Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

Do not get too excited, Minister Abetz! It is a bit like your higher education policy: there is always going to be a bitter pill at the end of it. When I see headlines like the one in today’s higher education supplement in the Australian saying ‘$1.7bn boost exceeds hopes’ I get pretty excited. Of course, I remember the headline—as Senator Carr would—in 1996-97: ‘$1.8 billion cut out of the higher education sector’. So what took you so long? It is nice to be able to say good things; it is nice to see a budget that does reinvest in the sector. But, guys, how long did this take? Ten years! Ten years ago a lot of changes took place and those changes have had deleterious effects on the sector in research, capital funding, infrastructure, student financial support and income support.

I am the first to congratulate this government on its decision in the budget last night to make rent assistance available to Austudy recipients. It is something I have campaigned on long and hard in this place. In fact, I think I threatened not to leave the parliament until you did make that change.