Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I am not sure that the premise of Senator Rhiannon's question is something with which I agree. What will happen under deregulation is that universities and other higher education institutions will compete for students. That sort of competition is going to prevent exorbitant fees. We believe that higher education institutions are best placed to determine how to maintain and promote a world-class higher education system. So, from 2016, institutions will be responsible for setting their own levels of student contributions. Frankly, when universities compete for students, students win. They win in terms of the range of courses that offered, they win in terms of the quality of teaching, they win in terms of the quality and diversity of student support they receive and they win in terms of value for money. We can be confident that some fees will go down because we are providing Commonwealth supported places for many courses which were not previously supported. (Time expired)