Education Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025

Ms BRISKEY (Maribyrnong) (16:35): by leave—Once again, Labor has introduced a bill to reform our education system. The Education Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025 is an important bill, one that strengthens integrity across our education system, opens new pathways for First Nations students into medicine, safeguards the reputation of Australia's international education sector and makes our early childhood education and care system more transparent and accountable for families.

It's a bill that reflects what the Albanese Labor government stands for—integrity, fairness and opportunity—and it's a bill that delivers for working people and their kids. One of the most significant changes in this bill is the expansion of the demand driven Commonwealth supported places for First Nations students studying medicine. This builds on the work we began in 2024 to uncap university places for all First Nations students.

From 2026, universities will be able to enrol more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in medical degrees where they meet entry requirements, creating new opportunities, new careers and new leaders in our health system. This is reform grounded in fairness and evidence, but we know that only around 0.6 per cent of Australia's doctors identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, even though First Nations people make up 3.8 per cent of our population.

If we look beyond the statistics, this is a story about barriers and disadvantage and the missed potential of generations of First Nations Australians. We also know this: when First Nations people are trained and supported to become doctors, nurses and health professionals, the outcomes for patients and communities are better. First Nations health professionals deliver culturally safe care.

They understand their communities. They build trust, and they help bridge the gap between systems and the people those systems are meant to serve. I don't need to stand in this place and tell people how the previous coalition government failed to adequately support First Nations Australians.

It's been their policy platform for decades across all policy areas. They have let the extremes of their parties hold First Nations people back. In education and health, they left barriers in place, leaving communities without the doctors they desperately needed, but this government is stepping in to fix that, unblocking opportunities and delivering real outcomes for First Nations students and communities.

This bill will help more First Nations medical students walk through the doors of our universities, complete their studies and return to serve their communities, including in regional, rural and remote Australia, where the need for doctors is at its greatest. It's about improving health outcomes, yes, but it's also about justice. It's about equity, and it's about ensuring that our medical workforce reflects the diversity and strength of our nation.

The second major pillar of this bill strengthens the integrity and quality of Australia's international education sector. International education is one of our country's greatest success stories. It is our fourth-largest export.

In Victoria, my home state, it is the largest export. It supports more than a quarter of a million jobs nationally, and it builds lifelong connections between Australia and the rest of the world. And just as important as the dollars and cents are the values we bring to that system: integrity, fairness and quality.

Over the last few years, we've seen parts of the sector compromised by unscrupulous providers and education agents who see international students not as learners but as a source of profit. The Nixon review, the review of the migration system and the work of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade all made clear that these integrity issues have to be addressed, and that's what this bill is doing.

It introduces strong protections to stop exploitation, limit collusive behaviour between providers and agents, and improve transparency. It will ensure that providers must deliver a course to domestic students for at least two years before they can apply to deliver that course to overseas students, giving regulators confidence that quality and compliance are in place.

It tightens the fit-and-proper provider test, giving the government more power to stop bad actors from operating. It gives the Department of Education new powers to collect and share information about agent commissions, shining a light on the practices that too often have been hidden from scrutiny. And it allows the minister to step in where there are systematic issues or risks to Australia's reputation, suspending or cancelling the ability of providers to operate when it's in the public interest to do so.

These are practical, targeted reforms that protect students and restore integrity to a sector that millions of people rely on. Let's be clear. These changes are not about punishing good providers.

Australia's universities and reputable education providers have nothing to fear from stronger integrity measures. These reforms are about ensuring that everyone who wears the Australian education brand does so with integrity and quality at their core. We want students to come here and then go home knowing that an Australian qualification stands for something real.

That's why it is so disappointing that the opposition blocked similar reforms last year. The Liberals sided with the dodgy providers and shonky education agents—the very actors who've been exploiting students and damaging Australia's reputation. This isn't a surprise, but it is nevertheless disappointing.

This government won't stand by and let that happen. We are cleaning up the sector, restoring confidence and protecting students and workers who make it great. The bill also strengthens the regulation of Australian higher education delivered offshore through amendments to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011.

Australian universities are increasingly teaching students around the world. That's something we should be proud of. It speaks to the global reputation of our institutions and the quality of Australian teaching.

But as the footprint grows, especially in Victoria, we have a responsibility to make sure that offshore education lives up to the same high standards we expect here at home. Under this bill, any provider delivering Australian higher education overseas will need to obtain authorisation from TEQSA, report on their offshore operations and maintain transparency through annual reporting.

That means Australia can be confident that every student studying an Australian qualification—whether in Melbourne or Mumbai or Ho Chi Minh—receives the quality of education our reputation is built on. The fourth part of this bill focuses on early education and care, an area that is deeply personal to me and one that sits at the heart of fairness and opportunity.

Before coming into this place, I spent years working with the United Workers Union alongside incredible early childhood educators who care for and teach our youngest citizens. I've seen firsthand the passion, the professionalism and the pride that these educators bring to their work. I've also seen the challenges they face in a system that too often undervalues their contribution with a focus on profits.

This bill introduces amendments to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to support the integrity and transparency of the childcare subsidy—one of the most important supports for working families in this country. These amendments will broaden the scope and use of protection information, promoting transparency while safeguarding privacy; improve public access to information about early learning providers, helping parents to make more informed choices; strengthen data collection through the Early Education Service Delivery Price project, ensuring that government decisions about funding and affordability are based on robust real-world data; and fix technical inconsistencies in the legislation that have created ambiguity in how childcare debts and subsidy reviews are handled.

Together these reforms will give families greater confidence, improve accountability and help ensure public funding is delivering value where it matters most, for children and their educators. They build on the legislation this parliament passed in July to expand the Commonwealth's power to publish information about providers that are sanctioned for noncompliance, because transparency drives trust and trust drives quality.

This stands in contrast to those opposite, who failed working families and early childhood educators for years. They ignored chronic underfunding, undervalued educators and left parents with rising fees and little support, because for them it was always about money. It's always about profit, no matter how many people it leaves behind.

Thankfully advocacy groups and unions like the United Workers Union have fought tirelessly to raise standards in the sector, and this government is not just listening; we're acting. We are strengthening transparency, fairness and the quality of care for children right across Australia. In Maribyrnong and across Australia, these changes will mean parents can more easily find and compare information about early learning centres and know that the services caring for the children are meeting high standards.

My community knows all too well what happens when standards slip. We witnessed the horror firsthand earlier this year in early education. Those standards must never be compromised.

For educators, it means a system that better values their work and ensures that the public and policymakers alike have the information they need to keep improving the sector. For families, it helps to give confidence. When parents drop their kids off at early learning, they deserve to know that their children are safe, supported and getting the best start in life.

We know there's still much work to do. Every measure in this bill reflects Labor's values: integrity, transparency, equity and opportunity. We're making our education system fair, high quality and focused on the public good.

We're opening new pathways for First Nations students to study medicine and care for their communities; we're strengthening international education to protect students and our economy; and we're improving accountability in early childhood education, delivering for working families and educators. That's why those of us on this side of the House are here—to take on the tough issues, to make evidence based reforms and to deliver real outcomes for working people and their families.

In my community, people don't just expect quality education; they demand it, because it's deeply woven into Victoria's identity. From pioneering free, secular public education to leading on free kinder and free TAFE, Victorians have always believed learning should be open to everyone. This bill delivers confidence for families in their children's care and learning, new opportunities for First Nations students, stronger protections for international students and greater integrity across the whole system.

That's the Labor difference—fair, practical, people focused reform. We don't just talk about fairness; we deliver it. We don't just value education; we strengthen it.

We don't just promise opportunity; we make it real. I commend the bill to the House.