Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I will. What we have are obsequious, supine and absolutely craven groups of people who refuse to defend rural and regional students and who have allowed, as a result of the duplicity of this government, a process where $100,000 degrees will be imposed upon students in rural and regional areas, and where cuts of up to $5.8 billion will be imposed upon universities and university students.

We know the great tradition of this country is a commitment to a fair go and the idea that if you are bright enough and you work hard, then you can get a quality education. But under this government rural and regional students in particular will be denied that opportunity. And the cowardly behaviour of the National Party, the unbelievably supine attitude of the National Party, highlights the point that regional and rural students in this country will be seriously undermined in their capacity to enjoy the great Australian gift of a fair go. So $100,000 degrees will be common; crippling debts will be the order of the day. There is a $5.8 billion cut to the university system, in complete contrast to what the Prime Minister said before the last election.

There is a real issue of trust here. We cannot trust the National Party to defend the interests of rural and regional students. We cannot possibly imagine the circumstances under this current regime where the National Party will stand up to ensure that courses will not be closed in rural areas, that campuses will not be closed. In fact, I would suggest to you there may well be universities themselves that will face acute pressure and may well be faced with crippling circumstances. We have already seen the Auditor-General in Victoria pointing out the consequences of the failed policies we have seen in that state, where budget cuts have led to the extraordinary destruction of public education through the TAFE system. We know the circumstances here: a government that went to the election making clear, unequivocal promises that there would be no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no cuts to the ABC then brought in one of the most draconian budgets this country has ever seen.

We know these are the circumstances. We know that in the industry department similar sets of actions have followed whereby the government has sought to undermine jobs by destroying the automotive industry. It now seeks to take $900 million out of the Automotive Transformation Scheme. We see in a state like Victoria that up to 90,000 jobs are at risk as a result of a government that has been founded on lies. This is a government that has found itself caught out for the lies that it has told, the deceptions that it has sought to prosecute. This is a government that has lost the trust of the Australian people, and I trust on Saturday its relatives in Victoria will lose the trust of the Victorian people. We will see the debate in this country emerge about what are the prospects of government change because this is the real issue here: if you defy people's trust, it is inevitable that as the political cycle improves or in fact speeds up, then there are circumstances where governments may well be only around for one term. This is a government led by 'oncers'. This is a government that has lost the confidence of the people of this country because it has told so many lies about what it was going to do when it got into office. It has betrayed the Australian people's trust by cutting the budget, doing enormous damage to the economy— (Time expired)

Debate interrupted.