Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

The Morrison government's massive increase in university fees for humanities courses is unfair and will undermine our future productivity and hold our nation back. At high school I was fortunate to benefit from a very passionate and wise economics teacher, Mr Peter Singer, who ignited in me a passion for economics and encouraged me to study that at university. I was fortunate to be able to afford to go to university because the fees were subsidised by government with a deferred loans payment program. I was fortunate to pursue my passion for economics. I'm concerned that many young Australians will have their opportunity to pursue their passion robbed by this government and their massive fee increases.

This fee increase will rob many young Australians—those that are interested in law, in communications, in economics, in commerce, in social science and humanities—of the opportunity of an affordable university degree. Forty per cent of students will have their fees increased from next year under this reform, and some courses will double in their cost. It will be unfair and it will take Australia back to the dark days of only the wealthy being able to afford to go to university, and that is not in our nation's best interest.

The immediate effect will be on this year's group of year 12 students. Haven't these students been through enough with the pandemic and the interruptions to their education? Now they get this kick in the guts from the Morrison government with the possibility of massive fee increases for them if they're studying humanities at university next year. That is unfair. That's why over 700 people in the community that I represent have signed a petition against these reforms. I thank each and every one of them for showing their support for university education in this country.

These reforms will also hold our nation back. We're in a recession now. How do you recover from a recession? We increase productivity, and to increase productivity you need to invest in people. The best way to invest in people is to invest in education, particularly in technical and TAFE education and in university education. This reform makes it harder for young Australians to get an education. When you hold a young Australian's education back, you hold Australia back. And that is what this will do, because we will be a less-educated nation and we will be less productive into the future.

This agreement has come about with a dirty deal from the Morrison government, One Nation and Centre Alliance, who've sold out young Australians and made university unaffordable for the next generation of Australians. They should be ashamed of themselves for dudding young Australians and for dudding our nation's future productivity.

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