Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thought it must have been something about Mr Evans no longer being in your Victorian faction, Senator Conroy. But Mr Evans is certainly very clear about his views on university reform. I also refer doubters and those from the Labor side of the Senate who might contribute in this debate to the urgings of Mr John Dawkins. Mr John Dawkins is often referred to as the father of university reform in Australia. Notwithstanding, from my point of view, that he was a Labor minister as well, his advice in relation to university reform is certainly advice I would urge my colleagues opposite to take some notice of. I could continue going on and on. There are not only senior people in the education system but senior people in the Labor Party who are pleading with the Labor Party to do the right thing by Australia and allow these reforms through. I will complete this section of my speech by referring my Labor colleagues opposite to the words of Maxine McKew, the former Labor member for Bennelong. Again, she is one of those who understands higher education and she is urging the Labor Party to get out of the way—to do something positive for Australia and allow this university reform to go through.

The Labor Party are simply running some of their traditional scare campaigns. There are many of them going around. The scare campaign on fees is false. Labor senators should know that fees already announced by the University of Western Australia, the Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Catholic University show that universities will be reasonable. No one needs to pay a cent up-front or pay back anything until they are earning $50,000 or more a year. What has been shown is that the universities are sensibly addressing the issues of fees so that they can make university education available to all Australians and, importantly, to ensure that the universities have the funds to make Australia's university system a world-class system, not one where Labor wants— (Time expired)