Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (1) on sheet 3369:

(1) Page 33 (after line 22), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 4 — Maximum student contribution amounts for places

Part 1 — Amendments

Higher Education Support Act 2003

1 Section 93-10

Omit "The maximum student contribution amount for a place", substitute "(1) Subject to subsection (2), the maximum student contribution amount for a place".

2 At the end of section 93-10

Add:

(2) The table in subsection (1) has effect in relation to a place in a unit of study included in the Society and Culture part of the *first funding cluster as if the amount specified for that part of the cluster in respect of both a non-grandfathered student and a grandfathered student was instead the amount specified for that place in the unit of study immediately before the amendments made by Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Higher Education Support Amendment (Job Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students) Act 2020 commenced.

Part 2 — Application provision

3 Application

The amendments made by Part 1 of this Schedule apply in relation to a unit of study that has a *census date that is on or after the commencement of that Part (whether the unit of study is part of a course of study commenced before, on or after the commencement of that Part).

This amendment reverses the Job-ready Graduates fee hikes. The Albanese government talks a big game about their cost-of-living credentials, but the reality is that, under their watch, fees for degrees have skyrocketed, with students now paying in excess of $50,000 for an arts degree.

When the Morrison government introduced their disastrous, punitive, Job-ready Graduates Package, Labor was strong in opposition, but they have now had over three years in power and have done nothing about it. Even their own Universities Accord process found that the fee hikes required urgent remediation. Just this week, over a hundred well-known Australians signed an open letter urging the Albanese government to abolish Job-ready Graduates and implement a system that does not punish students who choose to study humanities and social sciences.

So Labor crowing about their one-off debt cut does nothing for the students who are starting university this year and facing ballooning fees. It also does nothing for the high-school graduates that are deciding not to go to university because they can't afford to. If the government was serious about relief for students, the Job-ready Graduate fee hikes would have been reversed back in 2022, but, unfortunately, this was not the case.

Labor still has an opportunity to support this amendment and make $50,000 arts degrees a thing of the past. So I commend the amendment to the Senate and urge others to support it, because we need to urgently repeal this punitive package.