Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, as you know, inequality is a threat and a risk to economic growth. That is not just my view; it is the view of the International Monetary Fund. It is a threat to peace and security. Inequality in Australia has been rising over recent decades. It has been rising here and it has been rising overseas. It is true that the best way to deal with the risks that are inherent in rising inequality is through education. It is through making education available to everyone and that is as it should be. Education should be a right. Education should not be a matter of the rich deigning to give a gift of a scholarship to the poor. It should not be a matter of rich students funding scholarships for poor students. That is not the Australian way when it comes to education. The Australian way is that every child, every adult, every person who has the aptitude, the gumption and the guts to work hard to get the marks that they need to go to university should be able to go there, regardless of the size of their parents' bank account and regardless of the size of their own pay packet.

That is such a clear theme that has run through Australian society and that is why this government's rotten so-called higher education reforms are so unpopular in the electorate because Australians know, as a matter of absolute fairness and in accordance with Australian values, that education should be accessible to everyone. No-one should have to get a debt the size of a second mortgage to get a higher education. No mature age student or school leaver should have to choose between getting a higher education, and going into significant debt, and not getting a higher education or not furthering themselves at all. It is an utter disgrace what this government is proposing.

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