Jon Sullivan (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will not spend a great deal of time continuing on the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP and Tertiary Admission Centres) Bill 2009, given the proximity to question time. I had wanted to discuss today matters of education in my electorate, but in deference to the member for Corangamite, who has not yet had an opportunity to speak on this bill, I will confine myself to one last thought. Before the interruption I was speaking about the fact that I wanted Queensland and all other states to move to becoming reform states in the area of VET. I wanted to make one point about my electorate of Longman. The electorate of Longman ranks 137 out of 150 electorates in Australia in the number of people aged over 15 who have a post-secondary qualification. We are very short on post-secondary qualifications in Longman, and I believe that in becoming a reform state—if we can encourage Queensland to do that—we will be able to make a much bigger hole in that shortage, particularly in a world where we know we need skills training to proceed into the future. Those who wanted to hear a great speech from me on education in the electorate of Longman will have to wait for another occasion.

Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to rise to my feet on the Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP and Tertiary Admission Centres) Bill 2009 to briefly put on record my appreciation of the absolutely outstanding contribution the Minister for Education, the Hon. Julia Gillard, has made to the education debate over the last few years. We were left by the previous government with an absolute train wreck in education policy. We know academics were bullied and gagged, institutions were bullied and gagged, student debt soared and student services were decimated by the previous government. Student course mobility and profitability suffered, and overall student funding to institutions was slashed. In that small contribution, I would like to commend the minister for her reforming zeal.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in reply—The Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP and Tertiary Admission Centres) Bill 2009 amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003, as part of the Australian government’s extension of the VET FEE-HELP assistance scheme to provide more students with assistance from 1 July 2009. This scheme provides financial assistance to students to ensure those wanting to study diploma and above qualifications in the vocational education and training sector are able to make real choices about their training without the burden of paying upfront fees. The scheme assists these students by giving them access to a loan for all or part of their tuition costs. In the context of the government’s commitment to increasing Australia’s skill levels and COAG’s target to double the number of diploma and advanced diploma completions by 2020, the government has extended VET FEE-HELP to provide more students with access to financial assistance. As part of that extension, eligible state government subsidised students will have a reduced VET FEE-HELP debt. This bill implements these changes for all eligible students from 1 July 2009, ensuring no eligible students are disadvantaged.

In addition, the bill includes technical amendments to ensure that tertiary admissions centres are able to perform certain functions in relation to personal information on behalf of both higher education and VET providers. This will ensure that all student information shared between the department, universities, VET providers and tertiary admission centres is protected by the appropriate privacy safeguards. These measures are part of the government’s commitment to ensuring that higher education and VET providers continue to play a leading role in equipping Australians with the knowledge and skills to make Australia a more productive and prosperous nation. I commend this bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.