Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (2) on sheet 7800:

(1) Schedule 1, item 7, page 6 (after line 2), at the end of clause 23C, add:

(5) Before a *VET provider enrols a student in a *VET unit of study, the VET provider must advise the student that, if the student gives or has given a *request for Commonwealth assistance that relates to the unit or the *VET course of study of which the unit forms a part:

  (a) the student will not be able to receive *VET FEE-HELP assistance for the unit unless the student, before the end of the *census date for the unit, accepts an offer from the *Secretary to lend the student VET FEE-HELP assistance for the unit; and

  (b) the student will be taken never to have enrolled in the unit if the student does not accept the offer before the end of that census date.

(2) Schedule 1, page 6 (after line 4), after item 8, insert:

8A After subclause 27(2) of Schedule 1A

  Insert:

  (2A) A *VET tuition fee for the unit determined under subclause (2) must not exceed the amount specified by the regulations for the unit.

(3) Schedule 1, item 12, page 7 (line 10), omit "date.", substitute "date; and".

(4) Schedule 1, item 12, page 7 (after line 10), at the end of subclause 45C(1), add:

  (d) before the end of that census date, the student accepts in accordance with clause 45E an offer by the *Secretary under clause 45D to lend the student *VET FEE-HELP assistance for the unit.

Note: If the student does not accept an offer under clause 45D before the end of the census date, the student is taken never to have enrolled in the unit (see subclause 45D(4)).

(5) Schedule 1, item 12, page 7 (after line 24), after clause 45C, insert:

45D Offer of VET FEE -HELP assistance

(1) If a student enrols in a *VET unit of study and the student has given an *appropriate officer of the *VET provider a *request for Commonwealth assistance that relates to the unit or the *VET course of study of which the unit forms a part, the VET provider must give the *Secretary written notice of the enrolment.

(2) If the *Secretary is given a notice under subclause (1), the Secretary must, by written notice given to the student, offer to lend the student *VET FEE-HELP assistance for the unit.

(3) The offer must do the following:

  (a) set out:

     (i) the name of the *VET provider; and

     (ii) the name of the *VET unit of study; and

     (iii) the name of the *VET course of study; and

     (iv) the *VET tuition fee for the unit;

  (b) explain how the amount of *VET FEE-HELP assistance to which the student is entitled is worked out;

  (c) inform the student that the student will incur a debt in respect of any VET FEE-HELP assistance lent to the student for the unit;

  (d) explain how the amount of that debt will be worked out (including the effect of subsection 137-18(2)) and how that debt will be repaid;

  (e) explain how to accept the offer, should the student decide to do so;

  (f) inform the student that the student does not have to accept the offer;

  (g) explain the effect of subclause (4).

(4) The student is taken never to have enrolled in the *VET unit of study if the student does not accept the offer in accordance with clause 45E before the end of the *census date for the unit.

45E Accepting offer of VET FEE -HELP assistance

     A student accepts an offer under clause 45D to lend the student *VET FEE-HELP assistance for a *VET unit of study if:

  (a) the student gives the *Secretary the acceptance in writing in the approved form; and

  (b) the acceptance contains or is accompanied by an acknowledgement that the person understands the effect of accepting the offer.

(6) Schedule 1, item 24, page 11 (line 30), omit "and clause 45C", insert ", and clauses 45C, 45D and 45E,".

(7) Schedule 1, item 26, page 17 (line 11), omit "paragraph 45C(1)(c)", substitute "paragraphs 45C(1)(c) and (d)".

(8) Schedule 1, item 26, page 17 (line 30), omit "paragraph 45C(1)(c)", substitute "paragraphs 45C(1)(c) and (d)".

(9) Schedule 1, item 26, page 18 (after line 9), after subclause 39DH(1), insert:

  (1A) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(d), disregard paragraph 45C(1)(d).

(10) Schedule 1, item 26, page 19 (after line 29), after clause 39DI, insert:

39DIA Civil penalty—failure to advise about accepting offer of assistance

     A person contravenes this clause if:

  (a) the person is a *VET provider; and

  (b) the VET provider enrols another person (the student) in a *VET unit of study; and

  (c) before enrolling the student, the VET provider failed to advise the student that, if the student gives or has given a *request for Commonwealth assistance that relates to the unit or the *VET course of study of which the unit forms a part:

     (i) the student will not be able to receive *VET FEE-HELP assistance for the unit unless the student, before the end of the *census date for the unit, accepts an offer from the *Secretary to lend the student VET FEE-HELP assistance for the unit; and

     (ii) the student will be taken never to have enrolled in the unit if the student does not accept the offer before the end of that census date.

Civil penalty: 60 penalty units.

(11) Schedule 1, item 30, page 26 (line 22), after "clauses", insert "39DIA".

(12) Schedule 1, item 31, page 28 (line 1), after "and (2)", insert ", and clause 39DIA,"

This is the substantive opposition amendment and this is the only position I am pursuing in regard to the amendments the opposition had foreshadowed because of the subsequent and late series of amendments that the government has put in, which I have described as somewhat panicked and desperate and rushed. All of those things reflect the current situation, which, of course, was presented to us at the very last minute for this bill. They are clearly an admission of what the Labor Party have been saying for some time: the original bill was inadequate. The government has now made crystal clear the point that its own proposals were grossly inadequate, and I have some sympathy for Senator McKenzie's role in this matter as the government chair of the Education and Employment Legislation Committee. The committee's report, presented to the Senate just on Monday night, told us:

The committee therefore commends the bill as a vital reform that will improve the integrity of the VET FEE-HELP scheme and restore confidence in the VET sector.

The report also said:

The committee recommends that the Senate pass the bill.

It is clear that the government did not accept that advice, despite the fact that, if normal custom and practice is followed in this place, the government had actually written the report that the government senators had relied upon. It is a pity they did not tell the government senators they were about to abandon them, because that is what the consequences of these provisions are. On the one hand, the government senators are told to give the scheme a clean bill of health with this particular bill, and then, as my colleague in the other place, the member for Cunningham, said, she was summoned to a meeting with the Minister for Vocational Education and Skills. That meeting took place yesterday at 12.15 pm, and I was on my feet at 12.30 pm.

With that in mind, these complicated amendments which we have just carried—13 pages of amendments and 18 pages or so of secondary amendments—have been described in this morning's papers as 'desperate', 'emergency measures' and 'urgent'. One report said it was 'a dog's breakfast'. If you look at what is actually going on here, with these are measures they are, in effect, freezing in place the status quo to allow the government time to develop a whole new scheme, allegedly within one year. As I have indicated before, I think the real issue here is to get past an election.

The Minister for Vocational Education and Skills has announced that the new scheme will be in place by 2017. There are no details and no principles. We have probably heard a little bit more today than we have heard at any other time, and I am sure many senators would be familiar with these matters because we saw the government's attempts to deregulate the university sector end in disaster. It strikes me that you have got to have a real leap of faith to think that in a year's time we are going to end up with a fully formed scheme to replace the existing scheme within the vocational education system. So I am a little sceptical, to say the least, and a little cynical about what the government's intentions are here, particularly given that we are running into an election, which, of course, will take a very substantial period of time in any process of policy development out of the political year.

Labor are proposing one simple proposition here, and the intent of the amendment is simple: it gives the minister an additional tool to control the rorts in the VET sector. It allows the minister, through a delegated responsibility to the secretary of the department, to control prices, as we do within the universities. The minister could seek to fix the costs of all courses or only some courses. That discretion would be available, and of course he would be politically accountable for that. But in no way could we afford the proposition that there needs to be price controls imposed on the VET sector, because what has happened has been an explosion in the costs of VET certificates. We know that because of what is published on TAFE courses, where there used to be fees scheduled, and we now see that the private colleges are charging three, four or five times what a TAFE college had and in many cases still do.

Professor Bruce Chapman, who I know is cited regularly in the press as the great architect of HECS, has called for the controls of tuition fees. He said:

You've got to cap prices otherwise people can really rort the system.

Peter Noonan, who is a well-known advocate probably more on the deregulation side of business, from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University said:

To protect the system from itself, the government has to move in quickly and regulate prices.

The government will no doubt argue that there are technical problems with this approach and that it will take too long to get up and running. I say to you that that is just not right. We have already determined that the government is seeking to establish a new scheme within a year. This proposal that I have put before the chamber can be done very, very quickly. The original bill sought to bed down changes to cooling-off periods, to make providers aware of new prerequisites and to introduce new requirements for parents of those under 18 to sign loan forms. The department will need to put all those things in place within three weeks. It will need to introduce new systems for students to claim refunds, minimum registration periods and the change to VET guidelines for new penalties. So it goes a bit further than what the minister had indicated in a conversation we had had earlier on this matter as to what is actually required—