Doorstop - University of New South Wales

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: G' day, everybody. It's great to be here at the University of New South Wales, my old university that I went to last century, to talk about the things that we're doing to build a better and a fairer education system this century. 

There are big things happening in education. Today the Prime Minister has released numbers that show that our cheaper child care laws are delivering thousands of dollars in savings for the average family. The data he's released today shows that for an average family with a child in child care three days a week, they've saved about $7,000 dollars over the last two years. That's $7,000 dollars less that they've had to spend on child care than they otherwise would because of the reforms that we put in place a couple of years ago. 

In school education, we're driving big reform as well. We're fixing the funding of our public schools with the biggest new investment in public education by an Australian Government ever, something like $16.5 billion extra that we're investing in public schools over the next decade. And later this week, on Friday, I'll convene the first meeting of Education Ministers since the election. One of the things that will be on the agenda for us to discuss is the implementation of that agreement, the next steps in making sure that this funding is linked to reform, and that that reform drives the sort of outcomes that we all want. Fundamentally, more young people finishing high school and then going on to TAFE or going on to university. 

Which brings me to the big reforms that are happening in higher education. Next week, paid prac will start for the first time. That's financial support from the Commonwealth Government to help teaching students, nursing students, midwifery students and social work students while they do practical part of their degree. A bit of financial support to help them while they're doing their practical training. It's never happened before. It's one of the recommendations that came out of the Universities Accord, which is a blueprint for how we reform our higher education system over the next decade and beyond. 

And today, some more good news. Today, some data has been released by my department that shows that the number of Aussie students starting a university degree are bouncing back big time. The data that we've released today shows that when you take out the two years of COVID, which are a bit of an anomaly because people went to university during that period of time at record numbers, when you take out those two years of COVID, the number of Australian students starting an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree this year looks set to be the highest on record. And that's a good thing. We want more people to finish school. We want more people to be able to go to TAFE or go to university, get the skills that they need. We want more Aussies to get more skills and to be able to get the careers of their dreams. 

And the young people that I've had a chance to speak to today are just a couple of examples of people who are building the life of their dreams through the work that they're doing here at my old university, the University of New South Wales, studying everything from medicine to law to chemistry to software engineering. I forgot one other - economics and maths. All fortunate recipients of the Gateway Program here at the University of New South Wales, which is helping a lot of young people from underrepresented groups to get a crack at going to university. This program, in a nutshell, is everything that I'm about, making sure that more kids, like the kid that I was growing up in Western Sydney, get a crack at going to university and build the career of their dreams. So, to tell their story rather than mine, can I ask Sam to tell us a little bit about yourself, what you're doing and why the Gateway Program is so important for you?

SAM: Brilliant. Thank you, Jason. So, yeah, I came from a country town called Goulburn, so near Canberra. And I think the thing is that most people in Goulburn don't typically leave Goulburn. And although I love Goulburn, I did want to move on and so I fell in love with UNSW. I remember one day in September; I made the two hour trip on the train all the way up to the Open Day and I knew as soon as I got here that that's exactly what I wanted to do. And so, I just needed to figure out actually how to get here. And that was through the Gateway Program. So, then I made my way up to UNSW after HSC and I'm now doing a Bachelor of Advanced Science majoring in chemistry. I absolutely love it. It's the best decision I could have made for myself. And I think I can thank my high school teachers, but also the lecturers here at the university for that, because it's been just such a great experience. And even more so, I now get to give back to the Gateway Program, which helped me get here with my fellow ambassadors, as I am now also a Gateway Ambassador. I get to go to schools; I get to talk to kids and just show them exactly what university education can be like.

CLARE: Thanks mate, reminds me, I've got to buy myself a new hoodie. Over to you.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned the record number that we're seeing apart from COVID and there's been a particular boost in teaching and nursing. Do you think that could be partially attributed to the placements coming into effect next week?

CLARE: I think it's part of it. Over the course of the last few years, a couple of things have happened, particularly to encourage more people to want to be a school teacher. There's been big pay rises announced for new teachers here in New South Wales, but also in South Australia, in WA and the Northern Territory. There's been a lot of work to try and reduce the unnecessary workload or burden that we place on school teachers to give them more time to teach. We ran a campaign a little over a year ago called ‘Be that Teacher’, which was really about sending a message to the whole country about how important our school teachers are. This is the most important job in the world. One of the great things I got out of our conversation a little while ago is that all of the young people I spoke to today, whether they're thinking about becoming a lawyer or a doctor or a software engineer or an economist, are also thinking about becoming a teacher. And how they could do that either someday here at university or in the classroom of our schools. 

The scholarships that we're rolling out, $40,000 dollar scholarships to encourage people to become a school teacher, are working. I think that's a big part of it, but paid prac is important as well. The other thing that's worth pointing out in these numbers is that we're seeing a boost in the number of people doing an undergraduate degree, but also a big boost in the number of people doing a postgraduate degree. Two things there; I think that shows that more and more people are thinking about coming back to university to get more skills, to reskill or to upskill. And we're going to see more of that in the years ahead. But also, when it comes to school teaching in particular, this year we expect to see a jump of about 15 per cent in the number of people doing the masters degree, the course that people do after they've done another degree in another area of expertise, to become a school teacher. And that's a really good thing because we want people to burst out of school and go to uni and want to become a school teacher. But we also want young people like this who might have had another career to think, “okay, now I'm going to do the masters degree and I'm going to become a school teacher as well.” And the data out today shows us that's happening.

JOURNALIST: Minister, what has the response of your electorate been over the conflict in the Middle East?

CLARE: Over the course of almost two years now, the conflict in the Middle East, in particular the death and the destruction in Gaza, has been horrific for my community. The dead bodies that we see on our television every night for my community aren't just numbers, aren't just anonymous people, often their family or their friends. And that's why this is so personal. My community, the whole country, I think the whole world wants to see an end to the violence, to the suffering, to the catastrophe that's happening in Gaza. They want to see an end to all of the violence happening in the Middle East. And that's why we hold our breath, and we hold our hopes that the ceasefire holds between Israel and Iran as well.

JOURNALIST: On the university rankings as well, the QS rankings that came out UNSW is still in the top 20 and remained relatively stable, but we did see quite a few universities going backwards. I guess, is that a concern for the Government? And particularly suggestions that it could be related to debate over international student loan policies?

CLARE: My position on this has been consistent. The mark of a great university isn't just a ranking, isn't just a number, it's about students. It's about the work that the universities do to produce young people like this. In truth, you've produced yourself. There's a reason that you're here and it sits within yourself. But it's great universities that help you to get here. It's gateway programs like the program here at my old university, the University of New South Wales, which is making a difference in people's lives. 

There was an article written a couple of weeks ago about the focus that I have placed in my first term as Education Minister on students. And that is true whether it's the Student Ombudsman, whether it's the fee-free courses to help young people that aren't ready for university to be ready for university, whether it's these paid prac payments or anything else. Yes, I've been deadly focused, directly focused, on helping students to get to university, but not just get here to succeed when they get here. And the data shows us that a lot of young people, particularly young people from underrepresented groups from poor backgrounds, from the regions from the outer suburbs, are more likely not to finish a degree than other people. And so, the next step in the reform program, big structural change, is around fixing the funding of our universities, you'll see that roll out next year, including demand-driven funding for equity students and a real needs-based funding approach to universities a la the Gonski model. We're finishing and fixing the funding of our public schools. A similar model we want to roll out to our universities so that we're funding students based on need and making sure that more young people who start a degree finish a degree.

JOURNALIST: And that includes the Jobs-ready Graduate Scheme?

CLARE: That'll be one of the things that we're going to ask the new ATEC to look at. And the interim version of the ATEC led by Mary O' Kane, will kick off next Tuesday.

JOURNALIST: I just have one more as well about Albanese last week said he's ruled out renewing the religious discrimination law, that obviously there was a big review commission to that. Is that a position that you maintain as well? And do you expect there'll be any reforms to the independent private sector in the next term?

CLARE: What the Prime Minister has said repeatedly here is that reform here requires bipartisanship. And that was more important in the last term than ever before, given the conflicts overseas and the propensity for a debate around religious freedom or religious discrimination to aggravate the tensions that already exist in our community because of the catastrophe happening overseas. And I still think it holds that reform here requires bipartisanship. We've got a new Opposition Leader. I do hold out hope that Sussan Ley, unlike Peter Dutton, will reach across the aisle and try to work with us on more things. Thanks.