Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens are calling for a green paper. There's a surprise! What we will have in this process is increasing higher education spending in this country. It will go up. Let me say that that is in stark contrast to Labor's $6.6 billion worth of cuts over almost 18 months, I think, at one stage. If Senator Rhiannon is so interested in polls, let me refer to a poll—a survey of more than 1,200 people across the country—commissioned by Universities Australia, which said that 56 per cent of Australians would support the deregulation of universities if the bill proceeded with amendments. We have indicated that that is the view of Universities Australia.