Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As the House knows, education is very important to my community in Fowler and, of course, across the country, but, for migrants and refugee communities that are in Fowler, I cannot emphasise enough how critical education is. People would recall I constantly speak about how, when we were in refugee camps when my mother chose Australia, my late mother told me the reason why we chose Australia was that it had the best education system in the world. We came here and settled here, and I have benefited from our education system.

I do want to start by acknowledging the government's efforts. It is a start, but I think we need to be honest. It should never have taken this long to recognise what students, families and educators in my community have been shouting from the rooftops for years. For decades, successive governments have lost their way. They have failed in their most basic duty to build the skills and provide the knowledge our young people need to thrive.

In my electorate of Fowler and across greater south-western Sydney, we see the consequences of this neglect every single day. For our community, university has not become a gateway; it has become a finish line that is moving further and further out of reach. We have allowed a system to take root where the path to a better life is increasingly determined by your bank balance rather than your potential. For too long, our priorities have shifted. It became about international rankings and protecting our balance sheets. Somewhere along the way, equity, access and opportunity were relegated to the fine print, and, in that process, a silent and cruel understanding was born that, if you are a disadvantaged student, you're simply condemned to a tougher road. Why is that the case? A student's postcode should never be their destiny. Whether a young person grows up in a leafy inner city suburb or in the heart of Western Sydney, quality education must be a right, not a privilege shaped by postcode.

I recognise the intention behind Australian Tertiary Education Commission. Long-term planning is good, but, in Fowler, we have seen commissions and taskforces come and go. Without real accountability, there is a risk this commission becomes just another layer of expensive Canberra based bureaucracy, well-intentioned on paper but disconnected from students' lived realities.

In the four years that I have been in this parliament, I've heard the government and the minister speak confidently about how well they understand the struggles of Western Sydney, and the minister should understand. He regularly talks about how he grew up there and went to Cabramatta Public School and Canley Vale High School. He knows Western Sydney, but understanding isn't the same as solving. Measures like the 20 per cent HECS debt reduction are held up as proof of action, but, for families in Fowler, that is a brief sugar hit. It hasn't changed the day-to-day grind. Students are trapped in a vicious cycle. They chip away at their debt only to watch it climb right back up through indexation. While the government talks about distribution, inflation and interest rates are moving faster than relief.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister spoke about how the government distributed the benefits of stage 3 tax cuts. If distribution is the measure of fairness, I ask how exactly is equity being distributed to the communities that need it most? In Fowler, students aren't just studying; they're working long hours whilst trying to maintain a full-time load. Fowler is ranked in the top 12 per cent of the most disadvantaged areas in this country. For us, systematic barriers are not just an abstract concept.

I've told this House about the about young people in Fowler and their struggles and how they are contributing to their families. Take Kimberley, a constituent of mine. Kimberley hits her $25 weekly Opal cap just travelling from Cabramatta to campus. She spends $120 a week on food. She contributes $125 a week towards her family's electricity and water bills. She does all of this while working part time and keeping up with her studies. For Kimberley, the choice isn't between degrees. The choice is between education and survival.

If we are serious about equity, we must be honest about the policies that undermine it. I agree with the member for Kooyong that the job-ready graduates scheme must be reversed. As this House knows, I've introduced my fair study and opportunity bill twice to confront this injustice. Under the JRG scheme, the cost of humanities and social science degrees more than doubled. This isn't just a policy failure; it's a social one. It punishes students for their academic interests and creates a debt trap for those pursuing careers in teaching, social work or community services, roles that are really critical to the health of our society. If this commission is to be more than a bureaucratic exercise, it must confront the JRG legacy directly. It must set out concrete options to fix what is clearly broken.

The success of this bill won't be measured by reports or frameworks. It will be measured by whether a student in Fowler can realistically afford to finish their degree without being crushed by debt. That is the test of equity. Anything less is just more rhetoric.

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