Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

We are only days away from the time when university students are about to begin their studies for 2010. Some students have already begun their courses. But there are tens of thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands—of students who do not know where their income support is going to come from for the year ahead. They do not know whether they should start their studies or not. They do not know whether a university degree is to be an elusive dream for them. They have worked a gap year and abided by the rules that were in place when they started the gap year. They took the advice of Centrelink and school councillors and did what they were told was the right way to qualify for income support for their university education. Now the time has come and they do not know whether they will qualify for the income support that they need.

The government can fix this problem today. The legislation for the new scholarships can be separated from the rest of the legislation. There will be an opportunity to vote on that in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The government can support that and wipe away all of the uncertainty and concern that the students of Australia are currently facing. They can deal with the legislation in a day and give people the confidence that they need. They can give them the opportunity to commence their education with the confidence that they may be able to afford to pay the bills.

There is enormous uncertainty and concern amongst students about this issue. Earlier today we heard the Prime Minister convulsing about a definition of ministerial responsibility and all sorts of changes to the way in which we might hold a minister accountable for his failure to responsibly deliver a program. Surely, under any definition of ministerial responsibility, the minister with responsibility for this issue should fix it. She should take responsibility, rather than walking away, and fix the problem.

See this speech in context