Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The desperation of this government is now quite palpable. At a time when this government should be looking to focus on its own plans for this country's future we now see that this government is desperate to try to shift blame and to get the eyes of the nation to look elsewhere by concocting a hole in Labor's costings. This is a very, very desperate measure.

Senator Dodson's very worthwhile question during question time touched on higher education. In my opinion, higher education is one of those matters which should be above party politics. It is a question that goes to the future of our country. An extract from the report by Cadence Economics says:

The ability of our nation to expand the knowledge and skills of our workforce to drive productivity growth is vital if Australia is to raise living standards into the future.

When it comes to higher education, we should all be advocating for better education policies. But, unfortunately, we have a government—the Turnbull government—whose planned cuts to higher education are ruthless. As Senator Carr indicated, under their current plan there are $20 billion in cuts from Australian universities set to take place into the future.

But it is not just the cuts; it is also the debt collection. We have heard that the Prime Minister, alongside Minister Birmingham, are conspiring to collect HECS debts from those who have passed away, all the while planning to increase the overall cost to universities. This is an atrociously bad idea—an idea so bad and so shameless it does not warrant any scrutiny; it just demands ridicule. The fundamental idea of HECS is that students borrow money to study in their field of choice and only have to pay it back once they earn reasonable money.

The coalition's plan to deregulate universities is an appalling measure to address the rising cost of higher education. We saw the report from the Parliamentary Budget Office some time ago which talked about the fact that the government's proposal to deregulate would drive up the annual cost to government from the current $1.7 billion of the HECS-HELP student loan system to $11.1 billion a year by 2025-26. This is bad not only for students but also for the budget bottom line and for our country.

In my own home state of Queensland we, sadly, have some of the lowest rates of graduates from university, particularly from regional Queensland. So one has to ask the question: what are the government doing to address those types of issues? Unfortunately, the answer is nothing. In fact, they are making it worse. In deregulating the higher education system they are attempting to charge up to $100,000 for a degree and, worst of all, they are creating a disincentive for people to study. They are crippling the future of our country. I know from talking to Queenslander's about the government's policy that people are worried about the prospect of the cost of higher education increasing. Working-class families find it difficult to commit to providing the support for their sons and daughters to attend university, and the prospect of a ballooning in the cost of education is a total disincentive. I think this is a disgraceful policy approach.

Labor believes that what you need to get into university is hard work and deep thinking, not deep pockets or your parent's bank balance. We believe universities have a responsibility to help students succeed, especially disadvantaged students. I call on the coalition and on education minister Senator Birmingham to stop using university funding as a punching bag, to rule out any further cuts to higher education and to dump the Liberal's frightening plan for $100,000 degrees.

The World Economic Forum Human Capital Index was developed in recognition of the fact that an educated population is a key investment driver of economic growth and the development of advanced industries and advanced countries. Australia currently sits in 13th place in the index, behind New Zealand, Belgium, Austria and Ireland. We cannot afford to slip any further. Australia needs its skilled graduates to power our future. Our university students deserve the best start in life, and only Labor can guarantee that start.