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

I'm really proud to stand here today to speak about the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025. It might sound like a mouthful, but it is a simple, commonsense fix that makes sure our vocational education and training loan system works the way it was supposed to. This bill is about making sure students and training providers have certainty. It's about cleaning up the technical issues in the law so that everything's being done to help students get their training loans properly and lawfully. It's about making sure our system continues to be safe, secure and fair. Now, this isn't one of those flashy bills that gets all the headlines. It doesn't come with a big new announcement or a big funding package, but it is still important because, when you're dealing with something as serious as people's education and personal information, you've got to make sure the system is rock solid. If you're a student taking out a VET student loan, you want to know your personal details are protected. If you're a training provider, you want to know that your rules are being followed and that you're following them. And if you're a taxpayer, you want to know that the system is fair, transparent and being managed correctly. That's exactly what this bill delivers.

To understand what this bill does, it helps people to look back at how the system started. Back in 2008, the government introduced a scheme called VET FEE-HELP. It gave vocational education students access to income-contingent loans, meaning they could study now and pay later when they were earning enough. It was supposed to be a good thing, and it ran under the Higher Education Support Act 2003, the same law that runs student loans for university students. Under that old scheme, training providers were allowed to handle students' tax file numbers, or TFNs, because they was needed to set up the loans and link them to the students' Australian Tax Office accounts. But, as we all remember, that scheme went badly off the rails.

A handful of dodgy private providers took advantage of this system, signing people up for useless courses, offering free laptops and fake incentives and pocketing millions in taxpayers' dollars. The victims were often everyday Aussies—people on low incomes, people trying to upskill and get back into the workforce, young people who were just starting out and people in rural and regional areas like mine in the Hunter who just wanted a fair go. The system lost trust, and the students lost out.

In 2017, the government replaced VET FEE-HELP with the VET Student Loans program. It was a complete overhaul. It brought in a whole new act, the Vet Student Loans Act 2016, with stricter rules, tighter controls and better protection for students and taxpayers. It weeded out the bad operators, made sure only quality providers could access the scheme and brought back a bit of faith in the vocational training system. But there was one small detail that slipped through the cracks. When the new act was written, it didn't clearly say that VET student loan providers were authorised to handle students' tax file numbers. The old system allowed it. The new one didn't mention it, but the IT system and the processes that linked the loans to the tax system stayed the same.

That has meant that, since 2017, providers have still been collecting and using TFNs while students applied for VET student loans, because you can't set up a student loan without a tax file number. It's what allows repayments to happen through the tax system once a student starts earning enough. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations picked up on this issue during a review. They realised that, while providers had been doing everything right in practice, the law hadn't kept up. There is no clear legal wording that allowed them to handle those TFNs under the VET Student Loan Act. So this bill fixes that problem. It retrospectively authorises approved VET student loans providers to have handled students' tax file numbers since the program began on 1 January 2017. It also covers government officials and agencies that were involved in administrating those loans, like the department, the Commissioner of Taxation and other Commonwealth officers.

In simple terms, the bill says that what providers and officials did to help students access VET loans was lawful. It gives everyone certainty and protects them from any potential legal issues that could have come up because of a small gap in the law. It's important to point out that this bill doesn't give providers any new powers. It doesn't let them collect or use tax file numbers in the future. In fact, it does the opposite. In 2025, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations updated the IT systems used to run the Vet Student Loans program. Those updates mean that, from September 2025, providers no longer needed to handle a tax file number at all. The system now automatically and securely transfers that information between the student and the government systems. The TFN is masked so providers can't see it, store it or use it.

This bill isn't about giving more access; it's about closing the gaps and strengthening privacy. It makes sure everything that's been done since 2007 is lawful and everything going forward is even more secure. Some people might hear the word retrospective and think, 'Hang on, what's going on here?' Retrospective laws should always be used carefully, and they should only ever be used to fix something that needs to be fixed and not to change the rules after the fact. That's what's happening here. This bill doesn't change anyone's rights. It doesn't remove any protections. It doesn't let anyone off the hook. What it does, though, is confirm that everything that's already been done under the VET Student Loans program has been done properly and lawfully. It gives certainty to students, providers and the government.

It's worth noting that, since the program started in 2017, there haven't been any complaints from students about how tax file numbers were handled. There's been no evidence of misuse or privacy breaches. That's because the system has always had strong protections in place. Approved providers have to go through a detailed approval process before they can even offer VET student loans. Their directors and senior staff are checked to make sure they're fit and proper people to run a training business. They have to meet ongoing compliance requirements. If they misuse personal information, or fail to protect it, they face serious civil and criminal penalties. They also have to notify the department if there's ever a data breach.

These rules have been there since day one, and they're staying in place. Nothing in this bill weakens them. It just makes sense that everything is now legally watertight and in line with how systems operate. When we talk about fixing systems like this, it's about more than just tidying up paperwork. It's about trust. It's about showing that government is paying attention, that we're fixing the things that need to be fixed and that we're not afraid to clean up problems that have been sitting there for years.

We all remember what went wrong under the old VET FEE-HELP system. There were rorts. There were scams, and huge amounts of taxpayer dollars were wasted. People were signing up to courses they didn't even know they were in. Some of the stories were absolutely heartbreaking. Labor fixed that mess by replacing it with a better, stronger and more transparent system, and we've continued to make sure it keeps improving. This bill is part of that work.

It's not about rewriting the rules; it's about confirming that the existing rules have been followed and are solid and lawful. It gives students confidence that their personal information was handled properly. It gives providers confidence that they've done the right thing. And it gives the public confidence that the VET student loan system is being managed with integrity.

Every year, thousands of Australians rely on vocational education and training to build better lives for themselves. They're the people training to be electricians, mechanics, childcare workers, aged-care workers, chefs, welders, boilermakers and hospitality staff, or maybe even fitters like me. They're the backbone of this country and the people that keep things running. In regions like mine, across the Hunter, vocational training is a huge lifeline. It's how people get their start. It's how industries find skilled workers, and it's how local communities keep growing. When we make sure the system behind that training is strong and fair, we're investing in those people.

The Albanese Labor government has been clear that we're backing skills and training. We've delivered hundreds of thousands of fee-free TAFE places so that cost isn't a barrier for people who want to study. We've worked with the states and territories on a new National Skills Agreement that puts TAFE right at the heart of the system. We're investing in modern training facilities and better equipment. We're rebuilding trust in vocational education because we know how vital it is for Australia's future workforce, and this bill is part of that story.

It's a small fix but a hugely important one. It's about making sure the system works as it should behind the scenes, so students and providers can focus on what really matters: learning, training and building a future. It's also worth noting that this bill doesn't cost anything. It doesn't change the way students apply for their loans. The Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form, or eCAF, will keep working exactly the same way as it does now. The difference now is that, behind the scenes, everything is properly aligned between the IT systems and the legislation.

This bill also protects the integrity of government officers who were doing their jobs in good faith. It makes sure that officials in the department, or the tax office, who helped process these loans weren't unknowingly breaching the law because of a gap in some wording. It provides legal certainty and peace of mind that everyone was operating properly. And I want to make something else clear: Commonwealth officers are bound by the same standards and laws as always. They must continue to follow the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act and the Public Service Act. Nothing in this bill changes those obligations for any of them.

In summary, this bill fixes a problem identified in the administration of the VET Student Loans Program. It aligns the legislation with how the system is actually meant to be operated. It provides retrospective authorisation that providers and officials are protected. It strengthens privacy protections. It doesn't change the way students apply. It doesn't give anyone any new powers. And it gives confidence and certainty to everyone involved. This is good, practical government. It's what happens when you pay attention, listen to the experts and take the time to fix the small things that keep the system running smoothly. The VET Student Loans Program is an important part of Australia's education system. It helps people to get skilled, find work and build a better life. It deserves to operate on strong, clear and lawful foundations. And that's exactly what this bill delivers.

Investing in skills is one of the smartest things a government can do. It builds our workforce, it supports small local business as well as large business in this country, it gives people pride and purpose, and it helps communities like mine in the Hunter to thrive. We want every Australian, no matter where they live or what their background is, to have the chance to study, train and succeed. The VET Student Loans Program helps make that possible, and this bill makes sure it will continue to run properly and securely.

While it may look like a small technical measure, it has huge impacts. It keeps the system strong, it protects students, it reassures providers and it ensures that the law reflects what is happening in the real world. That is why I'm proud to support the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025. It's another step in strengthening our training system, backing Australian students and doing what good governments should do: fix problems properly and make things work better. I commend the bill to the House.

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