Parliamentary Updates

 I move amendments one to three as circulated in my name. Together. Now these amendments in relation to the Universities Accord Bill is to ensure that we have. We find the right balance. I support the ambition of the Universities Accord to expand access to higher education and ensure more Australians have the opportunity to attend university, but this bill needs stronger safeguards in two important areas protecting university autonomy and properly supporting outreach to students who are currently missing out. I acknowledge in the amendments the government just introduced and which I supported, there were some measures to start to clarify that question. For example, stopping the minister from using opaque university specific grant conditions to control courses or industrial relations and requiring those conditions to be made public. These are all important in assisting university autonomy, which goes towards in some way to my amendment. Again, I would like to point out it would have been nice to have the opportunity for more clarity and discussion with the minister in relation to the amendments that I am proposed and the government's amendments, but that was not forthcoming. My First Amendment explicitly, though, prevents allocations being imposed at the level of individual courses, fields of education or classes of courses. Under this bill, the government determines the overall number of international student places and the Australian Tertiary Education Commission allocates places between institutions.

Whatever members think of that broader framework, there should be a clear limit on how far government interference can go. Once a university receives its allocation. It should be for that university to decide how these places are distributed across its courses. Canberra should not be deciding whether a university can enrol more international students in engineering, nursing and business than humanities or any other disciplines. Those are decisions for universities based on student demand, workforce needs, research strengths and the communities they serve. We have already seen through the Job-Ready Graduates scheme the problems that arise when governments try to pick and choose which fields of study students should pursue. We should not create another mechanism that allows a minister or government agency to micromanage academic offerings. My amendment therefore draws a clear line allocations may be made at the institutional level, but not at the course level. That is an important protection for university autonomy. The Second Amendment addresses another fundamental objective of the accord widening participation in higher education. If we want more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend university, support cannot begin only after they enrol. For many students, the barriers arise much earlier. They may be the first person in their family to consider university. They may live in a regional or disadvantaged community where higher education feels distant or simply out of reach. They may never receive the information or encouragement or support that allows them to see university as a realistic option. Universities already undertake important outreach work with schools and communities to change that. To prepare students to think about university and then take that option up.

My amendment makes clear that a portion of needs based funding can be used for pre enrolment outreach that can support sustained partnerships with schools, with mentoring, with aspiration building programs and other initiatives that help students understand the opportunities available to them and actually really consider them and take them up because widening participation is not simply about creating more university places. It's not just simply looking at a number of enrolment, it's actually looking at the whole picture. It's about ensuring that students that have traditionally missed out can see a pathway to university and have a genuine opportunity to take it. These are practical and targeted amendments. They're not. They don't undermine the central architecture of this bill, but they strengthen it by protecting universities from unnecessary interference while giving them greater flexibility to reach students who are currently under-represented in higher education. A stronger, higher education system requires both institutional autonomy and genuine investment in opportunity.