Education Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025

Mr CLARE (Blaxland—Minister for Education) (17:16): I thank all members for their contributions to the debate. In particular, I thank the Assistant Minister for International Education for the very good work that he is doing in his portfolio. This bill makes a number of changes to improve the integrity, to improve the access and to improve the information that we collect about the education system.

It strengthens the integrity of the international education sector, making it harder for bad operators to enter or remain in the sector, while also supporting the majority of providers, who, as the assistant minister just pointed out, do the right thing. These changes safeguard our reputation as a world leader in education, both here and overseas. The bill also expands access for Indigenous students to study medicine by uncapping the number of Commonwealth supported places in medical courses.

The universities accord recommended that we do this to help increase the number of Indigenous Australians in our health workforce. We promised to do this in the election earlier this year, and this bill delivers on that promise. This bill also strengthens integrity and transparency in early childhood education and care.

We are committed to building a universal early childhood education and care system that is safe and affordable for every family. We need to better understand the cost of delivering early education and care, and the changes in this bill will help us to do that. These are all important and necessary reforms.

I commend the bill to the House. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced. Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.