Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry, you're right, I mean the Treasurer's debt of $17 billion per year—I do take that interjection. To have $17 billion on the country's credit card is an incredible debt, and I take the member for Petrie's interjection very seriously.

To have a $20 billion hit to an industry like education is significant. The blame for this hit to the international student sector rests with the Morrison government. It is failing in its responsibility to set up successful quarantining facilities—horses and cows, yes; international students, no. Had it been done 12 months ago, international students would be back on campuses right now. There's no getting around it; it's the responsibility of the Morrison government, try as it might to pretend differently. Quarantine is a federal responsibility—it's in the Constitution. There was a perfectly reasonable proposal in Queensland to set up quarantining next to Toowoomba's Wellcamp Airport. The facility could have been up and running in 12 weeks or less, but the Prime Minister has continued to dismiss it.

He came up with all sorts of excuses, including that planes had to go to Brisbane, even though his own plane had landed at Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport. The Prime Minister said there was no hospital close by, but the Toowoomba Hospital was built in 1880. Ironically, back in 1916, around the time of the last pandemic, an open-air isolation ward was constructed at the Toowoomba Hospital for the care of those with infectious diseases. Neglecting quarantine facilities in the sunshine state is another slap in the face for Queensland universities. And doesn't it show how hopeless that team Queensland group is? They've been mute about this insult to and economic attack on Queenslanders, and every one of them should hang their head in shame. They should hang their heads in shame to call themselves 'team Queensland'. My questions are: Minister, why have universities been undermined during the pandemic? Will the Morrison government take the lead and provide appropriate quarantine facilities so international students can return to Australia, particularly to Queensland? Why has it taken so long for the Morrison government to provide quarantine facilities for international students to return? Why aren't they doing something proactively? Sadly, the coalition has demonstrated it's happy to sign students into debt but it won't do the correct thing to protect one of our great export earners.

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