Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator Payne) to a question without notice asked by Senator Rhiannon today relating to proposed higher education funding changes.

Less than six hours after the Minister for Education, Minister Pyne, introduced the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill, you would have to say that his arguments as to why that is needed are really on the rocks. It is worth looking into some of the details of what he said, because in question time just now, in this chamber, Minister Payne failed to confirm that a single new student who otherwise would not have enrolled in a bachelor degree at a private higher-education provider will take up studies as a result of the government's proposed funding changes.

The minister is out there trying to whip up excitement for his bill. Maybe we would say that that is his job, but we would hope that he would be accurate in what he puts out there for public consideration. One of his key statements is that 80,000 extra students will be enrolled in Commonwealth supported places by 2018. That sounds impressive, and that is what the minister wants us to think. But let us look behind his bald statements. It is true that students in the private sector and those studying sub-bachelor degrees in the university system will now receive Commonwealth support. However, the government is unable to confirm that new students will enrol in these courses as a result of the changes, and that is key to what we are considering here. In fact, the bill's explanatory memorandum confirms that the rate of growth in student enrolments in this area will be slower than in previous years. So, you have that acknowledgement in the explanatory memorandum, and we have a minister who cannot confirm that there will be new students.

The end result of these changes will be a windfall of half a million dollars in subsidies for private higher education providers without any guarantee of increasing access. We are told many things about this legislation, but at the end of the day it is about saving the government money—and it is a lot of money: $5 billion ripped out of our public university system. And it is about giving public money—subsidies—to private providers. The government's proposed changes to higher education funding will see these public subsidies come into play. We have seen with TAFE, particularly in Victoria, how damaging this can be, not just to education but indeed to the very fabric of our society when you consider how education underpins so much.

But the misleading statements from the minister do not stop there. It is worth considering his claim about Commonwealth scholarships. Minister Pyne argues that the Commonwealth scholarship will provide more opportunity for students with low socioeconomic backgrounds and from regional areas. No public government money will go to Commonwealth scholarships. The minister has actually stolen the good name that Commonwealth scholarships had. Many of us long ago did benefit from such scholarships, and they were scholarships with government money. But he has taken that name, misused that name, because there is no public money. Universities will be forced to increase their fees by at least 20 per cent before a single dollar from the university can be diverted to the creation of Commonwealth scholarships. And it will be the group of eight universities that will be able to maximise the increase in student fees under deregulation that will have the largest pool of funds for Commonwealth scholarships. This is another area where the legislation, if passed, would become unfair and so damaging to the way higher education plays out in this country.

These universities, the group of eight, have the lowest proportion of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Small and regional universities who teach the higher proportion of low-SES-background students will have the smallest amount of funding for Commonwealth scholarships. Mr Pyne has said that he did not expect fees to increase significantly under a deregulated system. But Mr Pyne cannot have it both ways. Either fees will increase significantly or Commonwealth scholarships do not exist.

There are many other areas where the minister is being misleading. He claims that when universities and colleges compete, students win. He is already undermining that assertion. And he says that there are no threats to cut research funding—grossly inaccurate there, because those cuts are already in place. The coalition has already cut— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.