Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President, for reminding me. Our reforms ensure that those young people—and indeed middle-aged Australians—who have, for a variety of reasons, been unable to access higher education will actually be able to do it. That has to be a good thing. I would really love to have a unity ticket with the Labor Party and the Greens on that particular aspect of our package.

Our reforms will mean that colleges and TAFEs in regional areas can offer more courses with qualifications leading to careers or further studies. Federation University Australia in Ballarat and La Trobe University, for example, have partnerships with TAFEs in regional Victoria to provide pathways to higher education for people who might not otherwise get an opportunity. Charles Sturt University in southern New South Wales states that 26 per cent of its undergraduate students gained entry via a partnership pathway with their local TAFE—TAFEs like Wodonga TAFE. That has to be a good thing.

We are abolishing unfair loan fees on VET FEE-HELP. So, rather than stand up here and argue for Grammarians' right to have a free education—they are already there, Senator Carr. We have got enough Grammarians in our higher education system. We need to get some more of my people and some more of your people from the western suburbs of Melbourne into higher education to ensure that they can both have the personal benefit and obviously contribute to the public benefit through their studies. We are also abolishing the unfair loan fees for VET FEE-HELP and FEE-HELP. That is 1,600 bucks a year in the back pocket of the people that need it most. But do not let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Rather than quote foreigners, I think I will quote locals who are champions of the government's reform agenda, who do recognise the need to change, who do recognise that we must get our higher education sector on a financially sustainable track. I go to the Chair of the Group of Eight universities, Professor Ian Young, who previously was Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University: 'Deregulation will allow all universities to play to their strengths.'

Regional Universities Network—I love it that Labor comes in here and quotes this side of the Senate's concern for regional Australia. Sorry, through your legislative program over the last six years, it is little bit hard to find your concern with the mining tax, the carbon tax et cetera—but we will not go there. The Regional Universities Network has stated that 'the deregulation of student fees is the only feasible way that the sector can maintain quality and remain internationally competitive', provided that we ensure that those students from regional areas are supported through pathways to get to the higher education of their choice.

I have not had time to go into the role of Commonwealth scholarships in ensuring that those bright kids from Wycheproof High, from Bendigo, from Ballarat and from Benalla will be able to access higher education no matter where they are, getting them over the financial barrier of the 20-odd grand that it will cost their parents or themselves to fund their relocation expenses and their living expenses. I think that is fantastic. It is not just about ensuring regional kids have access in their local environment; it is ensuring they have access to whatever area of study they feel is best. What we are interested in doing is not only empowering universities to chart their own course but empowering Australian students to make decisions about their future, and hence our nation's future, with respect to where they want to study. I think that has to be a good thing. I cannot believe the Labor Party is proposing that we restrict student choice, that we restrict their capacity.

In relation to the NUS $100,000 scare campaign, I have an alternative press release, and it does quote the NUS report stating that it is not claiming that every degree at every university will cost $100,000. I wish that were out in the media, because that would ensure that those low-SES students who are price sensitive, for very good reasons, are not scared off getting excellent quality at an Australian institution.