Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Yesterday the minister called on the opposition to ask Universities Australia about the minister's unfair university changes. Universities Australia has said it supports the continuation of the existing system of CPI indexation of student debt. Will the minister finally admit he got it wrong and scrap his plan to Americanise our universities and saddle young Australians with a debt sentence?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would remind the member for Kingston that Sandra Harding, chair of Universities Australia, said: 'The status quo is not tenable. It is not sustainable.' If the legislation does not pass, we will have the status quo. So Universities Australia are behind the reform of the university sector. They are supporting the reform of the university sector. Would they like to see changes around the edges? Of course they would. We have been talking about that for months. That is why we are having a Senate inquiry—

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Perth will desist.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to which submissions are being made. The government has never said anything at any point other than that we are prepared to negotiate with the crossbenchers. As I have said many times on radio, on television and in this place, governments have controlled the Senate for three of the last 40 years. In other words, for 37 years they have had to negotiate with the crossbenchers in the Senate. I have made it perfectly clear that the CPI rate versus the 10-year government bond rate is one of the things that we are very open to negotiating with the crossbenchers.

Suddenly, the Labor Party have discovered that we are introducing a 10-year government bond rate for student debt. Where have you been, you troglodytes? What have you been doing?

Have you been studying closely the $6.6 billion of cuts that you delivered when you were in government?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We do not use props, Member for Sturt.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table list of the $6.6 billion of cuts, so you can remind yourselves of what you thought about universities. I said yesterday, in response to an interjection from the Minister for Health, 'What are the Labor Party's alternatives? Are they closing free education? In other words, is the taxpayer paying 100 per cent?'

I thought that could not possibly be the case, but do you know what I discovered? I discovered one Labor member who says:

I have a further suggestion to lift our primary vote.

That is not very altruistic!

Get rid of HECS, now euphemistically called HELP, and re-introduce free university education and free TAFE courses.

That was the member for Wills, Kelvin Thomson. In fact, there is a secret agenda within the Labor Party to abolish the HECS scheme, so there are more billions of dollars that they will have to find at the next election when the media starts scrutinising Labor's policies.

Mr Dutton interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Health will desist.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finally, in case I do not get another question on this issue, the member for Kingston talks about the Americanisation of the education system. Who said this:

But in supporting start-ups, nurturing creativity and rewarding ingenuity … America shows us the way.

That was Bill Shorten, July 2014.

Government members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my right. This is question time, not rabble time.