Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

'Hear, hear!' the poor old hapless member for Moreton calls out—the exact same policy that Labor themselves abolished in 2011-12, with the then Minister for Higher Education, Chris Evans, saying that students are predominantly motivated not by price but by their interests, abilities and career preferences. He was exactly right. Labor abolished the exact same policy that the Leader of the Opposition wants to bring back, because it was not working but was costing a tremendous amount of money. The policy was so badly handled in the Leader of the Opposition's address in reply about the budget that on the night of the budget response he said it would cost $353 million and by the next morning it was $45 million. So, on May 15 it was $353 million, the next morning it was $45 million and by the afternoon it was $1.4 billion. He had more numbers than the Eurovision Song Contest! I could just imagine Bill there with a microphone falling down from the ceiling and a long cord, singing a few numbers about his mathematical prowess—353 million, 45 million and 1.4 billion, in the space of less than 24 hours. No wonder focus groups say this man has no substance. When the government had the policy costed, it was $2.25 billion. The Leader of the Opposition has no credibility when it comes to education policy. Is it any wonder the public are not taking this man seriously?

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