Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to contribute to the debate on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Response to the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report) Bill 2023.

The value of education cannot be understated. It opens doors for people to achieve all that they want to achieve. I would like to think that, in a country like Australia, there are no limits on how big someone can dream or how wild a young person's goals may be. Certain professions require a university degree, which is a necessary requirement for those whose dreams may be to work in one of these professions. This means part of being a country where people's dreams and goals are limitless is also that university is accessible, affordable and something students can look towards as being achievable. University is not for everyone, and that's fine as well. I didn't go to university, and I wouldn't change a thing about my life. But for those who want to study at uni or need to study at uni to achieve their goals, it is vital they are able to and see that as an option for themselves.

Sadly, this is not always the case for many in my electorate. Uni is not something seen as a common pathway. In the Hunter electorate only six per cent of people have achieved a bachelor's degree as their highest level of education. This is well below the 23.4 per cent in New South Wales and the 22 per cent nationally. This means often young people in my electorate grow up not knowing what options are available for them in life, not knowing what opportunities and pathways they could take. The result of this is that their dreams and goals are limited. This is not any fault of their own. But the fact is that it's hard to be someone or achieve something you don't see around you already. This has real impacts: 13.94 per cent of my population live in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic areas of the country. My hope is that, if young people in my electorate can see what opportunities are available to them through higher education, even if the number of six per cent only slightly creeps closer towards the state and national figures, we will see fewer and fewer people disadvantaged and more and more young people dreaming big and achieving great things.

This is what motivates me to give my all to the people of the Hunter, and this is why I'm speaking on this bill, which amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to implement priority recommendations of the Australian Universities Accord interim report released by the Minister for Education on 19 July 2023. We are a government committed to opening the doors of opportunity for more Australians to go to university. We are focused on people like those in my electorate, who I know can achieve anything they want to if they just have the chance we are now providing them. While this bill aims at opening the door to go to university, in my electorate it will open many more doors. It will open the door for young people to dream. It will open the door for young people to live a different way to what their parents may have lived. It will also open the door for a better future.

There are five priority actions in the interim report this bill focuses on. The first is to create more university study hubs in the region. I know my electorate of the Hunter would hugely benefit from more study hubs. In my electorate we have Avondale University at Cooranbong, and the University of Newcastle sits just outside my electorate boundary. For some these are accessible by road or public transport, but for others who live further away from Newcastle—in Cessnock, Singleton or Muswellbrook—travel can exceed an hour and sometimes can span more than two hours. For students in these parts of my electorate to go to uni to follow their dreams, too often the only option is to move away from home and live closer to campus or on campus. This is not a practical solution for many, especially when only six per cent of the electorate have previously attended a university. Moving hours away from home is difficult financially but also means they are in a foreign environment away from the support of home. It's not hard to see how this may not be an appealing option for many in my electorate. This is why providing more study hubs is so important to electorates in regional areas. It will mean students in these parts of my electorate have a more practical way to attend university. Suddenly what once seemed too far away to be a reality is now achievable and a door is opened.

Another priority of the interim report is to extend the demand-driven funding currently provided to Indigenous students from regional and remote areas to cover all Indigenous students. We're also providing funding certainty during the accord process by extending the higher education continuity agreement into 2024 and 2025, with funding arrangements that prioritise support for equity students. In order to make university in this country more accessible, it is also important that we work with the state and territory governments to improve university governance.

One of the biggest changes being made by this legislation is the removal of the 50 per cent pass rule, as well as improving student support. As it stands now, students are required to pass at least 50 per cent of the units of study they undertake to continue to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance. The pass rate is assessed after they have completed eight units in a bachelor's degree, or higher, or four units in a shorter course, and currently students who fail more than half lose their eligibility for Commonwealth assistance. Without government assistance, the majority of students at university wouldn't be able to attend. To put it bluntly, higher education would be an exclusive luxury for the top end of town, and it would be closed off to those who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. That's why government assistance is needed. The pass rate requirements don't make sense. Just because somebody is finding university difficult, not passing some courses, does not mean they should be discouraged from continuing their education by having to find a way to cover the costs themselves.

It's not as if this requirement is a longstanding feature of government assistance for university students. The pass rate requirements were originally introduced in January 2022 by the former coalition government as part of the Job-ready Graduates program. The rule has already taken a toll. More than 13,000 students at 27 universities have already been hit by this rule. That's 13,000 students, trying their hardest to graduate with a degree to set themselves up for a future, having financial pressures piled on top of them amid an already stressful uni life. This is not helping Australians to achieve their potential. This is not encouraging our young people to dream big and chase their goals. This is branding individuals as being not good enough to do what they desire to do. This is wrong. Just because a student is struggling does not mean they are not good enough. In fact, some of the best in the workplace were not top of the class at university or school. We should be helping students succeed, not forcing them to quit. The impact of the pass rate requirements has affected students from First Nations, low socioeconomic backgrounds and other underrepresented or educationally disadvantaged cohorts.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this was bound to happen. What did the former government expect the result would be when they removed support from those who usually need it the most? This is why the bill introduces requirements for universities and other providers to have policies in place to help students successfully complete their studies. Under these policies, universities and other providers will be required to demonstrate how they will identify students who are struggling and how they will connect those students with the support services needed to help them.

Education opens doors, whether it's university, TAFE or other forms of study, and these doors should be able to be accessed by all across our country, whether you live in a regional area or in a city, near a university or further away, regardless of your financial situation or your socioeconomic status and regardless of your race and your background. This bill opens doors for all, and I know, if this bill is passed, many in my electorate of the Hunter will be able to walk through newly opened doors. I commend the bill to the House.

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