Dr NELSON (Minister for Education, Science and Training) (10:14 PM) —I thank all honourable members who spoke to the Higher Education Funding Amendment Bill 2002 and the Higher Education Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2002 for their important contributions. Naturally, the government did not agree with quite a few of the contributions made on the other side of the House. The main measures in these bills are to extend the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme to four institutions. They update the funding amounts, including providing additional funding for the Graduate Diploma in Environment and Planning at the University of Tasmania. They adjust funding levels in the Higher Education Funding Act and the Australian Research Council Act to allow the Institute of Advanced Studies at the ANU to access the competitive funding schemes of the ARC and the National Health and Medical Research Council. They reduce the compliance burden on universities in relation to the accountability of Commonwealth funding and streamline the administration of Australian Research Council grants and the provision of expert advice to the ARC board. They further enable the minister to approve research funding grants for a period of four years rather than two. They will reduce paperwork and provide greater certainty to grant holders and variations to funding amounts and reflect revised higher education contribution schemes and superannuation estimates. There are, of course, other technical and drafting amendments.

The government's overall position in relation to Australian higher education is that universities are in quite a sound financial position. However, it is important that, as Australians, we consider not so much and not only the role of Australian universities in the year 2002-03 but what sort of role they will play and the contribution they will make to Australia's economic and social development over the next 20 to 30 years. In that regard, in particular, the government is in the midst of a major review of Australian higher education and I released today the seventh and final discussion paper to inform the public debate of higher education. That will allow organisations and individuals to make a contribution to that debate up to and including 13 September.

These particular bills, as I said, focus on a number of things. I will address a number of the issues raised by speakers throughout the debate. The first is the Postgraduate Education Loans Scheme. It is quite obvious to this government that a well-educated and skilled work force that embraces lifelong learning is critical for Australia's economic growth. As part of its commitment to lifelong learning, this government announced the PEL scheme, as it is known, in 2001 as part of Backing Australia's Ability. It encourages extended participation in education and enables students to undertake a postgraduate education with a taxpayer loan being provided for every last dollar of the course that the student undertakes. Early indicators suggest that it has been extremely successful. We have seen a 20 per cent increase in participation, for example, already this year. I noticed that there has been a 60 per cent increase in participation at Central Queensland University and a 30 per cent increase at the University of Queensland and at James Cook University.

The Higher Education Funding Amendment Bill 2002 provides for the extension of PELS to four additional institutions—to Bond University, Melbourne College of Divinity, Tabor College and Christian Heritage College. The measure fulfils an election commitment made by the government and announced in the budget. It will give students at those institutions access to postgraduate study loans on the same basis as other students, and that means around 2,200 students will benefit, being lent approximately $18.7 million over a four-year period.

The rationale for those four institutions is that the amendment goes some way to addressing existing anomalies in the higher education system, at the same time increasing choices for students. Melbourne College of Divinity and Bond University are self-accrediting institutions and compete with universities for fee paying postgraduate students. This amendment will place all self-accrediting higher education institutions on an equivalent footing when competing for fee paying postgraduate students. Christian Heritage College and Tabor College in South Australia are the primary providers of Christian teacher training, and they are committed to a sector that has no other provider. One would think that all sensible people would support anything to see more teachers coming into the teaching profession. This amendment will provide concrete assistance and a more level playing field for those in the community who have established these alternative institutions to meet their needs.

Some members raised the question of cost. The government has been completely open about the expected cash cost of this measure. As I have said, over the next four years, somewhere between 2,000 and 2,200 students are likely to take up these loans totalling $18.7 million. The member for Jagajaga appeared to be a little confused about some of the objectives behind PELS. The policy could not be clearer: if you are doing a Diploma of Education in a Commonwealth-funded place, you are only required to make a contribution to the cost, otherwise you pay the fee set by the institution. In either case, the student can access an income-contingent loan.

The question of accountability was raised. Under the amendment, the minister requires institutions to provide information about the probity of the institution's governance arrangements and/or the institution's financial position. The amendment also allows the minister to remove an institution from the table if he or she is not satisfied with the institution's governance arrangements and/or financial position, and/or if the institution does not comply with Commonwealth and state laws, including antidiscrimination laws. The minister can also remove the institution from the table if it has breached any of the requirements in chapter 4A of the Higher Education Funding Act.

A lot of honourable members made comments about the Higher Education Contribution Scheme. I must say not all of them were founded in fact, particularly those from the other side. It is worth putting on the record that 1,115,317 Australians currently owe $8.2 billion to the Australian taxpayer—to the Commonwealth government—for higher education contribution schemes. Ninety-one per cent of the students owe less than $16,000; 80 per cent of the students owe less than $12,000. The average HECS debt carried is $7,800. In total, there are 69 students in this country who owe more than $40,000. Australian taxpayers, everyday working men and women struggling to feed their children and pay their car loans and mortgages, fund about three-quarters of the cost of a student's higher education. That is not the level exaggerated by some of the contributors on the other side. I thank all the honourable members for their contribution to the debate and also for the opportunity to sum up.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.