Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

At the moment, 60 per cent of Australians do not have a university degree yet they are asked to pay 60 per cent of the cost of the tuition fees for students at university. Those self-same students will go on to earn a million dollars more than those people over a lifetime, on average. So they are getting a very generous arrangement from the Australian taxpayer.

Our reforms will mean that, on a $30,000 HELP debt—if it rises that high—graduates will be asked to pay $3 more per week for one extra year to repay their HELP debt. If they have a HELP debt of $40,000—and remember, the current average is $16,800—we are going to ask them to pay $5 more a week for two years to pay off that debt.

Most people would regard that as a very fair exchange, when you consider that those students will go on to earn a million dollars more than Australians without a university degree over their lifetime, on average. The point was made well by our old friend the member for Fraser—and he is holding up a book—

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