Australian Greens' additional comments

1.1The Greens welcome the opportunity to contribute additional comments to the committee report and thank those who made submissions to the inquiry.

1.2The Greens support the strengthened oversight and improvements to the transparency and protection of the international education sector. The Greens support the introduced measures in early childhood education and care, as well as the uncapping of Commonwealth supported places in medical courses for Indigenous students.

1.3We acknowledge the issues of unscrupulous practices and sham operators in the higher education sector, particularly in exploiting international students.

1.4That being said, providing additional unconstrained Ministerial powers to unilaterally suspend or cancel 'classes of courses' is a concerning overreach. Ascharacterised by Mr Andrew Norton, this power would 'suspend the rule of law', sidelining 'process-driven powers' in favour of personal Ministerial discretion.[1]

1.5The bill then takes Ministerial power to another level by enabling the Minister to suspend the processing of, and making of, applications for registration and applications to add courses to registration without any parliamentary oversight. This provision is not accompanied by objective criteria nor evidence thresholds that the Minister must satisfy to order suspensions. This extensive power will not be subject to disallowance, providing the Minister unbridled liberty to control registrations in the higher education sector without procedural scrutiny.

1.6Instead of centralising control for itself, the Government should be focusing on empowering and adequately resourcing the Australian Skills Quality Authority and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to enforce the powers that are already within their remit.

1.7It is disappointing that whilst the committee's report acknowledges the criticism and concerns of these elements of the bill, it has not prompted further action or any amendment consistent with the concerns raised. The submission by the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia encapsulates this dismissal, asserting 'this unfettered Ministerial authority demonstrates what has been perceived by sector stakeholders as an absence of care, due diligence and reasonable engagement with the sector'.[2]

1.8Our higher education institutions and the autonomy of students to select the course they wish to pursue cannot be subject to the market desires and interests of the government of the day.

1.9The submissions to the inquiry clearly demonstrated that the ministerial overreach in the legislation sets a concerning precedent for the higher education sector.

1.10That the bill be amended to remove additional ministerial powers on applications, registrations, and courses.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi

Senator for New South Wales

Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens

Australian Greens spokesperson for Higher Education

Footnotes

[1]Mr Andrew Norton, Submission 43, p. 10.

[2]Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia, Submission 11, p. 12.