Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I want to very briefly respond to the minister on those very politicised comments that he made. If he's saying that the Job-ready Graduates program failed, then he's basically deserting all the students studying teaching, nursing, maths, languages and engineering who had the cost of their degrees dramatically lowered as a result of the coalition's initiatives. In contrast to this government, which, of course, has now fuelled a national teacher workforce crisis, we took really strong action to encourage more students into these vital degrees. The fact that the minister is suggesting that this has failed is very concerning. I think that bells the cat, indicating that the government is planning to increase the cost of teaching, nursing, maths, engineering and the other degrees that we dramatically lowered.

I'm very suspicious, Minister, because, if you were serious about changing the Job-ready Graduates program, you would have done so by now. If the Australian people have the misfortune of seeing the government re-elected, I think the government will push this off till after the election. It's a very deceptive plan, and I am deeply concerned that the government's plan is to increase the cost of these degrees, which are so vital for so many thousands of young Australians.