John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes—perhaps sell the tractor or mortgage the farm! This is the reason, Minister Carr, that 33 per cent of people who complete year 12 in regional areas of Australia go on to tertiary education while in the cities the figure is 55 per cent. How do we get professionals in rural and regional areas—doctors, dentists and nurses, who provide those vital services—when you are preventing those students from going to university? This is budgeted, as Senator Mason has pointed out, and it is something that would give those people who want a tertiary education a fair go. You, Minister Carr, would probably expect them to sell a paddock of the farm.