Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

What a useful contribution that was! I don't want to point to them, but I do want to point out that this is where the students of Australia get to see the real colours of the Greens party. What is this really about? Is it about some of the affordability and other challenges that people face in the higher education sector? Not for a minute is it about any of those things. The government's got a process examining the real issues that sit there in higher education with affordability for students, but what is this really about—apart from some glib, US-style sloganeering about cancelling debt and all the other derivative nonsense that this group of characters carries on about?

They are asking the Senate to choose between two things this week. Are we dealing with the HELP related issues or are we dealing with homelessness? Are we going to deal with a scheme that they think should be abolished, in their world, that means that students make a contribution when they earn enough or are we going to deal with people who are sleeping under bridges? This lot over here want to carry on with some student Trotskyite approach. They are trying to play chicken with the legislative process in this place, but what they don't want—