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

I would like to thank the member for Tangney for his question. I am very pleased to be able to report that the government introduced the reform bill for higher education into the Parliament this morning at nine o'clock and that bill will be debated next week. I would urge the opposition, the Greens and the crossbenchers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to consider this once-in-a-generation opportunity to spread higher education qualifications to tens of thousands more students and young people around Australia through the most generous Commonwealth scholarships fund in Australian history by expanding the demand-driven system to diploma and associate diploma courses used typically by first-generation and low-socioeconomic status university students, and by expanding the Commonwealth Grant Scheme for the first time to non-university higher education providers. All of these measures will give tens of thousands more young Australians the opportunity to get a higher education qualification and go on to earn 75 per cent more on average than those people without a higher education qualification over a lifetime.

I remind the opposition what Universities Australia has said about the reform bill introduced today. Belinda Robinson, the Chief Executive of Universities Australia said:

… the Parliament had a once in a generation opportunity to shape an Australian higher education system that is sustainable, affordable and equitable in serving the best interests of students and the nation.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

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