Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Temporary Chairman. The point I am going to make relates to the provisions of the budget measure. Questions at Senate estimates did not mention the legislation; they went to the budget measure—they went to the operational response of the department to universities and the universities’ practices in the enrolment of students. That was never a question of legislation and it is a bit cute—a bit of a lawyer’s trick—to try to reinvent the question in a way that suits the government. We clearly were advised on 31 May that the operations of this budget measure would produce this result—namely, that universities could enrol students in disciplines within a cluster on a full fee paying basis. That was a change in practice. We were further advised that there was to be an expectation within the budget measure that it would lead to a growth in the number of full fee paying students of some 20 per cent. That is my rhetorical point. My question to the minister is: is it still intended that the number of full fee paying students will increase by an estimated 20 per cent?