Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025, proudly. Often, governments have great intentions. We've all heard a lot about the national skills shortage. We've all heard us talk repeatedly about the need for us to develop people with those skills in our communities to ensure that we can build the homes that we need, to ensure that we can be competitive on the global market. The VET student loans have been part of that since 2017.

But, as it is important to enact things in response to that skills shortage, it is just as important to ensure that we have a streamlined system and that the students who are looking to access that system have certainty about the outcome of accessing it. That's what this piece of legislation is about. It's about a government that's listening to the people at the end of the line of the intention of legislation and listening to the feedback we're getting from the system, if you like, and from the grassroots—from the students who are accessing the loans. What we've found is that there's a problem that needs to be fixed. This government has identified it during a review in the last term of government of how VET student loans were administered. Now we're fixing it with this piece of legislation. We're taking action to ensure this is resolved and there is a certainty for students and providers.

The bill is a fix for an issue where VSL providers were handling tax file numbers when the 2016 VSL Act did not authorise it. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations identified that there's no clear role for VSL providers to handle tax file numbers in the VET Student Loans Act 2016. A stronger alignment between relevant IT systems and legislation was required. This is why the Albanese government is bringing forward the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025, to ensure this alignment and to fix the problem.

The bill will retrospectively authorise VET student loan providers' handling of students' tax file numbers for administering the VET Student Loans program. The bill will also provide certainty to providers and government officers that their past handling of students' tax file numbers for administering the VSL program from 1 January 2017 to 30 September 2025 was in fact lawful. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has, since early 2025, made updates to relevant IT systems to mask tax file numbers from the providers and automate transfer to tax file numbers between relevant systems. This means that VSL providers no longer need to handle the tax file number. This also closes a loophole in terms of a potential breach of personal information to those providers when it wasn't necessary.

A tax file number is information that is essential for administrating a loans program of this kind. This is because tax file numbers enable accurate tracking and repayment of that loan in the future, through the tax system. There'll be no change to the way students apply for a VET student loan using the electronic Commonwealth assistance form, or the eCAF. I'd also note that there have been no VSL student complaints as a result of past TFN handling practices for the purposes of the VSL program since it commenced; however, this is important, responsible and part of due diligence.

Providers have also been subject to security controls in the relevant IT systems and integrity safeguards to protect students' personal information. That has been occurring, and this legislation will ensure that it's all been done above board in the past and will be into the future. The safeguards include requirements for providers to comply with the strict use and disclosure provisions that apply to VET information under the VSL Act, that they undergo extensive approval processes to become an approved provider and that they notify the department of any student related data breaches. The protections that have previously applied to VSL providers' handling of TFNs will continue to do so after the bill's commencement.

The bill will apply to all current and former VSL providers and their officers who have handled student tax file numbers to administer their loan applications and their VET student loans themselves prior to 1 October 2025. It also extends to other relevant people, including the Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, the Commissioner of Taxation and Commonwealth officers. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has communicated with the providers about the IT changes throughout the year and continues to communicate with providers about this bill. We are ensuring that there is certainty in the system and that no-one else will be affected by a problem of this kind in the future.

VET student loan providers are of course registered training organisations that are approved by the Australian government to deliver the VSL approved courses, including TAFE institutions and private colleges. The bill will commence the day after it receives royal assent and the measure in the bill will be applied retrospectively to be in effect from 1 January 2017 to 30 September 2025. It's important that this bill happens expeditiously. It's important that the continuity of the provision of the VET student loans is not interrupted. It's important that certainty be given to both the providers and the students. It's important that people feel assured and confident that there have been no breaches and that because of this bill there will be no future breaches.

What does it mean for students? The VET student loans program enables students to undertake a VET course and defer the payment of tuition fees through an income-contingent loan. This is critical. It is critical in areas such as the area that I represent, where young people may not have a mum-and-dad bank to fall back on, and their decisions about further and higher education are actually impacted by their family situation. These loans were enacted to support those young people to access vocational education and training, to get the skills that they need for future employment, or for people to re-engage in the vocational education and training sector so that they can upskill and find new positions. It's about us having the workforce that we need to be globally competitive and make sure that we're doing the provision on the ground that our communities need.

We don't have to go far to think about the shortage in housing and construction at the moment, which we know we're trying refill. Look at the shortages that we've had in aged care across the country and in child care across the country. Vocational education and training systems are critical in developing that workforce. Government can do the things that we're doing to ensure that people are attracted to the industry and are maintained in the industry because they're getting a fair and decent wage, but we also need to ensure that they're capable and supported in accessing training so that they can take those next steps. This piece of legislation is about fixing that system. It's a small fix, but it's an important one. It's about making sure that everybody has continuity and certainty around this system so that people can access their loans without fear of a breach of their confidentiality or an upset in the system between them, the taxation system and the loan system.

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