Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberals, in particular, as part of Mr Pynes's nasty political softening up process in order to blackmail the University of Tasmania into accepting the Liberal's outrageous changes have dramatically reduced the number of associate degrees.

During a recent briefing my staff undertook with Minister Pyne's senior education officials, it was admitted that this year the University of Tasmania while asking the government for 360 associate degrees was granted only 60 associate degrees. Once again, here we go, 'earn or learn.' Parliamentary Library research I subsequently commissioned shows that in 2009 the University of Tasmanian was granted 1,095 associate degrees ; in 2010, that number was reduced to 1,023 associate degrees; in 2011, that number was reduced again to 850 associate degrees; in 2012, that number was slashed to 630; and the latest figure for 2015, which has been confirmed by Mr Pyne, is that it has been ripped down to 60. Sixty! In the space of six years, an in-demand higher education course which provides a lifeline for the state of Tasmania though UTAS has been cut from 1,095 to 60 associate degrees. That is a cut of 1,800 per cent. My question to this Liberal government and to the previous Labor government is: was this a deliberate attempt to undermine our state's economy and drive a stake through the heart of the social, intellectual and cultural life of Tasmania, or was the restriction of the availability of associate degrees just sheer incompetence?

While Tasmania has been granted only 60 associate degrees for 2015, Parliamentary Library research shows that in 2013 New South Wales had 1,091 and Victoria had 1,859. I tell you what, they are not in the same economic and social situation we are in. I am calling on the federal government to come clean on the number of associate degrees they issue and explain how they decide to issue those degrees. The Liberals must explain why they refuse to support the University of Tasmania's plan to expand this worthy program. And from the Labor party I want a guarantee that in government they will reverse the cutback in investment in our universities and set up a national goal to take our investment in university funding to one per cent of GDP. I am looking for that undertaking from the Labor Party. Answer this simple question honestly and do not ignore it: if the Nordic countries can deliver the best higher education system in the world to their young people for free, why can't we? I also want a guarantee that Labor in government will invest and allow the University of Tasmania to implement its plans to expand by delivering up to 10,000 associate degrees on the Burnie and Launceston campuses while continuing their magnificent research in Hobart.

I believe that Australia has the means and resources to deliver free higher education to our young people. However, this debate has shown that we do not have the politicians with the vision and courage to deliver free higher education to our young people. So, today, I am putting out a call to those people who want to create a better, smarter Tasmania and Australia to contact my office. I will support candidates at the next election who are prepared to work for a future where Australia has the best higher education system in the world and our government will deliver our children's first degree for free. A free first university degree for all Australian children who want and earn the opportunity will only become a wild, unachievable goal if the Senate and the parliament are populated by people who think it is a wild, unachievable goal.

For Australia to prosper and thrive, we must look to the lessons of Finland and Denmark. We must not look to America, as the Liberals want us to with their legislation. The American higher education system, according to the Economist magazine, is contributing to America's new aristocracy, a hereditary meritocracy. An Economist article examining America's higher education system states:

“MY BIG fear,” says Paul Ryan, an influential Republican congressman from Wisconsin, is that America is losing sight of the notion that “the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life.”

We do not want that future for Tasmanian or Australia.

In closing: if Minister Pyne and Prime Minister Tony Abbott have so much faith in the higher education reforms contained in this bill, why did they not tell the people of Tasmania and of the other states about their reforms before the last election? If the Liberal's higher education policies were any good there would not be a need for a cover-up followed by a disgraceful political ambush and now these desperate threats. I oppose this legislation with every fibre of my being. I will always do so.