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

Here's another one. I'll give you another one, Member for Bradfield. Let me give you the example of Joanne McCarthy. She might be someone known to you. I think she's known to everyone in the press gallery. She's the Gold Walkley winning journalist who exposed institutionalised child abuse in the Hunter region. Her work sparked a royal commission. And, before she was a journalist, she did one of these fee-free university-ready courses at Newcastle university. It's what set it all up.

Now, Mr Speaker, guess who tried to impose a $3,000 fee on everybody doing those free courses? The Liberal Party. We're keeping them free and we're expanding the number of Australians who get a chance to do them. In fact, we want to double the number of Australians doing them over the next 15 years. That's the difference between the Liberals and Labor. They think education is a cost. We see it as an investment, and we understand that teachers are at the core of it—that they are the ones that make all of this possible. That's why, as I said a minute ago, a teacher on 80 grand a year will get a tax cut of $1,679. (Time expired)

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