Jason Clare
Blaxland · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I thank the member for Kooyong for her question and for her passion in this area of higher education. Like me—like all members of parliament, I think—she understands the power of education to change lives.”
“I've said work on fixing it is unfinished business, and I have said—and you all know—that the Australian Tertiary Education Commission has also pointed out the work they're doing on the cost of teaching and learning that they will finalise next year. They are the facts.”
“I thank my friend the big-hearted member for Blair for his question. As he knows, tomorrow, every Australian worker will get a tax cut and three million Australians will get a pay rise, and that includes hundreds of thousands of childcare workers right across the country.”
“It's good for the workers because they get paid more, but it's also good for parents because the centres have got to cap their fees to get the money. For the average family with a child in child care, it'll save them about $1,500 over the next two years.”
“The reforms also include the legislation that we passed through this parliament last year, which means that if you don't meet the standards, you can have your funding cut. That wasn't an idle threat. I can tell the House that we've now issued notices against 115 centres.”
“These are the schools that do a lot of the heavy lifting, that play an outsized role in educating the most disadvantaged children in this country, the children who are the most likely to start behind or fall behind. The children who need our help the most.”
The complete record
Every one of 322 lines we hold for Jason Clare, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 7.
“The universities accord recommended that we uncap Commonwealth Supported Places for Indigenous medical students to help address this. In the election earlier this year we promised to do this. This bill delivers on that promise. It means every Indigenous student who meets the entry requirements for medicine will have a Commonwealth Supported Place. Evidence shows Indigenous Australians are more likely to have a positive healthcare experience from an Indigenous healthcare worker because of their unique skill sets and cultural knowledge and understanding. We also know that Indigenous doctors are more likely to work in Indigenous community health services and in regional, rural and remote areas. These communities also have some of the highest demands for doctors in the country.”
“The amendments are designed to provide oversight of offshore arrangements whilst also minimising the regulatory burden on Australian providers. The amendments are light-touch, set transitional arrangements that take into account existing offshore arrangements and utilise information that providers already hold. These changes safeguard our reputation as a world leader in education, here and overseas. Indigenous medical students measure Indigenous Australians are significantly underrepresented in our health workforce. They account for 3.8 per cent of the population but only 1.25 per cent of the health workforce. That percentage is even lower amongst doctors. Less than one per cent of doctors identify as Indigenous.”
“Together, these reforms make it harder for dodgy operators to enter or remain in the sector, while supporting the majority of providers who are doing the right thing. The bill also amends the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act (TEQSA). Providers will now require authorisation from TEQSA to deliver Australian degrees offshore. This means that students who study with an Australian provider overseas will have the same confidence in the quality of an Australian qualification as those who study here. Authorised providers will need to notify TEQSA of new or changed offshore delivery arrangements and report annually on their activities. This will give regulators the information they need to monitor quality and address risks early.”
“The Minister for Education will also be able to pause new applications for providers or course registration for up to 12 months where needed, so agencies can focus resources on integrity issues. The bill also requires prospective providers to first deliver courses to domestic students for two years before they can apply to teach overseas students as evidence of their commitment to quality education. The registration of providers that fail to deliver a course to overseas students for 12 consecutive months will also be cancelled to help deal with 'phoenixing'. The bill also allows, with agreement from the Minister for Skills and Training, the Minister for Education to suspend or cancel courses with systemic quality issues, limited skills value, or where needed in the public interest.”
“This means that greater scrutiny will apply where there are cross-ownership arrangements between providers and agents, and where providers are under investigation for serious offences. It also inserts a definition of 'education agent commission'. This will allow for complementary amendments to be made to the National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 to ban commissions from being paid to education agents for onshore student transfers. And it gives the education department clearer powers to collect and share information on commissions. This will help providers to choose reputable agents and shut out those who put students at risk.”
“But it is also a target for unscrupulous individuals trying to make a quick buck. In September 2022 we announced the Parkinson review of the migration system. And in January 2023 the Nixon Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System. These reviews identified integrity issues in international education, and we moved quickly on a number of recommendations of those reviews. This bill is the next step. The reviews made it clear we have a problem with collusive and unscrupulous practices between some agents and providers. In response, the bill inserts a new definition of 'education agent' which better captures their activities. It strengthens the 'fit and proper' test for providers.”
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill makes a number of changes to improve integrity, improve access and improve the information we collect about the education system. First, it strengthens the integrity of the international education sector. Second, it expands access for Indigenous students to study medicine by uncapping Commonwealth supported places in medical courses. And third, it introduces measures in early childhood education and care to improve data collection and strengthen the integrity of subsidy administration. International education measures International education is an important national asset. It brings tens of billions of dollars into the economy each year. It also builds friendships and long-term connections around the world. And in the world we live in this is more important than ever.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. That's very, very kind of you—as it is every day. Thank you for your service to this parliament. I present the Education Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025 and the explanatory memorandum to the bill. Bill read a first time.”
“We can't be naive and think that anything we do here is going to stop bullying in all its forms or that bullying just happens at school. Of course it doesn't. But it does happen at schools, and schools are a place where we can act to help to keep our children safe. And this report will help us provide a way to do that.”
“It's being led by my friend the Minister for Communications, and it starts in a few weeks. It's also why the Prime Minister commissioned an antibullying rapid review earlier this year. That work is being led by Dr Charlotte Keating, a clinical psychologist, and Professor Jo Robinson AM, the head of suicide prevention research at Orygen. Over the last few months, they've received more than 1,700 submissions from mums, dads, teachers and students. They've also met with students and teachers and with the mothers and fathers who have lost their children because of this. Next week, they will present their recommendations to education ministers and their proposed national standard on bullying in schools. In advance of that, I thank them for the work that they have done. This is hard work, and it's getting harder.”
“That sort of bullying and harassment can sometimes lead to teachers leaving the job that they love or, in the worst and most heartbreaking examples, young people taking their own life. You can understand then why so many mothers and fathers around the country are so worried. This is a serious problem, and it's getting worse. One in four students tell us that they've been bullied at school in the last few weeks. One in two say they've been bullied online. Thirteen per cent say that online bullying involved someone telling them that they should die. Complaints about online bullying to the eSafety Commissioner have increased by 450 per cent in the last five years. It's one of the reasons why we're implementing the social media ban for children under the age of 16.”
“I thank my friend the member for Sturt for her question. She understands this in a very personal and painful way, which she so powerfully explained to all of us in her first speech to this place. Bullying isn't just a bit of push and shove in the playground or stealing lunch money. It's a lot more awful and insidious than that. Sometimes it can leave invisible scars that never heal. Today it can follow you all the way home after school. The internet means that you can be bullied now at any time, day or night, and anyone can see it. AI, artificial intelligence, makes it even worse. We've seen too many examples of that over the last few months, where photos of students or teachers are cut and cropped onto naked bodies.”
“I opened one in Strathpine in the member for Dickson's electorate in May; in June I opened one in Ellenbrook in the northern suburbs of Perth; in July a hub on King Island opened; a hub in Warwick, in the Leader of the National Party's electorate, opened in August, as did ones in Macquarie Fields, in Mount Druitt and in Broadmeadows; in September one opened in Moranbah; and in the next few months more will open on Kangaroo Island, in Kununurra, in Sorell in Tassie, and in Elizabeth in South Australia—and, Mr Speaker, also in the great suburb of Inala, a suburb that I know you know well, in the south-western suburbs of Brisbane. So, whether it's cutting student debt, whether it's paid prac or whether it's more university study hubs, we promised it and we're delivering it.”
“It started on 1 July, and already more than 50,000 people have applied to get it. We also promised to double the number of university study hubs right across the country—in the bush, in the regions and, for the very first time, in the outer suburbs, bringing university closer to where people live. Again, we promised it and we're delivering it.”
“The average student debt there is about 6½ grand, so that's a massive weight off their back. I can advise the House that the tax office tells us that they will start to do this from next month. The tax office will start cutting student debt from the second half of November, and it will continue in December. You won't have to do anything to get it; you will simply get a text message from the ATO when it's done. We're doing that. We're also rolling out paid pracs. This is, for the very first time, the Commonwealth government providing financial support for teaching students, for nursing students, for midwifery students and for social work students. We promised it, and we're delivering it. It's real cost-of-living help—real, practical help with the practical part of your university degree.”
“Can I thank the member for Griffith for her question. She asked about student debt. This is an issue I know is dear to her heart. There are 31,877 people in her electorate who have a student debt—I think that's almost the highest in the country—so the promise that we made at the election to cut student debt by 20 per cent means a lot to those 31,000 people in the electorate of Griffith but, more than that, to the three million Australians across the country. It was the first piece of legislation that we introduced and that we passed in this new parliament. The average student debt today is about 27 grand. That means that, when this cut takes place, it will cut about $5½ thousand off that average student debt. But, for those 31,000-odd people in Griffith, it's even more.”
“That's why I announced, last week, plans to increase the powers available to TEQSA, the university regulator, to make sure they've got the powers they need. (Time expired)”
“It includes a demand driven system for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds; if they get the marks, they get a Commonwealth supported place. I'll introduce legislation next year to make that a reality, too, because I want us to be a country where you can't tell where someone grew up based on whether they got a university degree or not. Can I briefly say this. If you don't think that we've a problem with the governance of universities at the moment, then you've probably been living under a rock. That's why I've introduced a national student ombudsman. That's why there's a Senate inquiry about this now and an expert panel that will give me and other education ministers advice on this in the next couple of weeks.”
“When you take out the two years of COVID, which is a bit of an anomaly, there are more young people starting a degree this year than ever before, and universities are telling me they expect more students next year than this year. In the next 10 years, we expect an extra 200,000 young Australians to take on a university degree. So universities need to get ready for that. That's what the universities accord is all about, and that includes the work we're doing to fund more bridging courses for young people that aren't ready to start a university degree—to do one of the free courses that builds a bridge from school to university. It includes the work we're doing on paid pracs, providing financial support for teaching, midwifery and social work students while they do the practical part of their degree.”
“It basically means that they've got to enable that student to complete their degree—to complete the study of that course—or find a mutually acceptable alternative at no disadvantage to that student. That is the law; that is the legal requirement under the TEQSA Act. I also make the point that where universities are making decisions that significantly affect staff or students, then talk to them, listen to them, work with them and consult with them properly. Can I make the general point, here, that I want to see our universities grow. I want more young people to get a crack at going to university. There are more young people starting a uni degree this year than ever before.”
“Can I thank the member for Bradfield for her question and congratulate her on her election to this place. The first point I'd make is that we're investing an extra $6.7 billion into our universities over the next decade. It's all part of the first stage of our implementation of the universities accord. It's about helping to make sure that more young people get a crack at going to university, particularly a lot of young people from our outer suburbs, from the bush and from disadvantaged backgrounds. The second point I'd make is that where a young person finds themselves in the situation that you've just pointed out, universities have legal obligations. They've got to provide that student with a teach-out plan.”
“We're cutting student debt and we're making it easier for young Australians just out of uni or just out of home to buy their first home. We promised it before the last election, and now we're delivering”
“One of the recommendations in the universities accord—recommendation 16e—is that we should review bank practices to make sure that they recognise that HECS is different to other loans. The truth is HECS debts are different to other debts like credit card debts or personal loans, because you can't default on a HECS debt, so they should be treated differently by the banks. That's why the Treasurer asked APRA to look at this. That's why APRA issued new guidance to the banks about this, and I'm glad to see that a number of banks have already acted. The National Australia Bank, for example, announced last month that student debts of $20,000 or less wouldn't affect how much someone could borrow. So that is good news.”
“As one uni student, a young bloke called Adam, told me back in November last year, 'It's going to make me able to buy a house sooner and to do all the things that I want to do.' But we haven't just cut student debt by 20 per cent. We've also cut the amount that you have to repay on your student debt every year. If you earn about 70 grand a year at the moment, we've cut the amount that you have to repay every year by about $1,300. That helps too. That's real cost-of-living relief. It means more money in your pocket rather than the government's and it means more money that you can put towards that five per cent deposit. We're also working with the banks on this, to make sure that your HECS debt doesn't make it harder to get a home loan.”
“Can I thank my good mate the member for Bean for his question. As I said earlier this week, HECS shouldn't be a handbrake on buying your first home. We want more young Australians to be able to buy a home and that means building more homes and it means making it easier to buy them. That's what the five per cent deposit policy is all about, and that starts in just over a month, on 1 October. We're getting rid of that 20 per cent deposit that you used to have to save up for. We've also got rid of 20 per cent of student debt, cutting student debt by 20 per cent. That will help too. That'll take a massive weight off the shoulders of about three million Australians. The average HECS debt today is about 27 grand, so that 20 per cent cut will cut that debt by about 5½ thousand bucks, and that's a big help.”
“I commend the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2025 bill to the House. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.”
“I commend the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025 and the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2025 to the House.”
“At the moment, TEQSA has, effectively, a sledgehammer and a feather and not much in between. I think there's a good argument that it needs better tools to be able to step in and act, when it's justified in the public interest, and be able to respond to systemic risks, not just the compliance of individual providers. I will soon release a consultation paper to the sector on the nature of those reforms. The government will not be supporting the second reading amendment as proposed at this time. We're taking this action now as it forms a key commitment under the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education, following more than a decade of dedicated advocacy on behalf of victims-survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus.”
“The ombudsman is required to report to government at the end of each financial year about the nature and number of complaints that it has received. The government has received the Special Envoy's Plan to Combat Antisemitism from Jillian Segal and will soon receive a report from the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik. We're also anticipating later this year the final report from the Race Discrimination Commissioner into racism at Australian universities. The government will consider these reports carefully. Last week I announced that the government will strengthen the powers of the tertiary education regulator, TEQSA—the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency—to respond to governance issues like this and others in our universities.”
“I have been clear that universities must enforce their codes of conduct and meet their legislative obligations, which include having policies around freedom of speech, fostering a safe environment and ensuring student and staff wellbeing. Since 1 February this year, the independent National Student Ombudsman has been open and operating, and the ombudsman, as has been said in this debate, is a national first. It is available to handle complaints from students about experiences of antisemitism on university campuses, as well as complaints about all other matters, in particular the issues we are debating here today—sexual assault and sexual harassment on university campuses as well as in student accommodation.”
“I thank all members for their important contributions to this debate. These bills provide for the establishment and enforcement of a national higher education code to prevent and respond to gender based violence. They are an important next step in making students and staff safer on our campuses. As I said, I thank members for their contributions in this debate. I note the second reading amendment from the member for Berowra. The government takes the issue of antisemitism at universities very seriously. Antisemitism, or any form of racism, harassment, discrimination or intimidation, must not be allowed to threaten the safety of students and staff on Australian university campuses or anywhere else.”
“There will always be bad people looking for weaknesses in the system. But the actions that we took last week are an important next step in helping to keep our children safe.”
“They often move from centre to centre to centre, and that's why the national educator register is important. To make all of this happen, the Australian government is investing an extra $189 million in these reforms. And the states are stepping up as well. We've all got to step up: the Australian government, states and territories, the people that run these centres, too. This is a good example of Labor and Liberal governments working together. And can I thank the federal opposition as well for their support for these measures. What we agreed to on Friday aren't the only things that we need to do, but they are what we have to do if we're going to build back confidence in a system that mums and dads across the country have got to have confidence in. The truth is that this work will never end.”
“On Friday, education ministers met and agreed to establish a national educator register, national mandatory child safety training for all workers in our centres, a national trial of CCTV in up to 300 centres across the country, a ban on the use of personal mobile phones in centres, more information for parents on the conditions and the actions of regulators at the centres where their children go, and more inspections and more spot checks. Predators prey on vulnerable children, and they prey on vulnerable systems—and there are vulnerabilities in the system. These predators use phones as part of committing their crimes. That's why we have got to get them out of centres. They distract and they groom other staff members, and that's why staff training is important, to know what to look out for and what to do.”
“Can I thank my good friend the member for Bendigo for her question. When I last briefed the parliament on this we had just passed legislation to cut off funding to childcare centres that don't meet safety standards. I can advise the House that we have now used those powers. Thirty-seven centres have now been placed on notice. And there is more to come. I can also advise the House that we have taken the next steps that we need to take.”
“He asked APRA and ASIC to look at this, and in February this year we announced that they would update their guidance to banks to make it easier for Australians with a student debt to get a mortgage. That has now happened. That happened in June. Under these changes, I am advised that a dual-income couple with student debts could borrow up to $150,000 more for their first home when combined with the tax cuts and interest rate cuts that have happened over the last 12 months or so. HECS shouldn't be a handbrake on homeownership. That's why we're doing this. We're doing what we promised. We're cutting student debt and we're making it easier to buy a first home, with a five per cent deposit. The changes that we are making to the HECS repayment system and in the advice to banks are an important part of that.”
“But that legislation doesn't just cut their debt; it also cuts their repayments. That will make it easier to save for that five per cent deposit. For someone on an income of 70 grand, it will reduce the repayments that they have to make each year by about $1,300. That's a lot of money. It means more money in their pocket rather than in the government's. That is real help to save for that deposit. That was a recommendation from the universities accord. There's something else that we're doing here too. One of the other things that the universities accord pointed out was problems with the way banks look at HECS when they're assessing whether to give you a home loan or not, and it recommended changes here too. I want to pay tribute to the Treasurer for the work that he has done here.”
“I thank the member for Melbourne for her question. She gets this; she represents more young people with a student debt than anywhere else in the country. Young people don't always see something for them on the ballot paper come election, but they did this year, and they voted for it in their millions. They voted for cuts to student debt by 20 per cent and they voted for measures that we're taking to make it easier to buy a first home. One of those is what the Prime Minister and the Treasurer and the Minister for Housing just spoke about: being able to buy a home with as little as a five per cent deposit. We have now passed laws to cut student debt by 20 per cent, and that will help three million Australians—a lot of them young Australians just out of TAFE, just out of university, just out of home, just getting started.”
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill is part of a package of two bills which together will implement the National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence in universities. This bill makes consequential amendments necessary to implement the measures in the main bill, which I just introduced. Full details of the measures are contained in the explanatory memorandum, and I commend this bill to the House. Debate adjourned.”
“It's important to acknowledge them again here today: the universities accord panel; the working group; the expert reference group and education ministers across the country; my colleagues and our respective departments and officers, who worked well together to prepare this reform for the parliament; and most importantly then, and again now, the advocates and the victims-survivors who have fought for this for so long—people and organisations who worked so hard, who devoted their time and their passion to making a change for their fellow students, to make their lives safer. This work is not finished, but this is another big step forward. I commend this bill to the House. Debate adjourned.”
“They are concrete examples of this government's commitment to taking on this difficult issue, to listening to the experts and the advocates, and to our students, and to designing, introducing and implementing reform which will make a real difference to the lives of people on our university campuses. When I introduced this bill for the first time in the last parliament, I thanked the people who were involved in bringing it to the parliament.”
“The introduction of the code is part of the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education agreed to by all education ministers in February last year. That action plan was recommended by a working group of Commonwealth, state and territory governments which my department convened as part of our response to the Australian Universities Accord interim report . The universities accord underlined the importance of moving immediately to address sexual assault and sexual harassment in our universities, and that's what I have done. The National Student Ombudsman is now up and running, and these bills are the next steps.”
“As I mentioned earlier, vice-chancellors and CEOs will be directly accountable for the compliance of their university with the code, including requirements that they report every six months to their governing body. The bills provide for significant civil penalties where a provider fails to comply with the national code or a compliance notice from the secretary, or fails to keep records or meet their reporting obligations. Compliance with the national code will also become a quality and accountability requirement for providers under the Higher Education Support Act 2003. Transparency is important here too. That's why the bill provides for annual reporting on the gender-based violence branch's operations and performance, which will be tabled in both houses of parliament.”
“That's why these bills also establish a new regulatory framework with robust compliance monitoring backed by strong enforcement powers. To monitor and enforce the code, a new specialist gender-based-violence branch is being established within the Department of Education. The branch will provide guidance, education and advice to support universities and other providers in understanding their legal obligations under the code. The branch will also be able to exercise a significant range of powers to monitor, investigate and respond to noncompliance with the code and the measures in this bill. These powers will include issuing requests for information, compliance notices, infringement notices, and powers to require enforceable undertakings and to seek civil penalties and injunctions through a court.”
“Where the discloser or respondent is a student or a staff member of the university, the code will require that the university take action, including to provide trauma informed support and to investigate where necessary. The code was the subject of broad consultation between May 2024 and January 2025, including with victim-survivor advocates, students, the higher education sector, gender-based-violence experts, states and territories and relevant Australian government agencies. Detailed consultation has taken place through an expert reference group comprising 19 leaders from higher education, gender-based-violence services and the student accommodation sectors and victim-survivor advocates. The code contains critically important standards and requirements which all higher education providers must follow.”
“And for accommodation which is affiliated with a university but not controlled by it, the university will be required to seek that accommodation provider's agreement to meet the requirements of the code or lose the benefits of their affiliation with the university. And universities will have an obligation to investigate formal reports of gender based violence even where they occur at student accommodation which is operated by a third party. If you want to know why that's important, you just have to look at the accounts of sexual assault and mistreatment at university colleges and other on-campus accommodation. Universities will not have the option of saying a disclosure of gender based violence is a matter for a private college.”
“The code will also include an enforceable requirement that providers implement the relevant recommendations of the National Student Ombudsman. This gives the findings and recommendations of the ombudsman real teeth and will make sure that they are put in place to improve our universities and other providers. University is not just a place where people learn. For many students, it's where they live. That's why the code will also have specific requirements to help ensure that student accommodation is safe for students. The code will require that following a disclosure or formal report, measures are immediately put in place to prioritise residents' safety and arrange urgent support services.”
“The code will also ensure that when the worst happens, students and staff have access to the best response possible, a response that is trauma informed and puts people first—a response that ensures people are heard, have agency in what happens next, have access to the support they need and are supported by their institution to achieve their educational outcomes. Providers will be required to train staff and student leaders on how best to respond to disclosures. And non-disclosure agreements will be prohibited, unless requested by a victim-survivor. Providers will also be required to report de-identified data and measure the changes that their policies are securing, informing compliance, ensuring accountability and contributing to the national evidence base to help us build an understanding of what works best.”
“These standards will be backed by monitoring and enforcement to ensure that we build a culture of compliance in this critical area. Under the code, all higher education providers will be required to take evidence based steps to prevent gender based violence on their campuses. This includes requiring that vice-chancellors and CEOs make a whole-of-organisation plan, and report to their governing bodies every six months on the actions that they're taking to implement it. They'll be required to provide evidence-based prevention education and training to staff and students and consider any history of gender based violence in the recruitment and promotion of staff. They'll be required to consult with students, staff and people with lived experience, and their approach must be informed by evidence of what works.”
“Advocates called for this over many years to address a situation where one in 20 university students reported being sexually assaulted on campus, one in six reported being sexually harassed and one in two reported that they felt they weren't being heard when they made a complaint. The National Student Ombudsman is just the first step. This bill and its companion bill are the next steps. They provide for the establishment and enforcement of a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence. The code will be made by the minister as a legislative instrument and it will set out best-practice standards and requirements that all higher education providers will be required to meet. It will hold all higher education providers to consistently high standards to proactively prevent and respond to gender based violence.”