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

There will be 9,000 Commonwealth scholarships offered by one of Australia's prestige universities. In fact, one-third of undergraduate students at Sydney university would have a form of tuition and scholarship support under the government's higher education reform agenda. We hear from the Labor Party misty-eyed nostalgia about so-called free education under the Whitlamite agenda, but in fact this government through sound economic management, through a reform agenda in the budget, will deliver for thousands of students around Australia free education through Commonwealth scholarships earnt on the basis of merit and directed towards low-socioeconomic status students.

Tens of thousands of low-SES young people will get the chance to go to university either through the Commonwealth scholarships, through the expansion of the demand-driven system, through pathway programs that low-SES students typically use to get into university and through the expansion of the Commonwealth Grant Scheme to non-university higher education providers. Through a combination of these methods more young low-SES Australians will get the chance to improve their chances of getting a job and a higher income and making a contribution to our society.

That is the reason why the parliament should get behind our higher education reform agenda. I am glad to see the member for Fairfax here today because I know he wants to deliver free education to more young Australians through our Commonwealth scholarships program. Labor should get out of the way and start to listen to people who know something about higher education, like Michael Spence at the University of Sydney.

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