Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Payne, the minister representing the Minister for Education. I refer to a statement by the education minister: 'We are trying to help rural and regional Australians by allowing their universities to compete on price'. Can the minister cite one example of where a university deregulation in another country has resulted in lower fees and lower student debts?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Carr for his question. I do not have the specific figures with me on that matter. But I remind the senator that, as I said to the chamber yesterday, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, the Vice-Chancellor of CQ in Queensland, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England—all of those individuals running regional universities in this country, just for starters—

Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They all love it. Shame about the students.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

let alone those that the senator abhors so much apparently—the Group of Eight. All of those vice-chancellors put on the record their support for this government's reforms. They support the opening up of competition in the university environment and they support the minister's proposals. All of those individuals are on the record in this chamber yesterday. I am sure the attendants could assist the senator with a copy of the Hansard.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I take it that the minister cannot answer the question. Given that the minister is so keen on quoting vice-chancellors, I ask her this: the Launceston Examiner reported, on 17 June, the possibility of closures in campuses in Tasmania's north as a result of the government's $30 million cut to the University of Tasmania. The university vice-chancellor there said, 'nothing can be ruled out—including campus closures'. If the Launceston and Burnie campuses are forced to close as a result of your policies, where will those students go to university?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I might ask someone for a copy of yesterday's Hansard so I can again provide those supporting comments from those other vice-chancellors—and the number of universities around the country—to Senator Carr, because he clearly has not had a look at that.

What is actually the problem here is not the government's proposals but those opposite's complete incapacity to think outside the square for even a moment in terms of the operation of Australia's higher education sector and the capacity we now have to make it a world-leading, competitive higher education sector. That does not include scaremongering; it does not include the sorts of fanciful statements that those opposite are grasping at straws to use in this debate. It includes a sensible discussion about the opportunities that are going to be available to what will be 80,000 more students in this country by 2018. Those opposite— (Time expired)

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I notice that the minister cannot tell us anything about what is happening in Tasmania. But I would ask her if she could tell us about why the Australian Veterinary Association has warned that under the government's changes veterinarian degrees could cost a quarter of a million dollars and take up to 45 years to pay off? How can the minister still be arguing that regional universities, like James Cook or Charles Sturt, could reduce their fees, when Universities Australia has found that veterinarian science fees will need to go up by at least 37 per cent?

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do have some notes from the minister on veterinary education issues which I cannot put my hand on right now, but the point that Senator Carr consistently misses is the opportunity that this gives Australia's higher education sector.

Senator Polley interjecting—

Senator Carol Brown interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senators Polley and Brown!

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This will open up an extraordinary future for tens of thousands of students in this country—people that your government was not prepared to fund or support: in sub-bachelor degrees, in diplomas, in associate diplomas and in pathway courses. You were not prepared to fund a single one. But we are prepared to do that. We are prepared to support those individuals and we will make a difference in the higher education sector in this country.