Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise today to speak on the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (A More Sustainable, Responsive and Transparent Higher Education System) Bill 2017. As speakers on this side of the House have pointed out from the outset, Labor opposes this bill, and I strongly support the amendments moved by the member for Sydney.

You can see from the extent of our speaking list that many people on our side feel very strongly about ensuring that there's proper funding for education, particularly in this case for higher education funding. They are speaking on this to highlight how unfair this bill is. It is an unfair piece of legislation because, essentially, it means cuts for our universities, increases in fees for students, larger debts for students and making students pay back those bigger debts sooner. All in all, these changes are incredibly unfair. That's why we're seeing such a large number of speakers on this side and so few on that side, which is disappointing but which reflects their views on education generally.

Coming in here speaking about the Turnbull government's harsh cuts to education is a bit like Groundhog Day. We on this side of the House have been here many times in the last few years talking about their unfair cuts to schools, to TAFE, to apprenticeships and to training generally. Now we're here talking about their unfair cuts to universities. It seems that, over and over again, you just can't trust the Liberals and the Nationals when it comes to education and on many other issues that we've spoken about here. But, today, we're talking about education, another stage in education where they've got more harsh cuts. We make it clear that Labor stands with students and universities against the government's cuts and increases in fees.

This is a government that really is determined to push ahead with this harsh legislation to increase student fees and cut university funding by $3.8 billion. That's a huge amount. In the context of my electorate, the Liberal and National plan means that Southern Cross University, based in northern New South Wales, will have its funding slashed by $22.7 million over four years. That's a huge amount for a regional university like Southern Cross University. Of course, those cuts are part of the more than $617 million in cuts across New South Wales—a massive cut for my home state of New South Wales.

The fact is that cuts to universities risk lowering the quality of education that students receive. They also mean that students will be paying more for less and, as I said before, be forced to repay their debts sooner. Remember also that there will be university jobs at risk because of this. In contrast to these policies of the Turnbull government, the policies of the last Labor government meant a greater investment in education and an extra 190,000 students who got the opportunity to go to university. The fact is that the Turnbull government simply do not believe in investing in our young people's future and our country's future. They've already made $17 billion worth of cuts to schools and almost $3.5 billion in cuts to TAFE—massive amounts of cuts to training and education.

Today, I particularly want to focus on what these cuts mean for regional and rural Australia. It is already very difficult for younger people from the regions to get to university. There are many impediments, and this government just seems to keep putting more and more roadblocks in their way. This bill means that it will be very hard for those young people to access university. Many people tell me, all the time, that it's simply not on their radar and that it's just not possible for their children even to go to university. The cuts in training that we've seen from this government and the very high levels of youth unemployment, particularly in our regions add up to the fact that our younger people will have less opportunity to access higher education.

I would like to make it clear that it is the National Party that people in the regions blame for this. I often say, 'National Party choices hurt.' The National Party's choice and decision to support a bill that cuts funding to universities and increases fees for students from the regions will really hurt those younger people and their families in regional and rural Australia. They will be held to account for these harsh cuts and harsh changes to our university system.

The bill clearly demonstrates that the government's not serious about investing in a future that grows the economy and ensures that our younger people can access good and decent jobs. Instead the bill delivers almost $4 billion of cuts to the university sector. Those on the other side claim it's reform. In fact, it's not reform. It fails as reform because it fails to make a commitment to a sector that is absolutely integral and important to our younger people and their futures. It's not reform; it's another tedious Groundhog Day moment, where the basic rights of our young people are being eroded to make room for the $65 billion tax cut for big business.

Government is about choices and the choices that are made. The Turnbull government makes choices to give these massive tax cuts to multimillionaires and big business, but Labor makes choices about investing in education because we understand how important it is. When it comes to education, we should be ensuring that we are a country of equality and opportunity. We should be assisting every young person who wishes to improve their future by providing them with the opportunity to access higher education. Indeed, this bill goes to the heart of the inequality we see imposed on every sector under this government.

Universities support more than 130,000 jobs across Australia. Cuts to universities will put those jobs at risk, especially in our regional areas. And people employed in the universities in our regions also greatly assist our regional economies. So it will have a massive flow-on impact.

I seek leave to continue my speech at a later hour.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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