Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

The Democrats recognise that a number of the components in the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (2006 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2006 are improvements on the existing situation, but that in no way covers for the fact that the existing situation regarding our higher education sector is an appalling one and one for which the coalition government must bear responsibility. When you step back from the wide range of different issues that have encompassed political debate over the months and years stretching over a decade of this government being in power, you see that this government’s failure to adequately invest in, and in many cases to actively withdraw public investment from, the higher education sector at the same time as enhancing their own political control over the sector is probably one of their biggest failings. Those calculated, deliberate actions, combined with failings in other aspects of training, are one of the key reasons why Australia is now in the grip of a massive skills shortage. We really do need to ensure that the full blame for that situation is sheeted home to where it belongs, which is with the current government.

The statistics are very clear. Senator Wong has alluded to a number of them already. They are simple, clear-cut facts. This government’s record—when compared with comparable governments around the world regarding investment in higher education, skills development and knowledge development—has been absolutely appalling. Our nation as a whole is paying the price, and not just with the skills shortage in the job arena at the moment. It is widely acknowledged that we are moving into an information economy, a knowledge based economy. For our nation, precisely at this key moment in history when the way the things that drive the global economy are being transformed, to reduce investment in areas that are the key drivers in developing those skills is something for which, sadly, our country is going to be paying the price for many, many years to come.

I hope these facts are driven through to the Australian community and to those people who choose what information and what reporting goes into the homes of people in the Australian community, because we really do need to try to make sure that higher education skills, training and knowledge development are given absolute top priority at the next election. A lot of other issues, whether it is interest rates or terrorism or climate change, are all important. But if we continue to fail in the area of higher education and skills development, if we continue to drastically underinvest, then we will be falling further and further behind in long-term opportunities for our nation—and it can take a long time to turn that around and to repair the damage.

That is, I guess, the big-picture description of the situation. ‘Big picture’ is sometimes seen as a bit of a dirty word, sadly, because of the anti-intellectual thread that has gone through some aspects of the so-called culture wars in this area. But it is important that we look at the big picture. However, we also need to look at the individual picture. The individual picture is that many Australians have missed out. More and more individual Australians who are less well off, particularly those who come from groups such as Indigenous Australians, are becoming more and more disadvantaged with regard to their opportunities to access higher education. A disgraceful piece of information which came out recently showed that the number of Indigenous Australians involved in the higher education sector has actually gone backwards in recent years. You can have all the bluster and rhetoric you like from political figures in the government about addressing Indigenous disadvantage, but it is simply a truism that education is one of the key pathways out of disadvantage, whether you are talking about Indigenous Australians or anyone else. For Indigenous Australians to be proportionately going backwards in their access to higher education is a particular disgrace.

Turning to the specifics of the legislation—and Senator Wong has already gone through some of these aspects—I welcome the increase in the maximum limits of the Commonwealth Grant Scheme to pay for new university places in medicine, general nursing and health areas and for clinical training of nurses. Increasing the limits for other grants to provide for additional funding for the Capital Development Pool, the Commercialisation Training Scheme, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies and the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and increasing the maximum funding limits for Commonwealth scholarships are all measures that the Democrats do not oppose. But, again, we need to look at them in the context of the overall poor situation that this government has presided over. Measures in the legislation should enable universities some extra flexibility in setting student contributions and tuition fees, but these can only occur within guidelines and maximum amounts set by the Commonwealth.

One aspect of the legislation that causes the Democrats concern is the increase in the FEE-HELP—so-called—limit to $80,000 for all degrees except medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, where the limit will be raised to $100,000. It is not that long ago that the Prime Minister was promising that there would be no degree that would cost $100,000, yet here we are with some degrees costing double that, and more, and students being required to borrow that amount to be able to access some of these degrees. That ridiculous situation is this government’s legacy for a growing number of Australians. There is a bit of a dilemma with regard to the increase in the FEE-HELP limits, I have to say. I understand some of the arguments in support of enabling it to increase, because the simple fact is that the cost of degrees, as well as the cost of some of the wider things that students have to cover, has increased enormously. But by expanding and further increasing the amount available under FEE-HELP we are also creating a situation that not only forces students further and further into a crippling level of debt but also opens up the capacity for enabling even greater fees. The higher the amount that can be borrowed by students, the greater the argument for being able to increase the amount that can be charged for fees. So our concern is that, by increasing the limits under FEE-HELP, we will further entrench a system which, at its heart, is fundamentally inequitable. We have reached the stage where entry into a full-fee degree is determined just as much by the ability to pay as it is by academic merit. This is a shameful situation and one that, I might say, the Democrats predicted many years ago.

The Democrats have consistently opposed the expansion of the fees and charges being laid on Australian students, because of the impact this has on accessibility and because it excludes more and more students from lower income situations. But we now have full-fee degrees that cost more than $200,000, and even the increased limits of FEE-HELP will not prevent students from taking on a crippling level of debt. It is a recipe for financial insecurity for those students. It can delay when they can make a significant purchase. It can delay when they are able to start a family. And those who graduate with professional qualifications may also charge higher fees to help cover these costs, so the community can end up paying extra for the tuition indirectly.

These increases in FEE-HELP are just one more step along the path towards a greater and greater user-pays component in our university sector. Both individual students and, just as importantly, our nation as a whole stand to lose the more that that comes about. The Democrats’ record shows that we support a strong higher education sector that is accessible to all Australians from all backgrounds. The facts demonstrate that, under this government, not only have we seen a decline in the resources available and the investment in our higher education sector; we have seen a greater degree of government control over how that sector can operate, which is completely contrary to the rhetoric that this government likes to put forward. We have also seen a circumstance where, because of the costs, more and more students from disadvantaged backgrounds are unable to access higher education, unable to upgrade their skills or unable to fully participate in the education experience because they need to spend more and more of their time and divert more and more of their energies into other activities to earn sufficient money to help themselves survive whilst they are going through a higher education institution. It should be noted that these concerns that the Democrats have expressed, as has Senator Wong, have been around for a long time and have been raised time and time again.

To give a very apt indication of this government’s lack of interest in this entire area, it is worth noting the response from the federal government to Senate committee inquiries in recent years into this broad area. The Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee—now defunct and confined back to an individual, amalgamated committee—brought down the report Bridging the skills divide back in November 2003, nearly three years ago. An inquiry into Indigenous education funding brought down a report in June last year. A report into student income support and the difficulty many students are having in surviving whilst they are undertaking study, whether it is in higher education or other education, also came down in June last year.

What was the government’s response to those reports covering the important areas of education and skills? No response at all. Nearly three years after the report was tabled addressing issues about bridging the skills divide, involving feedback and ideas from people throughout the community and from across the political spectrum and containing recommendations to the parliament about ways to bridge the skills divide, the federal government’s response has been nothing. I could say that shows their lack of genuine interest in bridging the skills divide, except that, sadly, it is not particularly unusual. The federal government’s response to a large number of Senate committee inquiries, even ones that are three years old, tends to be silence.

That demonstrates not only a lack of interest in, engagement in and genuine concern about the democratic process and the Senate but also a lack of interest in the views and ideas of people in the wider Australian community, who share a genuine concern about the need to significantly improve our nation’s performance in higher education and training, skills development and knowledge attainment. The government’s response is basically not to listen at all. It is a shame because it is something that we all as a nation pay the price for, but it is a reality. This government’s record and those facts are very clear and very much on the table.

The legislation, as I said, does contain some measures which will improve the situation for some people. It contains a measure that the Democrats on balance believe would be dangerous to enable—the further increase of the FEE-HELP amounts. It entrenches a system that we believe is undesirable. It is worth taking the opportunity to reinforce the very strong concerns that have been expressed by the vice-chancellors about this government’s failure to adequately index funding for higher education institutions. It is worth emphasising the problem with full-fee degrees and the ever-increasing amounts of student debt.

I recall the great promises that were made by the federal government and a previous minister when legislation managed to get through this chamber, with the very unfortunate support of a range of Independent senators in this place, that was supposedly to enable a massive injection of extra funding to the higher education sector. Yet, when the ink was barely dry on the assent to that piece of legislation, it was put through, with assertions by some Independents on the crossbenches at the time that it would be a major benefit for universities and would deliver them significant gains. The extra amounts of money were already being clawed back by the federal government.

The failure to have any proper, ongoing, reliable indexation for Australia’s universities is a serious problem and one that the vice-chancellors from universities across the board have spoken about time and time again. We all know that there is quite a diversity of views amongst vice-chancellors about a range of issues to do with higher education policy, but on this area they are of a single mind and a clear view—that the failure to properly index public investment in higher education institutions is causing serious problems in quality and in opportunities for Australians to access the courses and knowledge development that are essential for the long-term health of our nation’s economy, culture and society. It is, again, completely unforgivable that this appalling situation has been allowed to develop.

It should be put on the record that it was an equally unacceptable decision by Independents in this chamber to pass legislation which allowed dramatic increases in fees for students around Australia, on a very feeble and quickly broken promise to make significant extra resources available to universities as a consequence. Many students have already had to pay the price for that. No doubt by this stage, having got control of the Senate, the federal government would have pushed through those changes to increase fees in any case, but without their support there would have at least been an extra year’s grace for students to be saved from the major increases in fees that they have been subjected to, and it would have at least prevented some extra harm being caused to some individuals from less well off backgrounds.

It is important that we give greater priority to this issue; it is certainly something the Democrats will continue to give great emphasis to as we lead into the next federal election, and I am sure that many people from other political parties will do the same. I can only hope that in the reporting and coverage of this highly important issue the true facts about this coalition government’s abysmal record in this area are given proper coverage and that full light is shed on it, because it is something that has caused immense damage to our nation and its future. It has further entrenched disadvantage; it has further led to greater inequalities in life opportunities between the haves and the have-nots in Australia, and unfortunately our nation as a whole will be paying the price for some time to come.