Peter Hendy (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was $6.66 billion. It is just amazing. So you cannot rely on the ALP to look after universities. But there are things you can rely on the Australian Labor Party for. You can rely on the Australian Labor Party to stand in the way of important and beneficial reform, you can rely on the Australian Labor Party to place politics ahead of policy and you can rely on the Australian Labor Party to place their own interests ahead of the nation's. A case in point is their obstinate refusal to get on board with these higher education reforms. In the face of near universal consensus and support for the coalition's reform package, the Australian Labor Party crouch there, heads in the sand, and flatly refuse to engage in the issue in any serious manner—obstruction for obstruction's sake.

Thankfully, there are those stakeholders who do engage the issue in a serious manner. Universities Australia in January of this year said:

Our appeal to Senators as they return to Canberra is not to ignore the opportunity they have to negotiate with the Government in amending and passing a legislative package that will position Australia's universities to compete with the world's best.

The Regional Universities Network play a vital role in the development of regional economies and communities. What did they have to say? They said:

It’s not in the interest of students or universities to continue to let this issue drag on. We urge the Senate to consider and amend the new bill and to pass it early in the 2015 Parliamentary sittings.

I am sorry, Regional Universities Network, but the Australian Labor Party has a different view. They have a different focus. That focus is not on the students or the universities that the Regional Universities Network speak for. It is on themselves. What does the Group of Eight have to say? It said:

If the Bill is passed it will provide a more coherent and financially sustainable foundation for continuing development, open up extensive and diverse opportunities for future generations of learners, and underpin a more globally competitive economy.

If the Bill is not passed, there is no plausible default.

'No plausible default,' said the Group of Eight.

It is not only universities. What about TAFE? Only last week I was given a useful briefing by Institute Director Lucy Arundell and District Manager David Guthrey of Illawarra TAFE, who have a campus in Cooma in my electorate of Eden-Monaro. What do TAFE Directors Australia have to say? This is what they had to say:

Blocking this legislation will also disadvantage many students who want to undertake higher education at a TAFE Institute.

Many TAFE students from regional and rural and remote areas and those from disadvantaged backgrounds will also continue to be discriminated against by entrenching the flaws of the current system.

Our reforms will lead to 80,000 more students attending universities, including through the pathway programs through TAFE.

Across the ACT border from my electorate of Eden-Monaro is the home of the great Australian National University—a university that I am proud to say I attended some years ago. What does the Australian National University say? Professor Ian Young and Gareth Evans—a name well known to those opposite—had this to say:

The bottom line is that if Australia is to develop universities which can truly compete internationally, that can provide an excellent educational experience for students and provide outstanding graduates of the kind that are so vital to our nation's future, we have to not only allow, but encourage, diversity by removing constraints that prevent innovation.

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