29th Nov 2022, 4:44 PM – Representatives Higher Education Support Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022 - Consideration in Detail - Review of Schedule 2

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with an amendment introduced by Aston MP Alan Tudge (Liberal), which means it failed.

What did this amendment do?

Mr Tudge explained that:

What this amendment does is actually call on a couple of things. Most importantly, it calls for a review to occur after two years. A period of two years is important because it gives enough time to see what the behavioural change will be from the operation of this bill in relation to the doctors and nurse practitioners. Secondly, it asks for the review team to specifically examine whether or not the measures which are proposed for doctors and nurse practitioners should apply to other professions where there are shortages in regional and remote areas. In particular, the amendment calls for an examination of other health measures—mental health in particular—and the education sector. But there may be other professions where there are shortages. In a couple of years time those shortages could be different ones, and we may want to consider providing the same HECS discounts for those professions.

Amendment text

(1) Page 2 (after line 11), after clause 3, insert:

4 Review of Schedule 2 to this Act

(1) The Minister must cause an independent review to be conducted of the operation of the amendments made by Schedule 2 to this Act, with the purpose of assessing the expansion of the policy of waiving HELP debt to additional professions of high skills need in rural and remote Australia.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the review must consider, and make recommendations to the Commonwealth Government about, the expansion of the policy implemented by the amendments to other sectors in rural and remote Australia, including the health, mental health and education sectors.

(3) The review should consult widely with rural and remote communities and their health, mental health and education service providers and specifically, the following must be consulted as part of the review:

(a) the National Rural Health Commissioner;

(b) the Regional Education Commissioner.

Timing of review

(4) The review must start as soon as practicable after the end of the period of 2 years after the commencement of this Act.

Review report

(5) The persons who conduct the review must give the Minister a written report of the review within 3 months of the commencement of the review.

(6) The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the report is given to the Minister.

Government response to recommendations

(7) As soon as practicable, and in any event within 3 months, after the report is first tabled in a House of the Parliament, the Minister must cause:

(a) a statement, setting out the Commonwealth Government's response to each recommendation included in the report, to be prepared; and

(b) the statement to be published on the Department's website.