Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Those on the other side can yawn but that is what the Australian people do every single day when they wake up to find this out of touch government is still in office.

Labor will never support the government's agenda. Labor will never support an attack on the universities in this county. We will never support $100,000 university degrees being the only options for Australian students and those mature-age students who want to have the benefit of a tertiary education. We know that this government are sneaky. They try to say that they are nimble and that they are the government of the 21st century. What they are is a government that is hell-bent on ensuring that fewer Australians have the opportunity to go on to university. If they were serious, they would have brought this piece of legislation in more than 12 months ago and that would have then shown some credibility that they have an interest in higher education in this country. Unfortunately, as with so many other tests that have been put before them, they failed the test. They have failed the Australian people. They have failed the university sector. I am sure the university sector have, on many occasions, advised the government of their displeasure at the course of action that the government were trying to impose. But with the crossbenchers and the Labor Party on this side, we were able to stop that. We will always stand up for the universities in this country.