House debates

Thursday, 31 May 2018

Questions without Notice

Education

2:12 pm

Photo of Malcolm TurnbullMalcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question, and I commend her for her strong commitment to supporting regional students, regional universities and regional economic growth.

My government is committed to bridging the divide between education outcomes in the city and in the bush. We recognise, as the member does, that thriving regional and rural communities are a key to Australia's success and that they need a high-performing education system, and that no matter where you go to school you deserve the opportunity to pursue your passions and receive a quality education. That's why we undertook the review, led by Professor Halsey, that the honourable member has referred to.

Yesterday, the government released its response to the review, and that announcement showed its commitment to delivering better outcomes and more opportunities for regional, rural and remote students. It showed our commitment to taking a whole-of-government approach to this issue, with the Deputy Prime Minister and the ministers responsible for education, regional communications, regional development, local government and social services joining together for the announcement. The government's accepted all 11 recommendations of the review. In doing so, we're putting the education needs of the almost 400,000 students from regional, rural and remote communities front and centre.

Recommendation 11 is one that will be of particular interest to the member for Indi. It's to establish a national focus for regional, rural and remote education to enhance access, outcomes and opportunities in regions. The government acknowledges that a one-size-fits-all approach to regional policy does not work, and I know the honourable member agrees with that, so we're investing in partnerships with communities to ensure that national policies are informed by local people living in the regions. The government will undertake an annual assessment of the adequacy of the support universities offer students in regional, rural and remote areas on transitioning to higher education, including student accommodation—a key issue—and that information will be included on the national admissions information platform. In the recent budget, we provided $28.2 million to expand accessibility to sub-bachelor programs in regional areas and $14 million to expand accessibility for bachelor students at regional study hubs. We're creating 500 new commencing sub-bachelor places at Australian universities, an additional 500 Commonwealth supported bachelor places for students—

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