Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Will the minister explain how—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will have silence!

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the government's higher education reforms will free our universities to compete internationally while at the same time supporting equity of opportunity for all Australians? How does this compare with other proposed approaches?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the honourable Minister for Education. I hope he was able to hear the question.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was on this occasion, fortunately, Madam Speaker, in spite of my colleagues' exuberance behind me and across the chamber. I am very happy to get a question from the member for Mitchell about the government's higher education reforms because we are very proud of our higher education reforms. We are very proud that they will spread more opportunity to 80,000 young Australians to go to university, and we are very proud that they will give our universities in Australia the best chance possible to be their best selves and to compete with their overseas competitors, particularly in Asia.

Good oppositions support governments that take on big reform. It is never easy when you take on big reform. Good governments do it because they know it is right, and good oppositions support governments that take on big reform. In the Hawke and Keating period, the Peacock-Howard oppositions often supported some of the big reforms that those governments did. When Kim Beazley was the Leader of the Opposition, it was not unknown for him to support some of the big reforms of the Howard and Costello government.

Yesterday Michael Gallagher, the chief executive of the Group of Eight Universities, had this to say about our reforms. He said:

The 2014 Higher Education Budget reforms are necessary.

Ms Butler interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Griffith will desist!

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He said:

They are logical, coherent, sustainable, equitable and inevitable.

He also said:

My guess is that the detractors of micro-economic reform in Australia's higher education industry will find themselves on the wrong side of history in resisting efficiency improvement and innovation, as they will be in opposing the redistributive measures of the package and, curiously, supporting socially regressive subsidies from general taxpayers to more advantaged segments of the community.

Mr Gallagher is absolutely right. The opposition have found themselves on the wrong side of this reform, have found themselves opposing more young Australians being given the opportunity to go to university, have found themselves on the side of subsidising middle- and upper-middle-class families to go to university rather than doing what this side of the House is doing, which is trying to get young people with low SES, first-generation university goers, into university.

The problem for this Leader of the Opposition is: he does not mind shredding Labor's economic credibility, such as it is—he does not mind shredding the economic credibility they had in the Hawke-Keating period—if it means political day-to-day tactics. We have seen it on display today. How obviously have we seen it today—question after question about rumours in this building, rather than asking questions about the budget. We are still asking questions about the budget on this side of the House, because we are pleased with what we are doing in this budget to try and change Australia for the better.

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton will desist!

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The problem with that side of the House is: they are all tactics and no strategy; they are all politics and no policy; he is all froth and no beer.