11/02/2015 

I rise for the second time in this place to join with my Labor colleagues in opposing this so-called reform that the Abbott Liberal government seeks to force upon Australia. At the outset let me be very clear about Labor's position so as to avoid any misunderstanding or confusion. Labor will oppose the Higher Education and Research Reform Bill.

We will do so because it is wrong. It is wrong for the nation, it is wrong for students and it is wrong for Australian families. It is inequitable and rotten to its core. Labor cannot support a higher education system of higher fees, bigger student debt, reduced access and greater inequality.

The first version of this so-called reform was rejected by the Australian public and the Senate, and version 2 should get the same treatment. Despite being dressed up as a new and improved bill, version 2, the bill that is before the House today, still contains: 100,000 degrees for undergraduate students; 200 million in cuts to indexation of grants programs; 80 million in cuts to the Australian Research Council.

Nothing of substance has changed in version 2. The massive cuts to universities remain, new fee imposts for students remain, and Labor's resolve to fight this bill also remains. I remind the House again that this is not a higher education policy that the Australian people have endorsed at any stage. This is not a policy position that the government took to the Australian people prior to the election. Put simply, this government has no mandate as is claimed. The first we heard of this government's plan to smash the very foundations of our higher education system was on budget night last year. Despite ongoing denials from the Education Minister that the government did not have a higher education policy before they were elected, it was in fact there for everyone to see in black and white in that now infamous Real Solutions catalogue. It was alleged in Real Solutions that a Liberal government would in fact strengthen higher education and encourage Australians of all ages to further their education so they could gain the comparative advantage to get ahead in the new global economy. Significantly, it was also alleged in the same Real Solutions document that current arrangements for university funding would continue. There was no ambiguity. This was a commitment to higher education that the government took to the last election. That is right-the Abbott Liberal government's documented commitment on higher education for the 44th Parliament was that current arrangements for university funding would continue.

Make no mistake, condemnation of the government's plans has been broad, it has been loud and it has been clear. But rather than scrap the reform after it was thrown out by the Senate, for the second time, here we are still debating a higher education bill that will increase the cost of university for students, increase debts for students and cut Commonwealth funding for universities. All the while, the government is spending millions of taxpayers' dollars to spruik their higher education changes to the Australian public.

It is unconscionable that this government and this Education Minister signed off on a massive advertising campaign, spending more than 500 million would be required to transition to a deregulated environment. The day that the first version of this bill was defeated in the Senate, the education minister told Universities Australia the transition fund would be 100 million for the so-called transition fund. The Regional Universities Network has said that regional universities alone will need $100 million each and every year, not so much as an adjustment package but rather a straight out acknowledgement that regional universities and regional communities will be the biggest losers if deregulation goes ahead.

Without adequate Commonwealth funding, funds will have to be sourced from the student body. While this bill would allow that to happen through deregulation, very few students would be able to meet the costs without enduring a massive lifelong debt. For regional universities like Newcastle, which draw a significant portion of their student body from lower SES regions, recouping lost Commonwealth funding from students will be near impossible, even with deregulation of fees. Regional students simply will not be able to afford to study high-cost disciplines and it will be difficult for research standards to be maintained with the loss of overall funding. Like my community, I fear these students will be lost to higher education altogether.

Under this legislation, non-university higher-education providers, or NUHEPS, along with approved overseas universities, will now have access to student subsidies at 70 per cent of the rate for public universities. What the Education Minister whispers, but is loath to say loudly, of course, is that he is relying on these NUHEPs and outposts of overseas universities to deliver the cut price courses that he believes will cater for those students from low-SES backgrounds. Regretfully, I do not share his sense of optimism here at all.

What he fails to understand is that the for-profit institutions he is so very keen on will skim the cream from the public system, delivering the cheap courses and leaving the less popular or more expensive yet vital degrees to the public universities, which have a good public mission-disciplines like foreign languages, engineering and pharmaceutical sciences. These are all skills and expertise we need, but in fact they may well be lost in this new environment.

I also want to touch briefly on the government's proposed Commonwealth Scholarship scheme. Ignoring all of the evidence of higher fees and crippling debt, the education minister often claims his higher education changes will actually benefit students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds because they include the so-called Commonwealth Scholarships. This is possibly the cruellest con job in the whole package. Make no mistake: the government's proposed scholarship scheme will receive no Commonwealth funding-not a cent. It is to be funded entirely by students. Like so much of this higher education package, the scholarship scheme is fundamentally flawed.

Labor will vote against these cuts to university funding and student support. We will not support a system of higher fees, bigger student debt, reduced access and greater inequality.