Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 50 per cent pass rule was introduced to protect students from accruing massive HECS debts under circumstances where it was highly likely that they would not complete the course. This aimed to safeguard students from racking up significant HECS debts without any university qualification to show for it. By seeking to abolish the coalition's 50 per cent pass rule, the Albanese Labor government is failing to protect students at higher risk of not completing their courses from accumulating those higher HECS debts.

It is also very clear that this proposal to abolish the 50 per cent pass rule is policy on the run. The education minister put together a survey with 27 universities, and it showed that 13,000 people were impacted by the policy. However, it's important to understand that we don't know how they were impacted. We don't know whether they went on to do another course, whether they potentially moved to a full-fee-paying course or whether they dropped out altogether. We don't have that detail. Some of those 13,000 students would have been protected by this legislation and by this set-up from continuing to fail unit after unit, only to leave university without a qualification and with a significant HECS debt that they would have to repay. They could have moved to a TAFE course as part of this change to follow something that better suited their ambitions and their capabilities, and that's why it's important that we get more information—to understand how people were impacted, not just who was impacted.

That's why I'm glad that this bill is going to a Senate inquiry, to the committee stage, so that they can do a deeper review and understand in more detail the implications of this change to the 50 per cent rule. It is also very important, when we talk about higher education—and I spoke earlier about the impact that higher education has had on me—that we put students first, but we also need to acknowledge the fact that not every student is suited to university and that it's not the correct path for everyone. We need to support students in their choice, whether they pursue their own educational aspirations through university—if that's what they want to do—TAFE, an apprenticeship or a traineeship. We need to support their choice.

I've had the great pleasure, like every member in this House, to visit schools. Just last week I was out at Mooroolbark College at their assembly, talking to the captains and the year 12s. They're about six weeks away from starting their VCE exams. I wish good luck to all the students doing VCE and to all students in other states across the country doing their exams. There is that pressure to achieve in year 12 and that expectation that you will need to go to university to 'be a success', but that's not always the case. There are many paths to a successful career and a successful life. We should always remember that when we have these conversations.

I spent three years in the tech sector working in a digital start-up, and I can guarantee that a higher education university degree isn't required to work in the tech sector. There are so many opportunities in short courses. In many cases, the technology sector is looking for entrepreneurs to risk it all and learn on the job. In my electorate of Casey, in particular, without trades we wouldn't be able to survive as a society. The roads, the infrastructure we've just been debating—that's all down to tradies. I'm very lucky that over 12,000 local residents in Casey, 15.7 per cent of my constituents, are tradies. I'm reliably informed by Master Builders Australia that it's the highest percentage of any electorate in the country, and I'm very proud of that.

It's also close to my heart. My best friend, a man called Glen, who I've known my whole life, is a sparky. We've been friends since kinder. I spent my life with him—through kinder, primary school and high school. I went off to university. He finished year 12 but went and got an apprenticeship as an electrician. It's been wonderful to chart his journey as a tradie, a sparky. He's father to three amazing, wonderful children. He's got a great wife. He's got a great family and a great life. University was never something he wanted to pursue, and he has become very successful, now running his own business as an electrician. I see there are still some young people up in the gallery that I waved to earlier. It's an important message for them to hear as well—that their lives are not defined by the educational outcome of going to university. For those who want to pursue it? Absolutely.

We need to be careful, in these conversations, that we are not sending people down a particular the path according to what society says is success. I remember, when I was doing my university degree, talking to a lecturer about the many conversations she'd had with students who were two to three months into their first year at university and were in tears because they didn't want to be there. They were there because of family expectations. They would have been a lot happier working as a tradie, a chef or something else. We need always to balance that in these conversations.

For those who want to go, we should make university and higher education an absolute must. But it's getting harder and harder for Australian students. We all know that the cost of living, the day-to-day costs, is crippling everyone. One of the key reasons we need to get inflation under control is its impact on HECS debt. The last HECS increase was 7.1 per cent. This is just another example of why it's so important that we don't let students accrue debts that aren't going to provide them a benefit in the future, because they are required to pay those debts back. As we're seeing, when they're required to pay those debts back in a high-inflation environment they aren't able to. With inflation, the debts keep building. That 7.1 per cent is the highest indexed rate in more than 30 years. That's why it's so important that we get the cost of living under control. It's having significant impacts today, but all those young people with HECS debts now will be paying off those debts for many years to come.

We need to give students a choice and to remind them that they can be a success without a university degree, but for those who go to university it's important to make it accessible and to provide wraparound supports for students. Universities should have an obligation, if they accept a student, not to treat it just as an opportunity to make money off that student. They need to provide the services—whether it's counselling or education and career support—the student needs. When I went to university it was very much a sink-or-swim environment. That's not an entirely bad thing, because we all need to survive. I'm a big believer in individual responsibility and personal responsibility. But there's also an organisational responsibility and obligation to support students. I'm concerned that with the removal of the 50 per cent rule there will be less incentive for universities to provide support to people who have come into the university.

There's a lot more that we need to do. We need to understand that the issues and challenges we face in education don't just need to be addressed in the higher education sector. We need to continue to look at primary school, secondary school and early education, because if we can set the foundations of educational support for young people then there will be more people who can go to university. There will be more people who can have a successful career and add to the jobs and skills that we need. In Victoria, unfortunately, we have seen the educational impacts of the lockdowns. That is still being felt to this day, and there is more support that we need to provide. As I said at the start of my speech, I'm passionate about education. I've got a deep belief that it is a foundational pillar of who we are as a society.

Debate interrupted.