Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week started for all parliamentarians with a flurry of excitement, with keen anticipation for some and trepidation for others. Tonight I rise to congratulate another group of Australians who were experiencing similar emotions at the start of this week—that is, the tens of thousands of Australians who began their university degrees this week.

O-Week—and I am paraphrasing now from Wikipedia, so take that with a grain of salt—is the time at the beginning of the academic year at every university or tertiary institution during which a variety of events are held to orientate and welcome new students. During this period, students participate in a wide range of social activities and are entertained by live music and performances, information, markets, sports challenges and night-time events. It is designed to help new students to feel comfortable in the learning environment, acclimatise to student life, introduce themselves to other new students and organise their classes. I am not sure how much of that last one happens during O-Week. Although usually described as a week, the length varies widely from university to university. I think that sanitised view of what happens during O-Weeks across the nation is something that we need to celebrate with our new university students this week. I certainly remember my O-Week, many years ago.

Last week it was my privilege to enjoy O-Week 2012 not at Melbourne or Monash universities, but at La Trobe University in Bendigo. Led by the Young Nationals Andrew Brown and Ruby Cameron our team visited four regional universities and five campuses throughout regional Victoria. We were the only political representation across all those campuses and the only politicians to engage with students on campus.

The Nationals went to the University of Ballarat and La Trobe University in Bendigo, where I was joined by the state member for Rodney, Victorian MP Paul Weller. I was also part of the civic reception to welcome students to La Trobe University, attended by the Mayor of Bendigo and other luminaries, including the student president. Having been a student president in the past I say all power to them. At La Trobe University in Mildura the Nationals were represented by the federal member for Mallee, John Forrest, and the Victorian member for Mildura, Peter Crisp. At Charles Sturt University in Albury-Wodonga the Nationals were represented alongside the Young Nationals. Down in Gippsland, at my old stomping ground of Monash University, the Young Nationals Vice President, Andrew Brown, joined the local state member as well as the federal member for Gippsland, Darren Chester.

For the Nationals involved, O-Week was a fun and informative way to spend time with smart young people in regional Australia as they prepared for university life. At each of the universities and colleges the clubs and societies were on show and students were investigating what was on offer. They were signing up to political, musical, cultural and food related clubs and societies. It was a real privilege, and was quite inspiring to be around enthusiastic young people as they embarked on what is going to be a significant adventure over the next few years of their lives. They were excited and motivated, enjoying barbecues, sporting demonstrations and social events. At each location, the Nationals team participated widely on campus and spoke to students who, last week, were commenting on a lot things that we were discussing earlier this week, such as the recent Labor leadership matters.

Our O-Week visits were about providing effective representation to all regional Victorians and providing students with the opportunity to engage with their regional politicians in a low-key and informal setting. We were able to offer support and discuss opportunities, and to promote the services available from members of parliament in the regions, of which young people are sometimes unaware. We are committed, as is everyone in the coalition, to ensuring that regional and rural young people continue to reach their potential. The Nationals are working hard to guarantee that higher education and training opportunities are available to all students, wherever they live.

Each student who started uni this week has many years of hard work ahead of them, and good results require that hard work. There was an old saying when I was at uni, 'Ps equal degrees', but if you aspire to the great things in life then HDs are the way to go, and that takes a lot of hard work. This is not to mention new students having to learn to negotiate a new environment and find new friends. They are often many hours from home and the social environments they are used to. The hard work in a tertiary education environment not only produces benefits for the individual in the form of personal development, economic opportunity and intellectual stimulation, but also produces rich satisfactions and rewards for society in the form of political, economic and cultural advances.

However, the gap in higher education participation rates between regional and metropolitan Australia remains, and it is a complex issue. It is about the aspirations of the communities and individuals involved, not to mention access and equity issues. The opportunity for regional students to get access to tertiary education should be the same for all students. In Victoria, less than one-third of the population lives outside of Melbourne, and it is indefensible to be limiting or denying a large part of the population access to university.

The regions are not on the government's radar. This was recently confirmed again during Senate estimates when the subject of higher education was given low priority and such limited time for investigation, and Senator Mason has prosecuted that case adequately. When higher education represents more than $10 billion per year of government expenditure and is one of our largest export industries, yet its imple­mentation cannot be adequately prosecuted during Senate estimates, something is wrong.

We have a shortage of agriculture graduates and skilled workers, and I know Senator Back is passionate about this area, as is Senator Nash. Research by the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture has revealed that there are more than 4,000 positions a year that need to be filled within the agricultural sector, and not nearly enough graduating students to fill the gap. The government continues to overlook the agricultural sector, despite its significance to the national economy and jobs. Similarly, the Labor government has failed to give a good reason why there is a parental income test for regional students applying for independent youth allowance.

Higher education is one of many educational influences on the development of an individual but it is extraordinarily difficult to attribute its effects on the progress of society. However, when city students move to the regions for education and when country students move to the city for education, all Australians benefit. Learning is the chief stock in trade of higher education. Higher education provides three main functions: education, research and public service. So research is a key aspect, and when we have university campuses and research centres located in regional areas they are more likely to be focused on local issues and hence contribute to a developing body of knowledge around the issues and concerns of regional Australians. Knowing and interpreting the known, discovering the new and bringing about desired changes in thinking and behaviours—these are the characteristics of human beings as a result of education.

This may be intangible, and therefore not easily identified or measured, but I firmly believe that students from city areas are likely to stay in regional Australia and apply for positions of management, run our businesses, get married, raise families and play football or netball there because of positive experiences they have had at our regional campuses. Our rural students who head off to metropolitan areas for their higher education need the opportunity to study in the city, become part of larger Australia and have wider experiences than those available in their local communities. In turn, they too will add value and provide a 'country perspective'—there is such a thing—to metropolitan lifestyles. It is my job as a Nats senator to do all I can to ensure that every young person in regional Victoria who would like to attend university has the same opportunity to get a great secondary and tertiary education as the students in our cities who can live at home and catch the tram.

In conclusion, congratulations to all those who this year are beginning a great adventure. All the best. In particular, thank you to all those young and mature age students who have chosen to begin and complete their tertiary education in regional Australia. You will love it.