David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about higher education and some of the ways it can be made more sustainable for the future. Australian universities have a great reputation and have, for a long time, been amongst the best in the world. We have great facilities, great staff and our researchers are leading the way in so many different areas. However, in recent years our universities have been struggling against a funding system that works against them continuing to deliver such high-quality education and research.

One of the major causes of this has been our system of fee regulation. Fee regulation is a roadblock in the way of our universities and ties up funds which could be better used in other areas. As a result, the overall quality of education available at our universities is increasingly harder to maintain, which impacts on their ranking when compared to other universities around the world. This, in turn, makes Australian universities less attractive to potential overseas students.

The current system of fee regulation has also meant that many universities find themselves facing significant challenges when devising their curriculum. Due to this, universities must make tough decisions and can end up cutting niche courses due to small numbers or limiting the number of places available in more popular courses. The final outcome is that some Australians might not be able to study a discipline of choice because it is not offered or they are unable to get a place in their chosen course.

This is something which I believe we need to change nation wide and particularly in my home state of Tasmania. Only the coalition has the will to make this happen. By unshackling universities and allowing them to set their own prices for courses, unis can become less reliant on government and more sustainable. Universities will be able to offer as many places in their courses as there is demand and fewer people will miss out on studying.

There will also be more opportunities for universities to conduct bridging courses or alternative pathways for people to enter into bachelor degrees. This will offer more people the opportunity of a higher education and all the benefits that come with it. In Tasmania, we vitally need these reforms.

I am a proud graduate of the University of Tasmania and am grateful to have had the opportunity to study degrees of my choice at such a fine institution, without having to leave for the mainland to study. But not all are so fortunate. Right now, there are just 6.7 per cent of Tasmanians attending university. This is an unacceptably low number and increasing participation has to be the goal of the higher education sector.

The first step is ensuring that there are enough places available in popular courses. I was very pleased to hear that UTAS have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the local council in Launceston in order to expand into the CBD. Their expansion plan will mean housing for 8,000 students and extra course options will be offered when the expansion is completed.

There are, however, significant challenges which have to be overcome before this much-needed expansion can be achieved. Many of these challenges are caused or compounded by our system of regulated fees, which I mentioned earlier. In the absence of reforms, such as those which the government has proposed, there can be no prospects of a significant increase in student numbers at UTAS.

I want nothing more than to see Tasmanians get a chance to go to university and I commend UTAS for their vision, but grand plans cannot come at the expense of other much-needed government services. This is why the reforms are so important. They will allow UTAS to collect funding from a source other than government for the long term.

Labor and the Greens have claimed that degree prices will go up significantly after deregulation is introduced, but this is nothing but their usual scaremongering. Degree prices will not go up significantly at universities because, if they do, students will simply vote with their feet and will study elsewhere. Competition will work in the higher education sector, just as it does elsewhere. Why would a student choose university A, when university B is offering the same course for significantly less? They wouldn't and they won't. Students will vote with their wallets and will start attending university B. University A will then be forced to think about what they are doing and to lower their prices in order to attract students and, in time, the fees will prove to be self-regulating and the market will show that it will work.

One of the main goals of the coalition's reform is to make sure that as many students as possible have access to higher education and that that access is affordable. There will be no changes to our current HECS system, which means that Australian citizens do not have to pay a single cent up-front in order to undertake tertiary study and will not have to repay their loan until they earn more than $50,000 per annum. There will also be no changes made to the interest rate of HECS loans, which will remain at CPI, as it currently is. We are committed to the sector and have recently provided funding to the NCRIS for another 12 months, something the Labor Party has not outlined any plans to do. UTAS was a major beneficiary of the recent NCRIS funding and six research projects will be funded through NCRIS, in 2015-16, to the tune of $46.5 million. The most prominent of these is the Integrated Marine Observing System, IMOS, based in Hobart, which will receive $13.9 million in 2015-16.

I know that the member for Bass, Andrew Nikolic, has also been very supportive of the coalition's changes to higher education, because he desperately wants to see UTAS's expansion take place in Launceston. Not only will there be more people with a great education, who can begin skilled work, but, for Launceston, if a campus is built in its CBD there will also be many benefits in other areas. Eight thousand new students and staff will be a big boost to the local economy and we will see new life breathed into the Launceston CBD. That is why it is so important that we get behind the reforms that make this exciting expansion possible. I am urging the University of Tasmania to come out in strong support for the changes to higher education, as the higher education sector more broadly has already done.

There are no realistic alternatives to deregulation. Staying under the same model is not an option for the long term, and the Labor party has no sustainable plan for the future of higher education. In fact, Labor's plan for higher education was to slash $6.6 billion out of it, as they announced in 2013.This included a $2.8 billion funding cut, announced in one single day in April of that year. Not only did they plan huge cuts while in government, but in opposition they have been nothing but obstructive in this place, continually frustrating the meaningful reforms we are trying to implement.

The coalition, however, is committed to the future of quality higher education in this country, and our plan will make it sustainable and accessible for all Australians, regardless of their socioeconomic background. I am proud of the efforts of hardworking members like Andrew Nikolic, who are fighting to help their local universities adapt for the future. If we want to ensure the future of our universities for our children and their children, everyone needs to get behind the coalition's higher education reforms.

Senate adjourned at 19:54