Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to support the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities, and Other Measures) Bill 2009 for a second time. I think the reasons we are here for a second time can be boiled down to about four reasons. First and foremost: the opposition, if I may call them that, are hell-bent on stopping us from fulfilling an election commitment. I think one of the major reasons they are doing that is that they want to have something to say at the next election, whenever that will be, to say that Labor have not fulfilled their promises, because this is part and parcel of what Labor promised in 2007 in our election campaign and we are trying to fulfil that. But those opposite are setting out to stop us from doing that, to use it for cheap electioneering purposes for the next election, whenever that may be.

Secondly, from listening to many of those opposite—not all, but many of those opposite—I know they have a pathological, ideological hatred of unionism and, from that pathological hatred, they have associated anything to do with fees for amenities and services at our universities with promoting—and I think the member for Mayo used this term—‘Labor Inc.’ in our universities. So universities, to those opposite, are nothing more than seedbeds of socialism, of potential communism and, I suppose, the seedbeds for this conspiracy on climate change which those opposite now believe permeates the decision-makers of the world.

But those opposite have a pathological hatred of anything to do with student services. Take, for instance, the member for Indi. I do not know what happened to the member for Indi at university, but it has caused a pathological hatred of student services and amenities on the university grounds.

See this speech in context