Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sterle for his question. The Gillard Labor government has made education and skilling of our workforce its major priority since coming to government. We have invested in education and skills right across the board, from early learning right through to postgraduate study. What that is about is making sure that every person in Australia has the chance to maximise their potential and maximise their attributes to be able to get a quality education that allows them to fulfil those talents, but also to contribute to the economy by maximising their capacity to contribute to the nation. We know that those people with higher levels of skills and education have higher incomes, better health and better life outcomes more generally. This government is investing in tertiary education and skills right across the country.

There are some who would want to argue that our expansion of access to higher education is somehow lowering quality when, in fact, what we are doing is increasing access. What we are seeing in regions of Australia where young people never got the chance to go to university is that those with the capability have been allowed access. They are getting support and regional institutions are being supported to allow young people who have been discriminated against for many years because of where they live, to have access to higher education. There are 16,000 more students in regional tertiary education as a result of this government. We have also seen a 56 per cent increase in funding under this government for those regional institutions. This week I announced further investment in four regional universities to make sure that young people from across the country are getting the opportunity to gain higher skills and higher education. (Time expired)