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

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has repeatedly claimed that there will be no $100,000 degrees in Australia, but it has been revealed today that, because of the government's changes to universities, fees for medical students at the University of Western Australia will increase to more than $100,000. Why does this Prime Minister want to take Australia down the path of American universities, where degrees cost $100,000 or more?

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

In response to the Leader of the Opposition's question, let me make three fundamental points. The first is that no student need pay a dollar up-front. The second is that FEE-HELP remains, and must remain, to ensure that people can cover their fees. The third is that the Commonwealth taxpayer will continue to cover 50 per cent of people's university education. This is a perfectly good system and it will get stronger under this government. What will happen under this government is that our universities will be liberated to be the best they possibly can be. We want our universities to be able to compete with the best in the world. We do not want our universities to be stagnating—as would have inevitably been the case had we persisted with Labor's system.