Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

In response to the Leader of the Opposition's question, let me make three fundamental points. The first is that no student need pay a dollar up-front. The second is that FEE-HELP remains, and must remain, to ensure that people can cover their fees. The third is that the Commonwealth taxpayer will continue to cover 50 per cent of people's university education. This is a perfectly good system and it will get stronger under this government. What will happen under this government is that our universities will be liberated to be the best they possibly can be. We want our universities to be able to compete with the best in the world. We do not want our universities to be stagnating—as would have inevitably been the case had we persisted with Labor's system.

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