EDUCATION SUPPORT AMENDMENT (2009 BUDGET MEASURES) BILL 2009-08-11
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 04:16
DARREN CHEESEMAN EDUCATION SUPPORT AMENDMENT (2009 BUDGET MEASURES) BILL 2009-08-11Mr Speaker I'm pleased to speak to this bill on our budget measures, and to speak on another education bill.
It seems to me, at about the halfway mark of this term of the Rudd Government, that the area for which the government will be remembered is education.
And isn't that a good thing Mr Speaker?
I have lost count of the number of education Bills that I have spoken in support of since the last election.
Many of these education Bills included sweeping reforms.
Upgrades to every single primary schools in Australia, and many high schools.
Trade schools Bills.
Student income support reforms.
VET reforms.
Student services funding reforms.
And now we are turning our attention to the higher education sector.
Mr Speaker, the Rudd government is rebuilding Australia's education system, and I believe putting in place an education system for the future.
This is another Bill of sweeping change Mr Speaker.
It's about reforming the Australian higher education system to position it, long-term, into the future.
Here's just a few of the things the Bill is doing Mr Speaker.
This Bill is:
* introducing a new demand driven system of Commonwealth supported places from 2012 with transitional arrangements in 2010 and 2011,
* introducing increased indexation for higher education,
* introducing a new performance funding grant element under the Commonwealth Grant Scheme,
* increasing the maximum annual student contribution amount for education and nursing,
* removing the loan fee on OS HELP loans,
* adding new items to the Other Grants provisions for the Structural Adjustment Fund,
* introducing measures to increase participation of students from low socio-economic backgrounds, - A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THIS BILL MR SPEAKER.
* funding for the Commonwealth Scholarships Program to reflect replacement of certain scholarships by new scholarships,
* redirects from 2010 the grants for the Workplace Reform Program into the CGS base grant,
* ending the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund and Workplace Productivity Program,
* providing appropriate funding for continuing Commonwealth Scholarship (Research) and Other Grants (Research).
There are about a dozen very important provisions that are being made law here Mr Speaker.
Most of these are big picture reforms coming out of the Bradley Report.
Firstly, Mr Speaker, I'd like to make some over-arching remarks about where we are heading with these reforms, and then I will concentrate on a couple of particular aspects.
In this Bill the muddled tangle of free market education ideology and highly regulated higher education industrial regime, which was the underpinnings of Coalition changes to higher education, are being swept away.
In its place we are putting new foundations in place that will consolidate our higher education sector, and accelerate the race to make Australia's higher education system world class.
And that's very important Mr Speaker.
Because without doubt, our universities today operate in an international higher education market place that is putting new pressures on our domestic system.
So our foundations have to be strong, and the key element has to be constant improvement.
The new foundations the Rudd Labor Government are about first of all encouraging participation in higher education.
The new foundations the Rudd Labor Government are putting in place are about encouraging first class, ground-breaking research. Not average research.
The new foundations are about encouraging really good scholarship.
The new foundations of higher education our about a system of cooperative working arrangements between the government and universities, rather than punative.
The new foundations are about fostering cooperative industrial working relationships between university management and staff.
The new higher education foundations, under this Bill, are about creating high performance, and rewarding it.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, this is a wide-ranging Bill and it is not possible in the time to go into detail on all aspects, so I want to focus in on a couple of things.
Firstly, the amendments to the Act which support an increase in the participation of students from low socio-economic backgrounds, and secondly, the general issue of university performance and league tables, as they have been dubbed.
Mr. Speaker the provisions in this Bill that assist people from lower socio-economic groups to get into university are very important.
They are especially important to the Labor Party, as we are the custodians of the Fair Go.
Access to higher education is central to opportunity and prosperity for individuals and families, and therefore to the Fair Go.
This is particularly so in the modern world where a much larger proportion of jobs require a high degree of specialist technical expertise.
The second reason for supporting maximizing participation in higher education is not so much about individual opportunity, it is about the opportunities for our nation.
So much great talent is wasted because of a lack of opportunity Mr Speaker.
Still today a great deal of talent is wasted in Australia because people don't have the support to reach their full potential, and a chance to go to university.
The analogy I like to use Mr speaker, as a lover and long time follower of the game of Aussie Rules, is what I call the "old AFL" the time when we had the VFL.
If you go back to the days of the early 80s when I was a young boy, there were virtually no indigenous boys playing in the VFL, and in the early days of the AFL when it first started.
It wasn't because there was no indigenous talent out there.
It was because they were not getting the support and help and recognition they needed.
So much indigenous football talent was being completely wasted because the system did not recognise it and encourage it.
Today, the system is changed.
And what a difference it makes.
The indigenous boys have made the system so much better.
They are many of the great talents of the game.
They are the excitement machines of the game.
That talent was always there.
But now the system is better at identifying it and supporting it.
Mr Speaker, I think the analogy holds true for Australia's higher education system.
Without doubt a great deal of talent does not get a chance to get a higher education.
And Australia, and those that miss out, are the poorer for it.
This part of the Bill, which assists people from lower socio economic areas into higher education is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.
Mr Speaker I'd also like to say a few things about one of the controversial parts of the Bill, and this also links into the issue of access to higher education for lower socio economic groups.
The issue of performance funding and publishing performance results or "league tables" as they have been dubbed in the media is an important part of system accountability in my view.
It must be done in the right way, where the performance assessments and league tables reflect something meaningful, and where high performance is not just a reflection of wealth and priviledge.
Done properly, as I Bill this Bill does, performance funding focuses universities firmly on meeting our shared objectives for Australia's higher education system.
It is important universities know there are incentives available if they do perform well and meet certain performance measures.
Having some funding at risk will be a real incentive for universities to come up with effective strategies to continually lift their performance.
Under the Rudd government's reforms a university's share of the performance funding pool will be based on the size of its student population.
Universities will receive performance funding if they meet their targets, rather than funding being allocated on the basis of comparative performance.
This is a system I believe takes much better into account issues such as socio economic disadvantage.
The old system of comparative performance was in my view largely just a reflection of priviledge.
I believe this change is crucial if we are to achieve our goal of ensuring 20% of the people enrolled in higher education are from groups who are under-represented in the system by 2020.
Mr Speaker, there's a very important aspect of our performance measures that needs to be explained.
That is universities will have an opportunity to negotiate targets that are challenging but appropriate for their circumstances against indicators of learning and teaching performance and performance in relation to outcomes for low SES students.
It's a very sensible system Mr Speaker, and a much better system than the old "comparative model" used by the Coalition, which just rewarded the rich institutions.
The Government is committed to making sure that robust and suitable performance measures are in place.
Under this Bill individual targets will be negotiated in 2010 and there will be a conditional funding paid in 2011 to providers who agree to targets.
Mr Speaker, of course a crucial issue is who will decide whether institutions meet their targets or not.
To make sure this is objective and done by people with the best available knowledge, the Government is setting up a new agency, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
Another key question is whether the media be able to use this information to create league tables for universities?
Quite frankly Mr speaker, I can't see a problem with that.
The public interest demands that universities be held accountable for their performance. Some of the information generated will be in the public domain.
I think that students, parents and the Australian and international public have a right to know how our universities are performing in these areas.
After all, it must be remembered that the performance targets will be individual targets, negotiated with individual universities.
So I think what we are putting in place provides incentives for universities, encourages talent broadly, and is open and transparent.
Mr Speaker, obviously the level of change we are talking about here, as I said is quite sweeping. We certainly couldn't be accused of being a faint hearted government.
We do recognise that there is significant adjustment being required of universities.
To support continuing transformation in the sector, $400 million will be provided over four years for structural adjustment.
This includes $200 million for the capital component of structural adjustment provided through the third round of the Education Investment Fund.
This funding will promote long term sustainability in the sector by assisting universities in making strategic decisions about their future mission and possible ways to enhance their place in the new higher education environment.
It will replace the existing Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund, and will support broader strategic and capital projects.
In particular, the new fund will lay the ground work for the provision of more sustainable higher education in regional areas ahead of decisions being taken on a better model of longer term funding for regional delivery.
The higher education sector will need time to adjust to the new post-Bradley environment.
Mr Speaker, without doubt, some regional and outer metropolitan universities may be affected by the move to a demand driven funding system in 2012.
Funding for structural adjustment will support institutions that choose to reconsider their strategic direction as a result of this reform.
Some regional universities may find that focusing research funding leads to reduced access to research funding.
Regional institutions in this position will benefit from opportunities and incentives for institutional collaboration in the shared deployment of research infrastructure, facilities and personnel through the collaborative research networks program.
Mr Speaker, regional universities play an enormous role in many rural and regional communities.
In my own electorate, Deakin University is our largest employer.
It is also one of the keys to the great change that must take place in our region, which is transforming from a dirty brown industry base, to the new low emission, high tech industries of the future.
Deakin is already playing a part in this transformation, and it is crucial the university is supported to do that.
Deakin Universities is like a lot of regional and metropolitan universities, it is looking to carve out particular niche's where it can make a difference to the world and the region around it.
There are a number of research and develop areas which draw on our region's traditional strengths which Deakin is looking at, and these have significant potential.
There is advanced design, nano-technology, high technology fabrics and textiles, medical health and research areas within renewable energy fields.
Whilst there are great possibilities across these areas, I think Deakin is yet to settle on all of its main areas of research and development.
There are some very big decisions ahead of them.
Mr Speaker, I believe the changes contained in this Bill will help Deakin University to work through these areas and to settle on a clear vision for its pathway in research and development into the future.
It will encourage excellence in research within our region.
The Bill will provide more scholarships for local people in my electorate.
It will help to provide a better industrial relations environment in what is the largest employer in my electorate.
Most importantly, this Bill will also help many students in my electorate who come from lower socio economic groups to get into university.
It will give open new horizons for them, and give them a chance at a better life.
I commend yet another great Labor Bill to the House Mr Speaker.
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