Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I apologise, Deputy Speaker. The Morrison government and all of its members did everything they could, by supporting the legislation, to stop public universities from getting JobKeeper. Monash University had to scramble to keep operating. It had 7,000 personalised study plans to retain students. The university cut capital, cut non-salary expenditure, used up its resources, borrowed money and put $30 million of its own money into a hardship fund for international and domestic students, because the Morrison government abandoned them. Executives took voluntary pay cuts. The university worked with the union for 277 voluntary redundancies and for deferrals of pay increases. If any university, any public institution of higher learning, got through the COVID-19 pandemic, it's not because of the support of the Morrison government; it's because of the work they did, their students did, their workers did and their unions did to get through that challenge.

As if it weren't bad enough that the Morrison government have walked away from all of these people and their jobs and their future, they are, of course, yet again contributing to undermining the Australian economy, because we know that universities drive economic growth. We know that, before the pandemic, international education was Australia's fourth-largest export industry. In Victoria, my home state, it contributed $12.7 billion a year. It supported 250,000 jobs across the Australian economy. Every dollar invested in higher education, research and development is linked to a $5 return to GDP. Every dollar invested in university teaching and scholarships contributes to $3 of additional tax revenue. Every person who gets to experience university life and get a higher education has a greater opportunity for success and fulfilment in work and life. Yet we have a sector that is losing $3.8 billion in revenue across last year and this year. We have a sector that this government has abandoned. Members of this government should spend less time with ridiculous motions saying that black is white and more time lobbying the Prime Minister to provide the funding that Australians need to get education for the economy and for the wellbeing of our people into the future.

See this speech in context