Senate report into the Government's higher education

TANYA PLIBERSEK, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Later today we'll see the Senate report into the Government's higher education legislation, and I've been following the Senate inquiry hearings very closely. What we've heard from witness after witness is that the Government's higher education reforms will mean students pay more for a lower quality education, and they'll repay that debt sooner. We also know that the Government is proposing a $500 million slush fund, taken from university funding and redistributed at the discretion of the Minister. It reminds you of the bad old days of John Howard saying that universities would only get funding increases if they introduced Australian Workplace Agreements for their staff. 

 

Of course, the other big issue that we'll be dealing this week in the Parliament is the issue of marriage equality. It is inconceivable, when John Howard was able to change the Marriage Act in an afternoon with a vote in the Parliament, that we are now once again embarking on this tortured debate about whether we have a plebiscite, whether that plebiscite is binding or voluntary. We know that the Parliament has the power to change this legislation now. We can save well over $100 million, the latest estimate $122 million. You're talking about the equivalent of thousands of new teachers or visits to the GP, the sort of things that actually make a difference to Australian lives, instead of a plebiscite that the conservatives in the Liberal Party have already vowed to ignore, should it be successful. This Parliament can legislate now, and it should. 

 

Any questions?

 

 JOURNALIST: Does Labor regret not doing more to see marriage equality when you were in government?

 

 PLIBERSEK: We changed 85 pieces of Commonwealth law when we were in government. We had a free vote on marriage equality. I voted for it and many of my colleagues did. Sadly, across the Parliament, not enough people voted in favour of marriage equality. That's democracy. I'd say that a lot of the views of my colleagues in the Parliament, on both sides of the Chamber, have evolved, along with the views of the Australian community. We've continued to see support in the community for marriage equality grow over the years. So yes I'm disappointed that that vote in 2012 was not successful, but I think the time has come for this reform. Most social reforms take some time, and the time for this one is now. 

 

 JOURNALIST: What needs to be the outcome of the Government's meeting with big power company heads today?

 

 PLIBERSEK: Well isn't it incredible? We've got the power company heads down to Canberra and what is the Prime Minister proposing? He's going to get them into his office and wag his finger at them again. I mean, since this government has been in power, wholesale power prices have doubled. And every time the Prime Minister gets the power companies down to Canberra to wag his finger at them Australians can be sure of one thing - their next power bill is going to have a higher number at the bottom of it than the last one did. The Prime Minister has to take decisive action, as Labor has suggested for years now, to make sure that our power system suits the interests of Australian consumers not the privatised power companies that are now making a fortune off the domestic bills and the business bills of Australian consumers.

 

One of the most important things we could do as a nation to put downward pressure on power prices is put certainty into the market. To generate new electricity by giving certainty to generators who are looking to invest. The Government's now had the Finkel report for some time, they refuse to commit to the most important recommendation of the Finkel review, that would give certainty to new investors to invest in clean energy. And the reason they're doing that is because - marriage equality, power, all of these things - the extreme right minority in the Liberal Party has the Prime Minister on a short chain and they keep yanking it.