Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst the opposition of course are catcalling, this is part of their historic trend of denigrating all things to do with universities. The Leader of the Opposition, when Minister for Education, Science and Training, used to make it an art form, pretending that universities were ivory castles disconnected from the rest of society. On this side of the House, we believe our universities and our higher education system should be treated with respect and we believe what happens in those universities matters to all Australians. What the Leader of the Opposition never understood when he engaged in that denigration of our universities is: you cannot take a kid to the doctor without a university system. Your child in school cannot have all the subject choices they would like without a university system, and you cannot have global research efforts like the invention of the cervical cancer vaccine without a university system. But what did the Howard government do? Denigrated our universities over 12 long years.

Today, to guide us in the delivery of the higher education revolution, I have announced a wide-ranging review. It will be guided by Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley. Professor Bradley is the National President of the Australian College of Educators and a former Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia—exactly the sort of person that the opposition would denigrate because she is from the higher education system.

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