requirement and encourage compliance. This amendment, together with those which will require payment of certain specified charges before rather than after a specified event, will reduce time spent by the department in pursuing providers for outstanding fees and prevent those providers who do not abide by the rules from remaining in the industry. The department already provides written notice to education providers in relation to the annual registration charge. The process for reminding providers of their legislative obligations starts in November of the previous year for a payment that is due at the end of February of the following year.

Initial contact is made with providers by letter to advise them that the ARC process is approaching and to encourage them to ensure that their contact details are correct. This is followed by alerts which are given through the Provider Registration and International Students Management System, or PRISMS, and also the department website before formal notification is sent to the providers in mid-January. Upon receipt of the ARC notice, providers have approximately six weeks before the due date within which to calculate their enrolment figures for the previous year. The department provides an ARC enrolment count export report and reminder notices through the Provider Registration and International Students Management System to assist the providers with their calculations.

Also in 2006 the department produced a brochure entitled How to Pay your Annual Registration Charge as well as several other products to help providers with this obligation. They ran an ARC-specific hotline from December to April to assist providers with any queries that they might have had about calculating their enrolment figures and paying their annual registration charge. There are processes in place to resolve any discrepancies after the charge is paid. So I can assure the House that there is no need for a legislative change due to the extensive information and reminder services which are already in place to assist providers, including universities, to meet their payment obligations. The government does not support this amendment.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

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