Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Education has the ability to change the trajectory of a person's life forever. Education is one of Labor's deepest values. Its transformative power has the ability to change potential into opportunity. It widens the circle. Where you start out in life should not limit how far you go, and that's what this debate is about. The Australian Universities Accord is not a quick fix; it's a long-term plan for reform over the next decades and the decades after that.

The accord is clear about the future—more jobs will need more skills—and this is about building trust that you can carry throughout your education and trust that the sector and the government want you to succeed and thrive. Over the coming decades, we must lift the amount of workers with a certificate, diploma or a degree to about 80 per cent. That means more people at TAFE, more people at university and action is needed now to make sure that we prepare our tertiary system for Australian skills needs not just for today but for tomorrow.

This is not only an economic task. It's about fairness. We must break the old divide between vocational education and higher education. I think that that's particularly important because often what we see in workplaces is the best collaboration that happens is through those that have had vocational education backgrounds, who often have much more practical experiences, as opposed to university educated people, like myself, who are based in a lot of theory. Together those people can collaborate, and that's where we can see the next level of innovation. It's important that we remove invisible barriers that hold too many young people back, especially in our outer suburbs, regions and the bush. This legislation is about stewardship and a system that is aligned, planned and fair, so I rise to support the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill.

In February 2024, the government released the final accord report. It set the path for reform, recognising the need for additional skills and the rising demand. It made clear that, to reach this 80 per cent goal, we need more students not just starting both TAFE and university but succeeding in them, so we must act now to set up our tertiary system. This government has already implemented 31 of the 47 recommendations in part or in full. Students can already see the change. They can feel it. We are doubling the number of university study hubs, with 20 new regional and 14 suburban hubs. This brings higher education closer to students. It cuts the distance and the cost. As someone who grew up in regional WA, I see that it's important that we lower the barriers as much as possible. I've seen people from regional communities or from outer suburban areas drop out of uni because the travel was just too much.

We are increasing the number of free university bridging courses. More people can take the first step with confidence. We also, for the first time, introduced paid prac for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work. These are skills that are in demand, and placement poverty should not be a barrier to care based professions. Providers now must allocate at least 40 per cent of the student services amenity fee to student led organisations—because a student voice matters and campus life matters. Often what happens at university, not just in the classroom but on the campus, are the things that help prepare you for the rest of your career. The conversations that I had at the tavern or in the library were just as important and those in the classroom. I was lucky enough to be Curtin Student Guild president, and what I'd say about student voices is that the goal is to make your university the best place to study, and that happened to also be the goal of the vice-chancellor, who at the time was Lance Twomey. We worked together and we achieved some amazing things, and I can't wait to see what amazing collaboration happens between the student unions and universities to make sure that our universities are fantastic places. We had such a productive relationship with that vice-chancellor that we named a bar after him—the Twomey bar.

In addition, we have demand driven, Commonwealth supported places that are now available to all First Nations students when they meet the entry standards. Equity means real access, and people who want to take the step and get access to a tertiary education should not be held back. We have established a National Student Ombudsman and a national code to prevent and respond to gender based violence. Safety and accountability should not be negotiable. We need to make sure that students feel safe on campus irrespective of their religious background, their gender or their sexuality. We have made HECS fairer. A 20 per cent cut has been made to HECS debts, and indexation is capped at the lower end of the CPI or the WPI. We have also established marginal repayments and higher minimum repayment thresholds. This lightens the load so graduates can build their futures. This is a tangible way to help young and new professionals as they start out their careers.

These are not abstract changes. They make study more accessible. They make campuses safer. They make the cost of learning fairer. Tangible ambition in education cannot slide backwards. It needs a steward. If we are serious about the accord, we need an institution that can think long term. It must bring coherence across the VET and higher education sectors. It must monitor progress. It must keep reform moving. This bill establishes that steward, the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, or ATEC. Creating a system steward was a key accord recommendation. It is essential to building the tertiary system that our future needs. What will ATEC do? It will start by encouraging provider diversity, different missions, shared purpose and better choices for students. It will also provide expert advice to government on higher education settings, stable rules, clear signals and evidence based change. It will monitor skills and equity targets, track what matters and fix what isn't working. It will help keep the system honest. It will also join up the system so students can get the qualifications they need when they need them.

The interim ATEC commenced on 1 July 2025. It was initially led by Professor Mary O'Kane, Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt and Professor Barney Glover. Professor Tom Calma and the Hon. Fiona Nash have since been appointed commissioners, replacing Professor O'Kane and Professor Behrendt. Professor Barney Glover is now acting chief commissioner alongside his role of Commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia. Their work has laid the foundation for the permanent commission, which this bill establishes. The accord spans more than one budget cycle. It will outlast one ministerial term, and ATEC will give us the capability and continuity to deliver.

When directed by government, ATEC will also allocate the number of domestic student places, within a system allocation set by government, and allocate international places when required. This system uses system-wide levers to meet the national needs. ATEC will be responsible for implementing new mission based compacts with universities. This will give universities room to pursue their goals and their missions. They will also drive diversity in the system, deliver on national priorities and respond to student and community needs. ATEC will also implement a new funding system to do two things: provide demand driven places for equity students at a systems level and deliver demand driven, needs based funding that recognises the number of low-SES students, First Nations students and students studying at regional campuses.

Access is vital. Participation and completion are vital too. The new settings do both. ATEC will advise government on policy settings and strategic direction; on the cost of teaching and learning; on student demand; on how to meet current and future skills and knowledge needs; and on lifting access, participation and outcomes for people who face systemic barriers. ATEC will also advise on how to bring higher education and VET closer together. ATEC will work closely with Jobs and Skills Australia, TEQSA, the Australian Research Council, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research and, of course, the states and territories. Its advice and decisions will be informed by the best evidence across sectors and jurisdictions.

Every year, ATEC will publish a state of the tertiary education system report. It will track emerging trends and systems-level challenges, progress on participation and attainment targets, opportunities to better join up VET and higher education, whether we are meeting Australia's skills and knowledge demands, and how well the system is removing barriers for underrepresented groups. ATEC commissioners will also report to the Minister for Education on higher education matters and to both the Minister for Education and the Minister for Skills and Training on the joined-up tertiary system. The minister cannot direct ATEC on the content of its advice or instruct it to make a particular decision about a provider. Independence matters. Trust matters.

Alongside this bill is the University Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. It amends the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Act and the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to enable ATEC to advise on the Higher Education Standards Framework and to facilitate mission based compacts. The governance must line up with the goals. I recall taking the education minister to Curtin University earlier this year. He spoke about the accord's vision. He linked it to Labor's tradition of reform—what Gough Whitlam called the uplifting the horizons and John Curtin's simple call to 'look ever forward'.

He also made time, early, to sit with student leaders. We went around the circle. Students could see in dollars what the HECS changes, that 20 per cent relief, would mean to them, and that relief was obvious. It was on their faces. The motivation was real. This has gone some way to building trust in the tertiary education system, and now we are legislating an authority to ensure that that trust is not lost again.

The optimism that I heard at Curtin sits alongside a national tradition. After the war, the John Curtin era set a course for national renewal and stewardship in higher education. Today, with ATEC, we renew that spirit for a more complex age. The mission is the same: keep the doors open, lift horizons and make the future fair. This bill is about trust. It's about trust that education is not for the lucky few; it is for anyone with talent and drive. When we invest in people, they give back to their communities, to the economy and to the nation.

The accord recognises a simple fact: higher education cannot simply drift; it must be guided. We must maintain trust by maintaining consistent principles that align with our Australian values. Education must be shaped around students, communities and our country. That's why ATEC matters. It provides long-term vision and stability; it puts equity at the core of success; it makes skills planning real, coordinated and responsive; and it lets universities focus on what they do best, which is teaching and research.

We must think about the people behind the numbers: the first-in-family student who changes a family's story, the regional student who deserves the same chance as anyone in a capital city, the older Australian who needs to reskill and wants to contribute and the young person who won't be limited by their postcode. Labor has always known this. Education is nation-building work. The Australian Universities Accord carries that tradition forward. This bill gives the governance and the staying power for that success. For these reasons, I commend the bill to the House.

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