Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the spirit in which this motion was brought before the parliament. For many years I've been discussing university student debt and the need to be doing something more in this space, so I acknowledge the spirit which has brought the debate to us. I also acknowledge it is a time when this parliament is also debating one of the most significant reforms to have happened in relation to student debt for decades—that is in relation to the bill introduced into the House in the last sitting to cut all student debts by 20 per cent.

The reason I raise that is it was part of the recommendation in the University Accord, which did talk about the need to have a fairer indexation system. It's a demonstration of how our government went further, by cutting all student debt by 20 per cent. There was a period under the Howard government and, subsequently, the previous coalition government, where student debts did spiral out of control. They were unfair. High inflation did send personal student debt skyrocketing, and many people my age—people in their 30s and 40s, whose higher education experience was well in the rearview mirror—were seeing their debts go up by more in the past few years than what the original debt was to begin with. That prompted Labor to act, to say, 'We need to do something to restore the fairness.' Hence, we brought forward our commitment at the last election to cut all student debt by 20 per cent.

For my electorate, an electorate in regional Victoria, that's about 17,000 people who will have their student debt cut, and three million Australians. This cut isn't just for people who incurred a debt through university, through the HECS—now HELP—scheme but also for people who incurred a debt prior to free TAFE through the student loans that were offered in vocational education and training. It is a welcome measure, and much of the reason we saw a massive shift towards Labor in many of the seats that we now hold.

Apart from that, I'd also like to talk about TAFE for a moment. One of the other key recommendations of the University Accord was to improve the transition from the vocational education sector to the tertiary university sector. We have started to implement some of those reforms. There should be a clearer transition pathway, with recognition of credit and work that has been achieved through VET and through TAFE into higher education.

In my own electorate I met nursing students—early school leavers who have taken the opportunity to go back to TAFE to start studying nursing, and, to their credit, they were doing well. Some of them are now qualifying for another part of the Universities Accord package, the Commonwealth prac payment, when they take their first prac payment later this year. These students have a goal. They are keen to go on to midwifery and nursing at university at La Trobe's Bendigo campus. From early school leavers to being enrolled in free TAFE and transitioning to university, these amazing women are on the path to becoming midwives and nurses, a pathway not possible if not for our Labor government. These are the stories that are seeing real change.

I'd also like to acknowledge some of the other things that we have done as a result of a recommendation of the Universities Accord. Fixing HELP debt indexation was a key recommendation. I've mentioned the Commonwealth prac payment, starting with nursing, teaching, midwifery and social work students. There is another area that we are keen to look at. We've introduced fee-free uni-ready places, another pathway into university, and more student study hubs. But I acknowledge that there is still more work to be done, and I have said publicly as well as to the minister that the work of implementing the recommendations of the accord will not be finished until we've done more about the Jobs-ready Graduates scheme, particularly in relation to arts and humanities students. It is wrong that these students are charged more for their fees than the cost of delivery, and I look forward to working with the minister and our government to see that injustice changed.

Everyone should have the opportunity to go to university and choose to study what they like, regardless of where they're from and the postcode that they have.

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