House of Representatives

Second Reading Speech

Mr TEHAN (Wannon - Minister for Education)

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Education Legislation Amendment (2020 Measures No. 1) Bill 2020 demonstrates the government's commitment to the higher education and vocational education and training (VET) sectors, and ensures that higher education remains accessible and affordable to students, even during these difficult times.

Schedule 1 of the bill makes amendments to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 as part of implementing the government's decision to extend the unique student identifier (USI) regime to all higher education students. The bill will assist in standardising student identifiers across the tertiary education sector by requiring students accessing Commonwealth assistance to have a USI. Starting in 2021, new students can apply for a student identifier, and from 1 January 2023, all enrolled students must have a USI to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance. These amendments will improve the government's data matching and identity verification capabilities, which will make the administration of the tertiary education sector more efficient and effective for students and providers.

Schedule 1 of the bill also amends the VET Student Loans Act 2016 to require that, from 1 January 2021, a student's application for a VET student loan (VSL) must include the student's USI. This is consistent with the position that from 2021 all new domestic higher education students will receive a USI, and with the current VET student loans application requirements, which require an application to include the student's USI if one has been assigned.

Schedule 2 to the bill introduces a measure to validate certain HELP loans and VET student loans by allowing the Secretary of the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (department) to determine that certain students who, due to having multiple Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Numbers (CHESSNs), have exceeded the HELP loan limit and allow these students to repay the resulting excess debt amount through the income contingent repayment system.

From 3.5 million unique student records, only a small group of 475 students are affected. The measure is limited to loans incurred prior to the commencement of the amendment. The amendment avoids adverse financial outcomes for both students and providers that would arise from invalidating the loans, in recognition of the fact that these students were assigned multiple CHESSNs in error.

Since this issue has been identified, the Australian government has updated the technology it uses to manage student enrolment information, including improving its data-matching capabilities. These IT upgrades will prevent this issue recurring in the future.

Schedule 3 of the bill clarifies that a student's HELP balance is taken to be reduced immediately after the census date for HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP, VET-FEE-HELP assistance, and immediately after the census day for VET student loans (VSL). This amendment will ensure consistency across HELP and VSL by deeming the point in time at which a student's HELP balance is reduced to be the census date or day.

Schedule 4 of the bill amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to support full-fee-paying students to start or continue their studies, and in turn to support universities and other higher education providers to continue teaching. As part of the COVID-19 Higher Education Relief Package announced on 12 April, schedule 4 to the bill removes the loan fee that applies to undergraduate students accessing a FEE-HELP loan to pay for their studies. The loan fee exemption will apply for a six-month period, for units of study with census dates from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020.

So that Australians can continue to upskill and retrain, this measure will reduce the cost of study for full-fee-paying students in semester 2, 2020. Prospective undergraduate FEE-HELP students who may be considering commencing or returning to study may be incentivised to study in semester 2, encouraging continued student enrolment for providers. The bill gives effect to the government's commitment to provide certainty to the higher education sector, so the sector can remain agile while meeting the needs of industry and contributing to the economy.

Schedule 5 to the bill contains minor technical amendments to improve the clarity and operation of the Higher Education Support Act, including to amend the definition of a 'course of aviation' to include an 'approved course' as defined under the VET Student Loans Act 2016, and update a university name.

These amendments demonstrate the government's commitment to the higher education sector, and to ensuring that workers in Australia are able to continue to upskill and retrain, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I commend the bill.

Debate adjourned.