Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On 30 July, I received the following email from a constituent, Rabeya Akter:

I am very disappointed about the proposed changes to higher education announced in the Federal Budget.

Allowing universities to set their own fees will burden future generations of students with significantly increased debts. Students will pay higher interest on their outstanding debt, and will be required to start repaying it at a lower income level. Young people have been told to earn or learn and yet the government is making it harder to get a quality education. Access to university should be based on merit, not on the size of your bank balance.

The end result will be less public investment in higher education, at a time when Australia's economic future depends on a highly skilled workforce. As a society we all benefit from the provision of high quality affordable education, and therefore have a collective responsibility to provide more public investment, not less.

I urge you and your colleagues to vote against the legislation when it comes before Parliament.

I do not need to add to that. That is the voice of Australia. That is what the Australian people think of this government's dastardly higher education reforms and that is why the Labor opposition will vote against them.

See this speech in context