Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Those were the days. Those were the movies. And, of course, one of the greatest albums of all time had just come out. Of course I mean Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction. That could be the opposition leader's autobiography one day!

A lot has changed since then—but not everything. In the 1980s, the percentage of people in Fairfield with a university degree was about a third of what it was across the rest of the country. Today's it's still only about half the national average. That's what this hub's about and that's what the Universities Accord is about. It's about changing that and breaking down that invisible barrier that stops a lot of kids from the outer suburbs from getting a crack at going to university. And it's an even bigger issue in the regions. That's why we're doubling the number of university study hubs across the country—14 in the outer suburbs and 20 more in the regions. In the next few weeks I'll announce the first 10 of those new regional university study hubs, bringing university closer to where Aussies live.

It's all part of what the Prime Minister talks about: opening the doors of opportunity. We want Australians to earn more, and going to TAFE and university is part of that. Going to TAFE or going to university helps you to earn more. If you've got a uni degree you earn an average of 30 grand more than someone whose last year of education was year 12.

We want Australians to earn more and we also want Australians to keep more of what they earn. That's why the tax cuts passed this week are so important. A nurse on 75 grand will get a tax cut of more than $1,500, a teacher on 80 grand will get a tax cut of more than $1,600 and an engineer on 95 grand will get a tax cut of more than $2,000. Every taxpayer get a tax cut—all 13.6 million of them—because we want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

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