Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister: new modelling shows that the cost of science degrees will triple to $123,000, because of the government's broken promise on university fees. Why does this Prime Minister have such contempt for science and Australia's future scientists?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition should have more faith in the universities of Australia. The universities of our country are determined to do the right thing by their students and by their potential students. They are also determined to do the right thing by learning—they are the custodians of our best traditions. They are the custodians of our higher learning, and the last thing that they want is to price degrees out of the reach of the Australian people.

I am very confident that under a less regulated university system we will have better degrees and we will have even more access to higher education than we do now, particularly with this government's changes that will extend the FEE-HELP system to subdegree courses. For the first time, we will extend FEE-HELP to subdegree courses. For the first time, we will extend FEE-HELP to a much wider range of institutions. It is going to be good for universities but, above all else, it is going to be good for students.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek to table the NATSEM research which shows that the fees are going up for a science degree to $123,000.

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