FOREWORD
Australia's higher education system is premised on fairness
and a fair go for anyone seeking to influence and improve their life trajectory
through education. For many years, Australia's quality higher education sector
and unique system of student loans has ensured that everyone has access to
quality education and that no one, irrespective of background, should have to pay
for that education upfront, before they can realistically afford to.
As a result, participation in higher education has increased
dramatically. What was once the domain of the privileged few is today an
expectation for many. Increased participation in higher education has brought
great rewards, but also considerable cost. In 2014:
-
subsidising degrees cost more than $6 billion; and
-
providing income support for higher education students cost more
than $2 billion.[1]
Clearly nobody questions the value of education: the
benefits for individuals, communities and the economy are innumerable. But,
unfortunately, somebody has to pay. With a growing population and increasing
numbers of people pursuing higher education, the status quo has become
unsustainable. The government does not have a bottomless purse to draw on; this
is unlikely to ease in the near future.
The world will not wait for us though. Education providers
must continue to evolve, innovate and adapt to the cutthroat realities of the
international market. If we are to produce first class degrees, we must have first
class institutions which can deliver our students the finest possible education
and attract discerning students from overseas. This will not happen by magic,
which political opponents of the government's reform package appear to be
pinning their hopes on.
The bill before the committee is the result of extensive
consultation by the government. It follows this committee's report on an
earlier iteration of the bill, which thoroughly examined stakeholder views on
the reform package originally presented during the 2014–15 Budget and made
recommendations accordingly.
As noted by the committee, stakeholders advocated strongly
against changing indexation arrangements for student loans, and the government
listened. Student debt will continue to be indexed by the Consumer Price Index.
Important safeguards have been introduced to ensure that
primary carers of small children are protected until their incomes are adequate,
and a dedicated scholarship fund will be created specifically for universities
with a high proportion of low socioeconomic status students.
Additionally, steps have been taken to ensure that domestic
student fees remain lower than international student fees, and a structural
adjustment fund is proposed to assist universities, including those in regional
areas.
These were all suggestions this committee discussed with
stakeholders. The bill before us now is evidence that the government listened.
Reflecting feedback from universities, the bill retains core
measures of the government's higher education reform package, such as fee
deregulation, which will allow universities to design sustainable business
models. The disinformation campaign waged against these reforms has sought to
instil fear and manipulate public discourse with slogans such as "$100
000" degrees". These projections are unfounded, unhelpful to the
debate, and entirely unsupported by evidence. It is in universities' interest
to attract students, therefore it will not be in their interest to, as the
scaremongering campaign of disinformation has maintained, introduce obscenely
high course costs.
We are a clever and capable country, and this government
wants to keep it that way. Tough economic conditions are not the time to take
the focus off education—future prosperity demands that we look forward and plan
ahead.
Anything less would be selling Australia short.
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