Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's about recession and recovery. We are in a recovery from a recession. Surely even this mob of incompetent Neanderthals understand this is not a culture war? Universities are not an elitist thing. They are critical to the national economic recovery. They are critical. It's actually about improving our productivity. You fund research to improve economic outcomes. And yet the government's removing $1 billion in this budget. Shame on them.

This motion talks about giving $903 million over four years for domestic places. What hypocrisy. The government wouldn't need to do that if they hadn't capped places in the first place and cut billions of dollars from universities. Then we hear them talk about the job-ready graduate program. They don't talk about the fact that the latest figures from Senate estimates point out that, by the government's own admission, fees for university students in this country will rise 16 per cent over the next three years because of the job-ready graduate program. They have lowered the repayment threshold so young people have to repay their university debts earlier, making it harder to climb up that ladder of opportunity when they are saddled with debt.

We hear about the destruction of our fourth biggest export sector. Gas actually overtook it. That's $40 billion, but it's more than just money. These are human beings. The Prime Minister's showed a shocking lack of empathy. He stood up and he said to students, 'If you don't like it, go home.' Of course I understand there is a pandemic. Of course it's not easy to get students in at the moment. But you don't have to tell them to go home. You could show some empathy. The lobsters got their own plane to send them to China. The students got told to go home.

Quarantine and vaccine are Commonwealth responsibilities. The Commonwealth has taken no responsibility for quarantine. The vaccine program is an embarrassment globally. It doesn't matter how much the Prime Minister spins it. Imagine if Labor had presided over this vaccine mess? There wouldn't be enough black ink to print the newspapers with the banners. The government should treat international students better and stop congratulating themselves on the decimation of universities. (Time expired)

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