Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Jagajaga for the question. I think there are many people who would take exception to her continued denigration of the American education system. It has no place in Australian politics.

The fact is that 96 per cent of Australian domestic undergraduates attend university in a Commonwealth-supported place—96 per cent. Three per cent—nearly four per cent—of students attend in a full fee paying place. At least a third of them are in relation to winter school or summer school. And so we are talking about a very small proportion of students who are given the opportunity to pay a full fee in order to attend university. The opposition think it is okay for students from Malaysia or China to have an opportunity to attend university and pay for a place, but they would deny the same opportunity to a very small number of Australian students, who deserve to have an opportunity—

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