Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Whenever this government made decisions that saved lives, those opposite were critical of those decisions that we made. And now they apparently seek to hold us responsible for, in the words of the member for Jagajaga, 'trashing our third-largest export earner' because we closed the borders to international students. Now, we didn't do that for no reason. We did that because there was a global pandemic. And if those opposite can tell us there's not going to be an outbreak in any other country, as there recently was in India, then we will happily provide them with a road map that has a great degree of certainty. But if they're unable to do that, then I think it is entirely and wholly unreasonable for those opposite to somehow criticise us for not knowing what the future holds.

I think it is also entirely unreasonable—and job losses in any sector are not only regrettable, they are something we work very hard in this place to avoid. However, when they occurred in the university sector, this wasn't something that we took any joy from whatsoever. But we did, on many occasions, worry—and this is not something we did last year or the year before; this is something that goes back 10 years. We have worried with the vice-chancellors that they were putting too much reliance on income they were receiving from international students. So for those opposite to suggest we are somehow not supportive of universities is not only hypocritical, it's an appalling allegation to make. It is not substantiated by any of the facts that are on offer, unless they are accusing us of commencing a global pandemic. To date they have not done that, but I'm sure, if we give them time—

Opposition members interjecting—

The fact of the matter is that youth unemployment in Australia is now at decade lows. Underemployment in Australia is at 10-year lows. Our unemployment rate is falling. We stand for working Australians on this side of the parliament. We want to make their lives easier, more affordable and better. We know that the only way to get them sustainably increased real wages is for them to be able to get the skills and education that they need for the workforce of the future. And the fact of the matter remains that is why we have invested so heavily in job-ready graduate programs and packages. That is why we have provided students who have been leaving school, both last year and this year, the sort of support that they need to make sure that they are ready for the jobs of the future, and that our universities are ready to provide that level of education.

See this speech in context