Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

These are real numbers—$100,000 is a real number for a degree. Those opposite can persist in not believing what has been put in front of them, but, unfortunately, they have a trust problem when it comes to education—strangely enough, they have a trust problem in this area. The deregulation, the cuts to universities, the $100,000 degrees and the Americanisation of our tertiary education system that they tried to sell to the Australian public and tried to push past the Senate twice are still alive for the government.

I implore this government: see sense now, before it is too late. Really, what you could do is read our policy. In this era, when we need innovation, you can take it from the party that understands education, the party that cares about education and the party that will go to the ramparts, fighting for fair education for the young people of this country. You could pull out our policy documents. Look at our announcements, which will tell you how to support students in getting a tertiary qualification. They will explain to you that, rather than create $100,000 degrees, you should actually be reimbursing the HECS of those students who are prepared to study the subjects we need them to study, who are going to drive the new economy. In question time today, I heard the Prime Minister say, 'We can't rely on iron ore anymore.' I heard him say it. It is something new that he has said.

See this speech in context