Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. On this side of the House, we reject their narrow and elitist view of higher education, just as we reject their narrow and elitist view of the country more generally. It says it all about the government that they want university study to be the preserve of the wealthiest people in our community, the preserve of the few, and not something that the broad range of Australians, whether they are from lower SES backgrounds or otherwise, can access. They want to take us back to the bad old days, where university was just for the kids from the fanciest suburbs, with the most well-to-do parents and from the most expensive schools, and we reject their approach.

The problem with this government is that, while the whole world is concentrating on how they combat inequality, how they invest in human capital, how they do the right thing by the broad mass of their people to get the right kind of economic growth—while the rest of the world is seeing that as a challenge—this government sees rising inequality as an objective. We know this because the cuts that it has made to the higher education system in this budget will hurt the poorest kids the most.

On this side of the House, we believe that access to higher education should be about the contents of your mind and the contents of your imagination and not the contents of your wallet. If we are serious about building the right kind of economy into the future, we should be investing in all of our young people and giving them the access to higher education that they deserve.

The reality about this budget is that the government have Australia hurtling in the wrong direction. It is worth reminding the House of the list of cuts that they have put into higher education in this budget. There is $5 billion in cuts to higher education in the budget. There is $3.2 billion in cuts to HECS. There is $1.9 billion in cuts to universities by reductions in government course subsidies. There is $202 million in cuts by indexing university grants to the CPI. There is $172 million in cuts to funding to promote and reward universities for enrolling low-SES students. There is $173 million in cuts to the training of Australia's research students, the scientists and academics of tomorrow. There is a $75 million cut to the Australian Research Council. There is a $31 million cut to the national regulator. They have abolished the $3.5 billion Education Investment Fund, and they have deregulated student fees from 1 January 2016, leading to higher fees and spiralling student debt.

Earlier on, in question time, the member for Hotham asked a very good question about how many of the current cabinet had had access to a free university education or affordable HECS. In his answer, the Minister for Education said that he has not done a study of that front bench. Well, we have. We have done a study of their front bench. What we discovered is that—depending on which biography you have a look at—something like 12 or 13 of the 19 people in the Abbott cabinet benefited from either a free education or affordable HECS. Twelve or 13 of the 19 had some aspect of their university education provided for free by the taxpayer. I will not take the House's time by running through them all, but, when the education minister got up here before and talked about the opportunities provided to kids, the reality is that, as the member for Hotham said, he is slamming the door on people who want the same sorts of opportunities that he had when it comes to affordable HECS.

I agree with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Stephen Parker, who said:

I … think it is unethical for a generation of leaders who by and large benefited from free higher education to burden the generations behind them in this way …

I think he makes a very good point. The education minister went on the Alan Jones show yesterday, and he said:

… they should be buying a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates and visiting a home near them where they know someone hasn't been to university, knocking on the front door and saying thank you very much for paying for my education.

My advice to the Minister for Education is: he should go into some of the lower SES areas and knock on their door and explain to them why he wants to extinguish the dreams that they have for a higher education in this country. The reality is that those opposite are in denial and disarray when it comes to higher education in this country.

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