Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the sensational member for Spence for his question. As he knows, we've cut student debt by 20 per cent, and, when we announced that we would cut student debt by 20 per cent for three million Australians, the Liberal Party immediately opposed it, and the then shadow treasurer put out a statement where, remember, he said, 'There are no free lunches in economics,' and then proceeded to announce a policy of free lunches, but for bosses. I promise I'm not making it up. That was the big vision—escargot for CEOs! No wonder the Australian people chewed them up and spat them out. Obviously, they've learnt nothing, because Julius Caesar had more support from his senators than what we've seen going on over there today.

I'm asked about how we're going to help more young Australians get a crack at going to university. I can tell you, as I said on Monday, more Aussies will go to university this year than ever before. I can also tell you there are more university study hubs today than ever before. We promised to double them, and we've done it and then some. There are now 69 of them operating across the country. To give you an idea of how important they are, think about this—I should say one of them is in Elizabeth, in the member for Spence's electorate—in Elizabeth Bay in Sydney, 70 per cent of young adults in their 20s or 30s have a uni degree today. In Elizabeth in the member for Spence's electorate in South Australia, it's seven per cent—not 70 per cent, but seven per cent. These hubs are about changing that by bringing uni closer to where people live. I know that my mate the member for Spence gets that. That's why he fought so hard for it. That's why he got so emotional at the opening of it. I'm sure he won't mind me telling people that he shed a tear or two on the day, and that's because he loves his community and he knows what this will do and the lives that it will change.

Mr Speaker, I know you love your community too, and you get it as well. We opened a study hub in Inala in your electorate a couple of weeks ago, and we got a chance to meet the young people from Glenala State High School. This is for them and kids like them who dream big. The fact is—think about it, guys. Just think about it—talent is distributed equally; it's opportunity that's not. It's hubs like this that are about changing that.

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