Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think we all enjoyed that puff of hot air from the member for Charlton, who seemed more intent on besmirching people rather than actually debating the points before us today. We are talking about some really significant issues here to do with higher education reforms, reforms that will strengthen our university sector, that will create more opportunities for our students and our young Australians. How many opportunities will there be? Eighty thousand more students each year will be provided with additional university spaces by 2018. That is 35,000 bachelor degrees and 48,000 diploma courses.

These higher education reforms are about fairness and about opportunity. Let us not forget that no student will need to pay one dollar up front. FEE-HELP will remain. The Commonwealth taxpayer will continue to meet 50 per cent of the cost. The government is proud of these reforms. They are reforms designed to save the university sector. Quite simply, in the words of Belinda Robinson in TheFinancial Review today:

The short answer is because the existing funding model is not sustainable and a new approach is needed.

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If the Government's package is opposed outright, the quality of the things that our great universities do so well - teaching and research - could be jeopardised. It is simply not possible to maintain the standards that students expect or the international reputation that Australia's university system enjoys without full fee deregulation.

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In embracing the rare and privileged opportunity they have to shape this key element of long-term structural reform, crossbenchers can create a higher education legacy of which they can be proud.

That is what Belinda Robinson, the Chief Executive of Universities Australia, said. I am sure the member for Kingston refers to Belinda Robinson as an ideological frolic. Sure—that is an interesting way to look at it.

What I find most perplexing is that those opposite think the chancellors and vice-chancellors of all our universities are irresponsible. It is all scare and no substance. In fact, the University of Western Sydney was the first university in New South Wales to grandfather their fees to provide certainty for students. That is really irresponsible, isn't it. John Dewar, Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University, wrote on the 15th of this month: 'La Trobe University has on Monday taken the first step to the possible brave new world of fee deregulation by offering students enrolled at La Trobe in 2015 a guarantee that their fees will not increase by more than 10 per cent above the regulated student contribution for each year of their degree.' I am confident universities will set prices responsibly. The alternative consigns the sector to a very difficult future. I guess those opposite want to assign universities to an abysmal future.

This has been nothing more than a disgraceful scare campaign put forward by those opposite. How about we take somebody else—Vicki Thomson in The Australian. Don't be fooled by $100,000 degrees. Vicki Thomson said, 'I repeat, there is nothing to fear from deregulated fees for undergraduate degrees.' Those opposite are just full of it. Let us not forget it was the previous government that cut some $6.6 billion out of the higher education sector.

These higher education reforms introduced by the Minister for Education are all about providing opportunity—opportunity for more Australians to access higher education, opportunity for our local universities to excel and become some of the best institutions in the Asia-Pacific and in the world. On budget night, the Treasurer said:

Fellow Australians, we should have at least one university in the top 20 in the world, but we do not, and we should have more in the top 100.

I think it is time we had universities that were globally competitive, but those opposite just want to stand in the way of the future of our universities.

I ask the Leader of the Opposition: what is so wrong with wanting to see our universities excel on the international stage? Let us not forget that our universities will be offering more scholarships and the extension of FEE-HELP across a broader spectrum of higher education providers. This government is committed to unlocking educational opportunities for even greater numbers of Australians. Nowhere is it more critical than in regions like Western Sydney, where the additional training and educational opportunities these reforms will create can drive the transformation of the region's labour market and our economy. (Time expired)

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