Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Will the minister explain how the government's higher education reforms will make our universities internationally competitive and benefit students? What alternative is there to the government's plans?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for his questions. He asks me what alternatives there are to the government's plans for higher education reform in Australia. The alternative is the Labor alternative, which was $6.6 billion worth of cuts. When Labor were in power, they cut the universities by $6.6 billion. They did not give the universities any opportunity to replace that revenue. They therefore broke their promise that they had made before the 2007 election, where they fooled academics and university officials into believing that they would put more money into higher education. In fact, they took $6.6 billion out.

Now, with their soul mates, the Greens, in the Senate they are attempting to stop this government from allowing the universities to gain the revenue that they need from students at a 50-50 split so that, on average, students will pay 50 per cent of the cost of their education and the taxpayers will pay 50 per cent of the cost of students' education. They are attempting to stop the government from being allowed to give universities the chance to be world-class. They are attempting to stop the government from spreading opportunity to tens of thousands of more first-generation university goers, low socioeconomic status students from rural and regional Australia, who we would be able to help through Commonwealth scholarships targeted at rural and regional low SES students by expanding that demand driven system to sub-bachelor courses like diplomas and associate degrees.

The shadow minister Senator Carr has made it very clear why. He has told vice-chancellors that Labor wants an election. They believe that they will stop the reforms and force the government to the polls. He told the Australian Financial Review conference on higher education in November that Labor would force this government to the polls and win the next election, and that that was the reason they were voting against these reforms in the Senate. So they are being the usual vandals that they were during the Howard government—the vandals that they were, in an economic sense, in government under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments. Now they are being vandals because for Labor it is always about politics; it is never about policy. It is always about politics; it is never about people.

On this side of the House we want to give students the opportunity—the chance—to have 75 per cent, on average, higher incomes over a lifetime by getting to university. We want our universities to be world class. So we are for good policy and we are for putting people first. Labor, on the other hand, as usual—Kim Carr has admitted it—are putting politics first and people second. They are putting politics first and policy second. So I call on the Senate—I call on the cross bench—to pass our reforms and give our universities the best chance to be internationally competitive.