Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let me start by reiterating all the things that have been said on this side of the house, in relation to this. Labor does not support this bill. This legislation is completely unfair and attacks students and undermines the fairness of our world-class student loan system. As I have said in this place many times before, one of the things that led me here was a comment made by my Liberal predecessor, Jackie Kelly, when she famously decreed that Western Sydney did not need a university; we were pram city. The people I get to represent—people like me, back then, as a 20-year-old—didn't deserve to have a university in their electorate, because they were capable of producing babies and nothing more.

That's the difference between us and them, really. Outraged as I was at the time, my only ability, or the only thing available to me at that time, was to write a cranky letter to the editor of my local newspaper about my disgust. I'm glad Jackie Kelly's comments weren't heeded. But now, a few years later—just a few; I was 20 then and am only a few years older than that now—I get to stand in this place and defend the thing I came here for originally.

I'm really glad that her comments weren't heeded. Instead, we have Western Sydney University right in my backyard. It's a university whose alumni I belong to, in fact, as does my mum, the first in our family to go to university. Through uncapping places, Labor opened the door of university to 190,000 Australians—many more who were the first in their family to go to university. This resulted in huge increases in the number of students going to university in Western Sydney, a place that is the jewel in the crown and a place where everybody comes to launch their campaigns. We've had former Prime Minister Tony Abbott coming into the electorate and spruiking all things great about Western Sydney—well, fund my university.

Labor delivers real reform to higher education in this country. When we were last in government we lifted investment from $8 billion in 2007 to $14 billion—almost double—in 2013. But that growth will come to an absolute standstill because Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister, has effectively reintroduced a cap on the number of university places, taking us back to the bad old days of John Howard when your family's income and bank balance determined whether you could go to university or not.

This MYEFO package of $2.2 billion worth of cuts is the government's fourth attempt, since coming to office, to cut universities and make students pay more. These cuts do real damage to our universities. At last year's budget they tried to make students start repaying their HELP debt when they started earning as little as $42,000. Now they're proposing a new rate of $45,000. It's still too low when facing the crippling costs of higher living and no wages growth, not to mention penalty rate cuts. That is too low for people to afford to live and pay back their debt.

We believe the current repayment rate is about right. We don't want to make students repay their debts when they are starting a career, saving for a house or starting a family. But what do we see from this coalition government? We see $2.2 billion in cuts to universities, and Western Sydney University is the second-worst affected by these cuts. Sixty per cent of the students who attend the University of Western Sydney—or Western Sydney U, as it's now called—are the first in their families. That is a staggering figure: 60 per cent are the first in their immediate extended families to be able to go to university. That is an extraordinary number. Families in Western Sydney want their kids to have a great education.

That extends to me. When we talk about City Deals and 30-minute cities, closing down the University of Western Sydney by defunding it and these cuts by stealth are not helpful. They will not create the 30-minute city this government constantly rattles on about. The people of Western Sydney and Lindsay in particular are being let down by this government. My community faces fewer employment opportunities in traditional jobs like manufacturing. Families in Lindsay need to be prepared for the jobs of the future. They want a learning pathway for their kids to give them a better job and a better life. Education will make a difference to the lives of people in my community. We need our kids to stay in school and go on to TAFE or university. I'm not even going to start on the VET sector tonight; I don't think we have enough time on the clock to talk about the cuts and lack of apprentices we now have.

The Turnbull government should properly fund universities and not attack students through these measures. I was privileged to attend O-week at the University of Western Sydney and talk to students excited about their future, their opportunities and the jobs they'll get when they have finished their degrees. They talked about their anxieties about HECS repayments when they're done. These students, most of whom have casual jobs and don't get support from their families, because their families are struggling to get by, don't need to be slugged any further by this government. These are not the wealthiest students going to university; they are from hardworking families, some from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds.

It is pretty clear the government only ever had one plan for higher education—that is, for cuts and to make students pay more. To make matters worse, the New South Wales Liberals, who are spending $2.7 billion on demolishing and rebuilding two Sydney stadiums, are deaf to this problem as well. The Turnbull government is effectively slamming the door to educational opportunity in the faces of Western Sydney kids. Enrolments in university under Labor increased by 60 per cent in the seat of Lindsay. The University of Western Sydney will be the hardest hit, as I said before, with $93 million worth of cuts to funding. That is the greatest cut to any New South Wales university and the second highest to any university in this country. In 2016, the latest year with available data, about 25,000 women were enrolled at the University of Western Sydney out of a total of 44,000. Just over half the students were women. Instead of being supported, students are getting locked out. We are already facing an uphill battle, with the level of tertiary qualified people in my electorate sitting well below the state and country averages. We need to lift that, so we need more investment out there.

The Liberals' funding cuts also mean that the University of Western Sydney's critical programs that reach out to people in communities and ensure a pathway or option to get into university for everyone who wants one, and industry and government partnered programs, are all at risk, as is the Launch Pad, a great initiative built under Labor during the time of David Bradbury, a fantastic former Labor member for Lindsay. We built this Launch Pad, which is now serving as a tech hub. We have heaps of start-ups in there building 3D printers that were formerly being built in people's garages and are now being exported all around the country. This funding cut threatens that exact site, the place where we are training young people for the jobs of the future.

These programs are focusing on addressing the pronounced equity gap in education in my area. We know student debt is a genuine barrier to study for anyone in a low-SES or disadvantaged background. We should be doing all we can to increase participation in higher education, not making it harder. Why do we put challenges and hurdles in the way of our young people? Why don't we roll out the red carpet and give them every opportunity? They'll be here long after I'm gone. They'll be here making things and adding to our GDP well and truly after all of us have finished. Why are we making it harder? It is not good enough that these students are being left behind by this government. It is an especially cruel blow to the hardworking year 12 graduates who are now denied a place at university. Kids who studied last year and thought, 'Yes, I will get into university,' were denied a place because of the funding caps. Kids are starting their year 12 careers now, looking to go to university, and there is just so much uncertainty for them. They can have goals and aspirations but, because of this government, may have the door closed smack-bang in their face.

It is incredibly galling to see Malcolm Turnbull ripping funding away from students to pay for tax cuts for multinationals and millionaires. I think that's what leaves the foul taste in the mouths of so many people on this side. It's that we can seem to find $65 billion in the Treasury coffers to give to the big four banks, for example, who have already announced that they're going to slash 6,000 jobs, in the face and on the backs of those university students. How does he justify making it easier for big business to pay less tax but harder for kids who are 17, 18 and 19 to go to university? These are kids who just want to get ahead, who just want a decent job and who just want to be productive members of our communities.

Learning is a lifelong journey. I learnt that when I was studying to be a teacher back at university in 1999. It is a journey that starts well and truly before we are born and continues right up until the day we die. We need to make sure that our universities are there for everyone when they want to attend. The coalition government wants to slam the door on that lifelong journey.

We know that the disadvantage some families in my seat of Lindsay are facing prevents them from being able to go to university. In times of significant economic transition we should be investing in our people, not making it harder. The people in my community need a decent, well-funded university that supports their desire for a better life. People in Lindsay are calling out for courses at the Western Sydney University city campus, right in the middle of Penrith, to make it more accessible to go to university.

As Tanya Plibersek has said, Labor understands that a strong university sector needs certainty and stability. You can't do anything without a stable policy. This undermines all of the planning that universities are able to do.

Taking away the 9,500 university places that are estimated to be unfunded in the coming 12 months, this government is again being cruel and out of touch—I don't think that they ever had the touch to be honest. They are denying opportunities to a better future and it's an absolute rip-off in the faces of those young people. But they can't help themselves. They have consistently tried to make students pay more, and why? All to pay and fund their $65 billion tax cut to big business, on the backs of hardworking students, who just want to get ahead. They say that it'll trickle down, but we're yet to see any evidence of that, and I can't find an economist who tells them that it's going to trickle down and rain on their heads.

No wonder the people of my community, and of Lindsay, feel incredibly let down by the Turnbull government, and the Abbott government before them. We deserve better. We deserve better than people who think that we're only capable of producing babies. We deserve better than people who think that all that we can get is an airport out there that's all the effects of a 24-hour airport. Where we have planes flying overhead 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Where we don't get investment in our people.

We've seen funding cut after funding cut to education. In the VET sector we've got 140,000 fewer apprentices than in times past. We're seeing this absolute demolishing of the funding for the Western Sydney University. Once again, Labor will not support this cruel, out-of-touch policy, and I ask those opposite to reconsider their support for this $65 billion tax cut on the back of university students.

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