Ms HALL (3:39 AM) —The Higher Education Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2002 and the Higher Education Funding Amendment Bill 2002 are pieces of legislation that impact upon the provision of higher education in Australia. When the Howard government introduces any legislation that has implications for education, it needs to be scrutinised with care as this is a government that has a sad record in this area, one that is most notable for its elitism and its defunding of our great public universities.

The Higher Education Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2002 will update previous legislation and is generally legislation that will benefit the higher education sector. Included in the legislation is indexation of arrangements, additional funds provided under Backing Australia's Ability and revised estimates for HECS contributions and the Commonwealth superannuation liability transfers of funds and operating grants advancements to particular universities. These are all fairly non-controversial measures, unlike some of the proposals being floated by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, proposals that will change the face of higher education in Australia.

The Higher Education Funding Amendment Bill 2002 is the piece of legislation that is of greatest concern. This legislation extends access to the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme to four private providers: Bond University in Queensland, Melbourne College of Divinity, Christian Heritage College and Tabor College in South Australia. It establishes a graduate diploma in environment and planning at the University of Tasmania and it permits the Institute of Advanced Studies at the ANU to access research schemes. The most controversial issue is the proposed extension of the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme. That is going to be extended to the four institutions that I mentioned before. This will require access by the four institutions to at least some of the provisions of the Higher Education Funding Act.

PELS was introduced in 2002 to provide loans for students enrolling in fee-paying postgraduate non-research courses in the Commonwealth funded institutions listed in HEFA. PELS is already available to students of one private provider, the University of Notre Dame Australia. This was really introduced for undergraduate teacher education and it was especially designed for Indigenous programs at the Broome campus. The university is also seeking an extension of this. The 2002-03 budget papers include provisions for the extension of PELS to four institutions. They note that the estimated cash value of loans to students at these institutions was around $18.7 million over four years. The amount is considered an asset and is not shown as an expense. Estimated repayments are for over $0.6 million over three years.

The government has what I consider an elitist approach to education—

Ms HALL —So do all of us on this side of the House. This is an approach that has its roots in the 1950s. It believes that the right people, from the right background, should pay money to get the education that they deserve. It believes that they should have the best education. This has been seen in the previous parliament, where this government decided to channel money into category 1 private schools at the expense of needy public schools in our community, schools that 70 per cent of students attend. Also, this government has a philosophy that, if you do not pay for something, you do not value it. It is seeking to take this through into higher education. I seek leave to continue my remarks at a later date.

Leave granted, debate adjourned.