Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

It may come as no surprise to the chamber that I'm not going to admit any of the things that Senator Faruqi has invited me to admit. I will acknowledge, however, that the Australian Greens don't give a damn about how you manage money at all. The Australian Greens don't give a damn about whether or not the debt book is sustainable for our student loan scheme or anything else, because they seem to think that money just grows on trees. What our government will do, and has done, is make sure that we as a country can continue to afford to provide the most generous access to university and to study options without up-front fees for those students. We preserve and maintain that by making sure that we have a student loan scheme where the bulk of those funds are repaid so that it is sustainable for generations into the future. That's who we're looking after.