Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training) Share this | Hansard source

In summing up the debate on the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2006 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2006 I would like to dispel some of the myths that were portrayed earlier and to set the record straight as far as some of the facts are concerned. For instance, the repayment threshold for HECS stands at $38,148. That is what a student needs to be earning before they have to pay back 1c of the government funded education that has been there to support them. The average debt of a university student is $10,500—not the $250,000 that has been cast around this room here this afternoon. Also, it is important to note that 97 per cent of all students were in a Commonwealth supported place. That shows the commitment of the Australian federal government, the Howard government, to giving young students the opportunity to try to get the highest possible level of education that they possibly can get.

I thank all of the members who spoke on this bill. I thank the members for Lingiari, Shortland, Lalor, Richmond, Capricornia, Charlton and Kennedy—whom we just heard from again briefly—for their support of this bill. The bill before the House is a clear expression of the Australian government’s strong commitment to higher education. The Australian government education sector will benefit from an increase of more than $559.6 million in funding as a result of the 2006-07 budget measures contained in this bill. These measures will help drive the diversity of the sector and address critical workforce shortages. The bill will benefit our universities by providing additional funds to support quality learning and teaching, particularly in courses that have high infrastructure needs, and by allowing greater flexibility in the setting of student contributions and tuition fees. The bill will also encourage greater participation in higher education by improving the range of study options available to all students.

This bill contains measures which will significantly boost training in vital health courses as part of the Australian government’s contribution to the health workforce and mental health packages of the Council of Australian Governments. The Australian government recognises the need to train more doctors and nurses to address the workforce shortages. To this end, the bill provides funding for 605 new commencing medical places and 1,036 new commencing nursing places. Some of the new medical places will be bonded to areas of workforce shortages, which will improve the distribution of medical graduates in rural and regional areas.

An additional 431 new mental health nursing places and 210 new clinical psychology places will be provided, which will expand the mental health workforce and help to ensure Australians have access to high-quality mental health services. The increase in the Australian government’s contribution to support clinical training for nursing students will enable higher education providers to expand and improve their clinical training arrangements and help nurses better prepare for their work in hospitals and other settings. Significantly, this bill commits an extra $91.6 million over four years for the Capital Development Pool program, which will assist universities to provide courses in areas that have high infrastructure needs.

James Cook University, the University of New England and the University of Queensland will benefit from $25.5 million in capital funding to support the delivery of new medical places. The increased FEE-HELP limits will improve student choices, help students to make choices about the courses that they would like to study and promote a more diverse higher education sector. The sector will benefit too from increased flexibility to set student contributions and tuition fees. Providers will be able to set fees and contributions to reflect the differing costs involved in providing the same course to different types of students, such as those at different campuses or undertaking study via a different method of delivery.

Two hundred and fifty new postgraduate research scholarships will be made possible through the commercialisation training scheme. These new scholarships will help students to develop skills in research commercialisation and intellectual property management and ensure that the next generation of Australian researchers are equipped with the necessary skills to bring research based ideas, inventions and innovations to the marketplace.

The Australian government is committed to a more diverse higher education sector which provides real student choices. The 2006-07 budget measures contained in this bill will add to the $11 billion that is already committed to the higher education sector through the Backing Australia’s Future higher education reforms. The success of these reforms is already evident. Recently the Minister for Education, Science and Training released the 2005 higher education statistics, which showed that university student enrolments had reached a record high of more than 957,000 students. This included an increase of approximately 10,000 additional Australian students who commenced an undergraduate course in 2005.

Australia has a world-class education system that is successful in attracting both Australian and international students. The Australian government has contributed to the success with a reform process that has improved the long-term sustainability of Australia’s higher education institutions. I note with interest the report on this bill released today by the Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and Education. I welcome the report’s recommendation that this bill should be passed without amendment. Importantly I also note the committee’s frustration with the frivolous referral of this bill for its consideration by the opposition.

As the report notes, higher education stakeholders welcomed the measures in this bill. If the opposition had listened to these stakeholders it might not have wasted the committee’s time.

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