Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The bill before the House, the Education Legislation Amendment (Startup Year and Other Measures) Bill 2023, is a very exciting one. It will help unlock the potential of so many in our country to develop new ideas, to come up with inventions that will improve our world and to put Australia in a stronger position in terms of our reputation as a smart country with sovereign capability in ideas and innovation. Quite simply, this bill creates a new form of assistance under the Higher Education Loan Program to support participation in higher-education-based accelerator programs that will facilitate the development of the entrepreneurs and innovators of the future.

In my electorate of Chisholm we have a very strong foundation in ideas and innovation. We are home to the Burwood campus of Deakin University, which is, of course, the first international university to open a campus in India, an achievement of which we are all very proud, and to the expansive Clayton campus of Monash University. Monash is Australia's largest university. It is where I studied when I was an undergraduate and a place I visit often today. I am so fortunate to enjoy strong relationships with these institutions, and it is my great honour to advocate for excellence in higher education as the representative of the area these institutions are situated in. But they are not the only wonderful institutions in my electorate. We are also home to the Australian Synchrotron, to the CSIRO, to the Monash Technology Precinct and to so many other businesses and innovators working in the pharmaceutical sector, in medical technology, in defence technology, in advanced manufacturing and in medical research.

The ecosystem of talent we have in our electorate will only be enhanced by the Startup Year HELP initiative. This bill demonstrates our government's commitment to building a better future through supporting the higher education sector in a meaningful way, through championing ideas and Australian ingenuity and through having the patient to set up our communities and our country for the long term as a place of excellence for talent.

It is very clear that we need to diversify our economy. This has been the case for some time, but it was so starkly highlighted over the last few years as we experienced the shutdown of supply chains through the early era of the COVID crisis, and now we face continued disruptions as a result of the war in Ukraine. Like so many in our community, I was horrified to see the full extent of the failure during the previous, wasted, decade of government to ensure that our nation had the sovereign capability it needed to help our country, to help Australia get through a pandemic with local supplies. The pandemic laid bare the fact that our economy was not as strong as it could be, with missed opportunities for Australia to make things to export to the world, to diversify our economy and to grow our nation's wealth.

We know that in advanced manufacturing the multiplier effect across the economy is high, as high as 10 to one in certain sectors, and we know too that Australia is missing out because for far too long—shamefully too long—we have been governed by people who were short-sighted when it came to the potential of our nation. Previous governments were very short-sighted when it came to ideas, and higher education as a sector has been made poorer due to the wasted decade when those opposite were in government. We, on the other hand, are a forward-looking, optimistic government. This bill is about that. And other measures already initiated by our government, such as the National Reconstruction Fund, demonstrate our commitment to a prosperous, optimistic Australia.

We've done more to support manufacturing in our 10 months in government than those opposite managed to do in 10 years. Under their watch companies left Australia, causing devastation right across the supply chain and in our communities, as good, secure jobs were shed and the industries Australian governments should have supported, should have been proud of, were abandoned. And, of course, that includes the skills sector and higher education in all of that.

Let us too never forget the callous disregard those opposite had for international students during the early part of the pandemic, nor let us forget the exclusion, deliberately, of universities and academics from JobKeeper. That act damaged research in this country. It is an enormous shame that any government would be so deliberately destructive to our higher education sector, a sector of which we should be enormously proud and ensure we do everything we can to protect and support so that it has a strong future. A strong future for higher education is inherently good for society, for all of our communities and for the whole of Australia.

This bill helps us as a nation support our higher education sector through supporting institutions and students to make sure they have opportunities to pursue ideas, to reach their potential as leaders in business and innovation. This bill represents a truly bright moment for Australia. Investment in Australia's future entrepreneurs and business innovation leaders will help build a smarter, stronger and more innovative economy that attracts and retains talent. We want students to be equipped with the skills, experiences and capabilities to realise their own entrepreneurial endeavours and support our country in achieving our national priorities. Through this increased focus on university accelerators, higher education providers will be able to develop student skills and create a pipeline of aspiring entrepreneurs that will help shape a diverse and competitive economy. To do so, students need access to education that will advance their own careers and encourage an innovation driven Australia. These programs enable our future entrepreneurs to receive the support and the confidence they need to remain in Australia and found their startups. This culture begins with initiatives that signal government endorsement. Again, the contrast between the last 10 months and the last 10 years could not be clearer. We support higher education. We support a cultural change that values ideas.

Our government has engaged in an extensive stakeholder discussion process with universities, industry and students and what this has highlighted has been the appetite for expanded accelerator programs. Not only do these programs enable students to gain important skill sets that are really desirable to industry and future employers—and this is a topic that I speak with employers in my own electorate about very often—it also provides valuable communities, connections and networks for students. I reflect too on the technology precincts in my own electorate, again in terms of seeing how those communities, connections and networks are formed for students.

Startup Year will have a positive impact on the university sector, individuals and industry. This program will provide additional funding to participating universities to build and expand their existing accelerator program offerings. These loans will also encourage new entrepreneurs to build and innovate their ideas through financial support and access to world-class mentors and facilities. We need to remember too that we have some of the finest researchers in the world working in Australian universities. Again, that is something that we should be enormously proud of as a nation. Supporting startup creation and the skill set developed through accelerator programs will play a role in growing productivity and incomes and build a workforce with the skills and capabilities to adapt and thrive in the future labour market.

As noted before, this bill represents the work of a government that is committed to an optimistic future for Australia, with a diverse economy and a reputation as a smart nation. On average, across OECD countries, young firms account for approximately 20 per cent of employment and create almost half of all new jobs. In Australia, startups have a high impact on the creation of new jobs, and the Startup Year program will work to support this new growth. We've had really strong feedback and support from the sector during our consultations. A first-year pilot will be delivered to test aspects of program design, to engage student demand and to assess capacity to deliver the program. But this is a really exciting development, again demonstrating our commitment not just to higher education but to building an economy and communities that Australians really deserve, that value ideas and that respects the contribution that higher education makes to our communities. It will be something that delivers not just now but well into the future.

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