Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

What a load of rubbish we have heard from those opposite. They come in here and they talk about opportunity for young people when they are the ones reducing the opportunities for young people. They come in here and try and say that it is all Labor's fault. They are in government. They doubled the deficit in six months. They are the ones responsible for their own decisions. They are the ones responsible for cutting programs like Youth Connections. They are the ones responsible for the $80 billion cut to health and education so that young people right across the country will not be getting the education they want, deserve and will need for jobs. They are their cuts, and they need to take responsibility for them.

The people on this side, the opposition, do not accept this rhetoric about young people and we do not accept that they are genuine about opportunities for young people, because they could not possibly be, given what is in their budget. We heard from the last member that people are scared. Too right people are scared—they are not scared by what we are saying; they are scared by the budget. If they go out into their electorates and talk to people, that is what they will hear.

We have got teenagers terrified now about whether or not they are going to be able to afford to go to a university. They are terrified about going to a university—

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