Month: March 2025

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

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I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting today, and I pay my respects to elders, past and present.

I would also like to acknowledge: 

• Vice Chancellor Sharon Pickering
• Associate Professor David Slucki
• Dr Susan Carland 
• Hugh de Krestser, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
• Mr Aftab Malik, Special Envoy to Combat Islamophonia
• My friends and colleagues, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Josh Burns 

For a lot of Australians, October 7 and everything that’s happened since in Gaza and now in Lebanon feels like a world away.

But for some Australians, it’s close to home.

It feels different because it is different. 

The people we see suffering on our television or on social media aren’t strangers to them. They know them. Or they know someone who knows them.

All of that pain and helplessness manifests itself in different ways.

I see it in my local community in Western Sydney and we’ve seen it here at Monash and at other universities across the country.

Today, I thought I would tell you a story about how it’s affected one particular friend of mine. A Jewish friend.

In the days after October 7, he rang me and told me how he felt afraid to send his son to school. 

A few months later, he rang me again.

This time he wanted me to know that before October 7 that his son’s best friend was a boy called Mohammed, and that he is still his best friend today. 

He told me every week during soccer season he drops his son over at Mohammed’s house, and they go to training together. 

And he also wanted me to know that next year, his son will celebrate his bar mitzvah, and Mohammed will be there too.

There’s a lesson here in this, I think, for all of us.

A lesson about the sort of country we really are. 

About what we are like at our best.

When you take the politics out of it. 

People living and working and studying and playing soccer together.

And that’s what the work that David and Susan are about to kick off is all about too – without the soccer bit.

It’s such important work.

At its core, it’s about something really simple, and that’s respect. About all of us being a little bit more like these two little boys.

And being big enough to admit it.

And see how we can do things better. 

I want to thank Susan and David for your courage and your ambition in embarking on this work. 

I know it isn’t easy. It’s a lot easier to say no at the moment than it is to say yes.

And I want to thank you, Sharon, for funding this work. Without hesitation. 

That is real leadership. 

And what comes out of this research won’t just make Monash a better and a safer and a more welcoming place. 

It will also help inform the work the Race Discrimination Commissioner is doing about racism in all its forms on every campus across the country. 

That will help make every campus a better, safer and more welcoming place. 

That’s how significant this work is, and that is why I wanted to be here today.

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

I start by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. 

[Acknowledgements omitted]

Two and half years ago when I got this job, I said I didn’t want to be the type of Minister that just signed letters.

I wanted to reform the system. 

To make it better and fairer.

I suspect now you can see I meant it. 

And I hope you can see the reason why in the Universities Accord. 

What it tells us is that by the middle of this century we are going to need a workforce where 80 per cent of people have a university degree or a TAFE qualification.

That’s up from about 60 per cent today. 

That’s a big shift. A big change.

Some of this will happen organically. 

Think about it. The fastest growing professions all require some sort of tertiary qualification.

But some of it will require us to change what we do and how we do it.

The key message in the Accord is that we are not going to hit that 80 per cent target unless we break that invisible barrier that stops a lot of young people from walking through your door. 

Overwhelmingly, the young people they are talking about are from poor families, from the outer suburbs of our big cities and from our regions.

Breaking down that barrier means reforming our entire education system.

Here’s the nub of it.

At a time when we need more people to go to TAFE and university, the number of people finishing school at the moment is going backwards.

From 85 per cent 8 years ago to 79 per cent today.

That drop isn’t happening everywhere. 

In non-government schools it’s either pretty flat or going up. 

It’s happening in our public schools. It’s dropped from 83 per cent to 73 per cent in just eight years.

And in particular its kids from poor families.

If we are going to hit that 80 per cent target we have got to turn this around.

And that doesn’t start in high school either.

The same young people you don’t see walking through your doors, the same young people who don’t finish high school are the same people who fall behind when they are little.

They are also the same people who are more likely to start behind, to have never been to early education and care.

Can you see the common thread?

Fixing this isn’t easy or quick.

It is going to talk a lot of work and it is going to take time.

But the first parts of that are in the Parliament right now.

In the next two weeks six pieces of education legislation will be voted on by the Senate. 

The first is a 15 per cent pay rise for early educators right across the country.

Some of the most important workers in the country and some of the most underpaid.  

If we are going to build the sort of early education system that we need, that Danielle’s team have plotted out for us in their recent report, we need to build the workforce first. 

And that’s what this is about. 

The second bill is to increase funding for our public schools – to help complete the work that David Gonski started more than a decade ago. 

Fully funding all public schools and tying that funding to reforms to turn around that drop in high school completion rates. 

The third bill is another piece of unfinished business. 

It extends the system of USIs, or unique student identifiers, that every university student and every TAFE student has to every school student.

We have been talking about this for 15 years – and now it is finally happening.

The fourth bill implements the change we are making to international education. 

It makes important changes to fix integrity issues in the system and introduces limits, or caps, on the number of international students. 

For VET providers, it will mean they will be able to enrol about 30 per cent fewer students next year than they did last year.

For universities it’s different. It will mean they will be able to enrol roughly the same number of students next year that they did last year.

The difference is it won’t just the big metro universities that benefit. 

And when it passes, Ministerial Direction 107 will go.

I know how important international education is. 

It doesn’t just make money. It makes us friends.

But we have got to get the balance right here.

And we have also got to remember what the primary and most important job our universities do is.

And that brings me to the fifth bill. 

This is the bill that implements the first stage of the Universities Accord.

It includes almost half a billion dollar investment in paid prac.

The first time the Commonwealth has ever done this.

That’s financial support for teaching students, for nursing students, for midwifery students and for social work students, to help support them while they do the practical part of their degree.

A lot of students tell me that when they do their prac they have to give up their part-time job, or they’ve got to move away from home or work fewer hours. 

Sometimes it can mean they have to delay doing their degree or not finish it at all.

This will give people who have signed up to do some of the most important jobs in this country a bit of extra help to get the qualifications they need. And we need.

Just to give you one example of what this will mean, earlier this year I met a midwifery student at UTS who told me this:

“I’m a first-year mature-age midwifery student. This payment is going to be absolutely life-changing for me. As a mother of two small children, I’m often balancing between practical work, placement and looking after my babies. 

“There are literally some days where I’m doing 16 hour days between my study and my work and looking after my children. 

“I cannot wait for this payment to be available for myself and other future mature-age students who might also want to enrol in this course who previously couldn’t financially afford it.”

That’s what this reform is all about.

This is also the bill that will massively expand the number of free enabling courses.

You know what I’m talking about.

These are those free courses that are effectively a bridge between school and university. 

A lot of unis already offer these courses.

Not many do it better than Newcastle University. They have been doing it now for 50 years. 

One in five people who get a degree from Newcastle University today, start with one of these free courses.

People like Jennifer Baker.

Jennifer was a mum at 19. She worked in hospitality for 10 years. One day she saw an ad for one of these free courses in the local paper. 

Now she’s got a science degree. An Honours degree. A PhD. And a Fulbright Scholarship. 

She’s a computational medicinal chemist.

That’s what these courses do.

And what this bill does is effectively uncap funding for those courses, right across the country.

We’ve committed an additional $350 million over four years to significantly expand these courses. 

It’s an ongoing funding commitment. 

Universities currently receive as little as $1,286 per place to run these courses.

These changes ensure that universities will receive $18,278 per place next year, which will be tied to CPI increases each year. 

It provides funding certainty for universities. 

It deals with the disincentives baked into the current system. 

And most importantly, it ensures that these courses remain free. 

It will help more Australians to get a crack at university and succeed when they get there. 

The Department of Education estimates that this will increase the number of people doing these free courses by about 40 per cent by the end of this decade and double that number in the decade after that.

This is also the bill that fixes how HECS debts are indexed. 

It fixes what happened last year when inflation spiked and indexation went through the roof, and makes sure it never happens again.

To do this, it caps indexation at either inflation or wage growth, whatever is the lowest.

And it backdates this to June last year. 

That on its own will wipe $3 billion in student debt for more than 3 million people.

But it is just the first step in making HECS fairer. 

As you know, a bit over a week ago, the Prime Minister announced that if we win the next election, the first piece of legislation we introduce will cut all student debts by a further 20 per cent. 

For someone with an average student debt of around $27,000 the legislation in the Parliament at the moment will wipe about $1,200 off their debt. This will wipe a further $5,500 off it. 

That’s real help for a lot of young Australians, just out of uni or just out of TAFE, just moved out of home, just getting started.

And we will also make another change, to make it easier to pay off your student debt.

We will increase the salary you have to earn before you have to start paying it off from $54,000 to $67,000. 

And will reduce your annual minimum repayments.

For someone on about $70,000, for example, this will mean you have to repay more than $1,000 less a year.

It’s another recommendation of the Universities Accord. In fact it’s a recommendation from the architect of HECS, Professor Bruce Chapman. 

The fact is university is more expensive today than it was when most of us were uni students. 

When HECS was first created students paid an average of about 24 per cent of the cost of degree. 

This increased to about 36 per cent in the late 1990s. 

And now, because of the changes the previous government made, it’s about 45 per cent. 

Cutting student debt by 20 per cent fixes that for a generation of Australians. 

But there is more to do. 

That includes changing the way we fund universities. 

Part of that is uncapping the number of places at university for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who get the marks for the course they want to do. 

Part of that is a new needs-based funding system, so these same students get the extra academic and wraparound support that they need to succeed when they get there. 

And part of that is a new Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

A steward. To drive reform over the long term. 

And I hope to provide you with more detail on all of that before the end of the year.

Finally, the sixth bill that I want the Senate to pass in the next two weeks creates a National Student Ombudsman. 

When I was at this conference last year, I talked about the scourge of sexual violence in our universities and I said that change is coming.

And change is coming. 

What we are establishing is a dedicated, national body to handle student complaints within our higher education system.

Equipped with the power:

• To investigate complaints;
• To bring parties together to resolve issues, including offering restorative engagement processes and alternative dispute resolution where appropriate;
• To make findings and recommendations on what actions universities should take; and
• To monitor the implementation of those recommendations.

It will also have the sort of investigative powers a Royal Commission has. That includes the power to:

• To require a person or university to provide information, documents or other records relevant to an investigation;
• To enter premise of a university as part of an investigation; and
• To require a person to attend and answer questions before the Ombudsman.

Recent events at St Paul’s College in Sydney remind us of how important this work is. 

This is another recommendation of the Universities Accord.

And it’s not just about sexual violence. 

It will be able to investigate everything from complaints about homophobia to antisemitism to Islamophobia to any other form of racism or discrimination.  

This will complement the work of TEQSA.

A couple of weeks ago I was with Dr Russell and the team at TEQSA for a meeting they organised with all Vice Chancellors as well as the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and the Race Discrimination Commissioner.

It was focussed on lessons learned from the last few months, sharing best practice and the work we need to do together to ensure students and staff are safe and feel safe on campus.  

As part of this, TEQSA is currently developing ‘Sector Guidance’ and a ‘Statement of Regulatory Expectations’ for Australian higher education providers.

To help manage contested issues, protests, and improve complaints and grievance services.

Can I thank Dr Russell and the whole team for all the work you are doing here.

Can I also thank you and the whole team for bringing us together yesterday and today. 

To grapple with everything from good governance to generative AI. 

And to talk about what’s next. 

That’s what our universities are all about. 

What’s next. 

What this conference calls “Navigating Tomorrow”. 

I have talked a bit about that today. 

But it is really just the start. 

There is a lot to navigate. 

And a lot to do. 

To make our education system better and fairer. 

And if we get this right. Make the country we love better and fairer too. 

It’s what makes this job so important and such a privilege. 

One I will never take for granted. 

Thank you so much for inviting me to talk to you today.

Source: Murray Darling Basin Authority

Good morning.

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting and pay my respects to elders past and present.

I also acknowledge:

•    Professor Stephen Fogarty, President of Alphacrucis University College 
•    Rev Assoc Prof David Perry, Chair, Independent Higher Education Australia (IHEA) 
•    Shiekh Shadi Alsuleiman, Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) 
•    Associate Professor Gil Davis from the Australian Catholic University
•    Senator Dave Sharma 
•    Mr Peter McKeon, Chair, Australian Christian Higher Education Alliance 
•    Ms Margery Evans, Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW) 
•    Mr Graham Catt, Independent Schools Australia 
•    Mr Sai Paravastu, Hindu Council of Australia 
•    Mr Dallas McInerney, Catholic Schools, NSW 
•    Mr Ian Liney, Christian Schools Australia 
•    Mrs Vanessa Cheng, Australian Association of Christian Schools

And can I thank the team at Alphacrucis for bringing us all together.

At times like this, that’s really important.  

We are the best country in the world.

I really believe that.

And a big part of that, I think, is because we are made up of people from all around the world, all different backgrounds, all different faiths.

Living in harmony.

That makes us different to most other countries.

It sends a message to the rest of the world about what is possible.

We haven’t always been like this.

If we jumped in a time machine and went back to when I was born in the early 70s we would barely recognise the Australia we found.

The White Australia Policy still hadn’t been completely dismantled.

Only about 1 per cent of Australians came from somewhere other than Europe.

Today more than 4 million Australians were born in Asia – or their parents were.

The number of Indian Australians has doubled in just the last decade.

After Christianity, the next biggest faith practiced by Australians is Islam.

The fastest growing religion is Hinduism.

We are a different country.

Education has also made us a different country to the one I was born in.

In 1972 only 18 per cent of Australians finished school. Today’s it’s about 80 per cent.

Back then less than 10 per cent of young Australians had a uni degree. Now it’s almost one in two.

That’s nation changing stuff.

And the truth is religious institutions have done a big chunk of that work.  

Professor Paul Oslington from Alphacrucis College has made the point that faith-based education was here before our first public universities.

St James College on King Street was teaching children and adults before the first brick was laid at the University of Sydney.

Across the country now there are almost 3,000 Catholic, Anglican, Islamic, Jewish and other religious schools.

That change that I talked about, that’s happened in the last 50 years hasn’t stopped. We are still changing.

And if we get into a time machine and take it to 2050 it will look a lot different again.

This is why the Universities Accord is important.

To help us get ready for that future.

What it says is that by 2050 we are going to need a workforce where 80 per cent haven’t just finished high school, we are going to need a workforce where 80 per cent have finished school and they have gone to TAFE or university as well.

That’s a big shift.

Some of that will happen organically.

Just because the fastest growing jobs are in professions that require a uni degree or a TAFE qualification.

But some of it will require reform.

Reform to our education system.

To help us get there.

I said a moment ago about one in two young Australians have a university degree today.

But it’s not one in two everywhere.

But it’s not one in two in our outer suburbs. It’s not one in two in the regions or the bush.

And if we are going to hit that 80 per cent target, we have got to change that.

That’s what the Accord says. And that’s what the reforms I am implementing are all about.

Things like:

•    Wiping $3 billion of HECS debt for more than 3 million Australians. 
•    Paid prac – financial support for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students while they do their prac.
•    Massively expanding fee-free uni ready courses – those courses that act as a bridge between school and uni.

All of that is in the Parliament right now.

It’s just the start.

The Accord also recommends a new funding system, needs-based funding and a new Australian Tertiary Education Commission to steer reform over multiple governments.

And I hope to provide you with more detail on all of that before the end of the year.

There is also another Bill in the Parliament.

That’s the one that sets up a National Student Ombudsman.

An independent body to investigate and resolve disputes and give students a stronger voice when the worst happens.

It will also have strong investigative powers, similar to those of a Royal Commission.

It is a long overdue response to the appalling evidence of sexual violence and harassment on campuses and in student accommodation.

But it’s not just about that. Its scope will be broad.

That includes complaints about antisemitism and Islamophobia or any type of racism or discrimination.

The bottom line is I want students to be safe and feel safe and if something really bad happens they have a place to go to get action.

Something else I want to talk about today is this.

Institutions here in this room help train teachers, nurses, counsellors, lawyers, care workers.

And you also train pastors and priests and ministers. But we don’t train Rabbis or Imams in Australia. Not yet.

I’ve spoken a number of times to leaders in the Jewish community and Islamic community and others, like Murray Norman, CEO of Better Balanced Futures, about this.

I think it’s in our interest as a country to change this.

For Australian religious leaders to be able to get the training and qualifications they need here in Australia.

Without having to go overseas.

I also want to talk to you today about our schools.

We have got big challenges here too.

Think about this.

Over the last eight years the percentage of students finishing high school has gone down not up.

From 85 percent to 79 percent.

That drop isn’t happening everywhere.

In non-government schools the percentage of students finishing school is either pretty flat or going up.

Where the drop is happening is in our public schools. From 83 percent to 73 percent.

This is what we have to turn around.

This is what the reforms I am trying to implement with the States are all about.

Our non-government schools are fully funded or on a path to be fully funded.

Our public schools aren’t.

We need to fix funding and tie that funding to the reforms that are going to help students catch up, keep up and finish high school.

This not about breaking Gonski. It is about finishing it.

That’s good for the whole schooling system.

You know I am a product of public education. And proud of it.

But I hope you also know that I value what you do too.

You will never see me attacking faith-based education.

You are an integral part of our education system.

One last thing.

The reforms I am driving aren’t just in our universities or schools.

If we are serious, we have to go back further than that.

I am talking about early education.  

The child care debate is over. It’s not babysitting. It’s early education.

The first five years of a child’s life are everything.

Everything they see, everything they hear, everything they eat, every book they open, every lesson they learn shapes the person that they become.

The Government is now considering the Productivity Commission’s final report on the future of early education.

It tells us it’s children from poor families who are the least likely to go to early childhood education and care, and the most likely to benefit from it.

It will help us to build a more accessible and affordable early education and care system, which gives children the skills they need to start school ready to learn.

All these reforms will help us to continue to write the story of Western Sydney.

A story of change. A story of progress. A story of aspiration.

A story made possible by the power of education.

A story that you are helping to write every day. Thank you for what you do and thank you for being here today.

Source: Australia’s climate in 2024: 2nd warmest and 8th wettest year on record

I am pleased to announce the 22 recipients of the Australia-Japan Foundation (AJF) grant round for 2024-25.

The AJF advances Australia’s foreign and trade policy interests with Japan by supporting partnerships in areas of shared interest and increasing Australian engagement with Japan.

The grant recipients in 2024-25 include:

• The Australian Antarctic Program Partnership at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, to develop new pathways for Japanese and Australian scientific collaborations in Antarctic and Southern science.
• An Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) workshop to convene leading Pacific experts from Australia, Japan and the Pacific, focusing on improving Pacific resilience to new security challenges.
• The University of Queensland’s initiative to advance higher education on sustainable construction in Australia and Japan through teaching workshops, a public guest lecture series, and a presentation at Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai.
• A Drift Consulting project to bring together Australian and Japanese experts to exchange knowledge and progress the use of Australian seaweed in livestock feed to reduce emissions.

A full list of successful grant recipients is available on the AJF website.

Source: Australia’s climate in 2024: 2nd warmest and 8th wettest year on record

Today I announce the appointment of Dr Scott Watkins as Chair of the Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF), as well as new board members to support the Foundation’s work.

The AKF works to strengthen economic, strategic and personal links between Australia and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Dr Watkins has been a Board Member since 2022 and is active in forging networks between Australian and South Korean youth. He is the Chief Sustainability Officer at KISCO, a South Korean chemicals and inks manufacturer, and previously worked for CSIRO.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of three new board members who each bring extensive experience to support the objectives of the AKF:

• Professor Gordon Flake, founding CEO of the Perth USAsia Centre
• Ms Julianne Lee, Vice President of Voice of Korean Australian Businesses and Director a Rosecello Pty Ltd
• Mr Sung Ho Lee, Partner at Johnson Partners.

I have reappointed Ms Robyn Bryant, from Bryant Family Grazing in Southern Queensland, for a second three-year term from March 2025.

I greatly appreciate the efforts of outgoing Chair Peter Coleman and Board Member Ms Karen Halbert for their substantial contribution the Australia-ROK relationship and thank them for their work supporting the AKF.

Today I am also delighted to announce that grants have been awarded to 22 recipients in the 2024-25 AKF Grant Round. These are listed on the AKF website and include:

• The Australia-Korea Academic Maritime Security Dialogue in South Korea, convened by La Trobe University and the University of Western Australia, to promote discussions on maritime-related issues in our region.
• An Australia-Korea Business Council initiative to connect female leaders in Australia and South Korea through networking and panel discussions, to promote leadership skills, cross-cultural exchanges and mentorships.
• Supporting 10 Australian scientists to attend the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists’ Young Scientist Program in South Korea, to enhance bilateral scientific ties.

Applications are now open for the 2025-26 Grant Round. For more information visit the Australia-Korea Foundation.

Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry

The Albanese Government will work with states, territories, businesses and unions to design a national licensing scheme for electrical trades people.

We’re cutting red tape to save tradies time and money.

This reform is good for workers, good for businesses and will make our economy more productive and competitive.

It will help housing affordability by easing workforce shortages that are holding back construction of more homes.

The 2025–26 Budget will enable the design and implementation of the national licensing scheme through the National Competition Policy (NCP) framework.

The Government has committed $900 million to the National Productivity Fund to drive NCP reforms.

National licensing will enable people in electrical trades to work seamlessly across state and territory borders without reapplying for a separate licence or paying additional fees.

By removing unnecessary barriers, this scheme will encourage highly skilled electrical workers to go where they are needed most in the industry, like in housing construction and clean energy.

As this scheme relates to high‑risk occupations, it will address the need for high standards, while cutting red tape, delays and multiple fees for trades people.

Of all the construction trades, more workers are employed in electrical services than any other, accounting for around one in seven workers in construction.

Productivity Commission modelling shows that reforming occupational licensing across a range of industries could provide significant benefits, including a boost to economic output of up to $10.3 billion.

The Albanese Government has a big and broad economic agenda aimed at boosting productivity because we recognise this is the key to growing our economy and further lifting living standards.

The Liberals oversaw the slowest decade of productivity growth in 60 years and we’re working hard to turn that around.

The Liberals abandoned a national license scheme agreed with states and territories at their first Council of Australian Governments meeting under then Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2013.

National licensing will complement reforms previously agreed under NCP, including the development of a national screening check for workers in the care sector, streamlining commercial zoning and planning, and removing barriers that inhibit the take‑up of modern construction methods.

The Albanese Government’s five pillar productivity agenda is focused on creating a more dynamic economy, building a skilled workforce, harnessing data and digital, investing in net zero and delivering quality care more efficiently.

We’ll make our economy more productive by investing in the jobs and industries of the future and by backing our people, not by making Australians work longer for less.

Our fourth budget is all about helping with the cost of living, paying down Liberal debt and building a stronger economy.

We’ll continue to do what we can to make our economy more productive and competitive and ease the burden on tradies and small businesses.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services