Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to my feet to speak on this bill with great joy and gusto. I'm so pleased that the Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills is here to be part of this debate. I want to welcome the students from Narromine Christian School in the gallery up there. I'm not quite sure about the school behind me, but the young students up there are our future and education is all about them.

They could be—if they've been sitting in here listening to the matter of public importance—forgiven for thinking all sorts of things about where we stand as legislators on this issue. But before I embark on a detailed examination of the bill before us, I think it's important that we also look at a little bit of history. The Turnbull government has taken responsible measures to try to end the rorts of the VET FEE-HELP scheme that saw such a debacle from those opposite when they were in government. Let me just give you a few statistics, Mr Deputy Speaker: between 2009 and 2016 the number of students accessing the VET FEE-HELP jumped 3,600 per cent, from 5,229 to 193,868. Now, you might think, 'Well, is that such a bad thing?' If you look at it overall, average course costs in that time nearly tripled from $4,000 to $11,300. Loans increased by nearly 6,000 per cent, from $25 million to $1.5 billion.

I say to the young students up there from Narromine Christian School that whilst those opposite have an absolute predisposition to ensuring that all young people should go to university I'm going to take a different tack with you right here and right now, because I'm one who'll stand here and actually say that I don't think all students should go to university. I come from a trade background. I did my carpentry and joinery apprenticeship at Holmesglen College of TAFE and I'm proud of it. I worked as a builder for 10 years, and I'm proud of it. I then went back and did a law degree at uni, and some might say it has all been going downhill from there!

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