Mr PEARCE (2:34 PM) —My question today is addressed to the Minister for Education, Science and Training. Would the minister inform the House of the benefits now flowing to university students as a result of the government's higher education reform package? Is the minister aware of other statements or policies which place the quality of our universities at risk?

Dr NELSON (Minister for Education, Science and Training) —I thank the member for Aston for his question; he has a very strong commitment to quality education. In facing our future it is obvious for Australian universities that, above all else, it is quality that counts. The Australian government, the Howard government, has announced and implemented policy to invest an additional $2.6 billion of public funds in Australian universities over the next five years—to increase places and for better quality, better teaching and better resources for our students as they go through Australian universities. One of the changes which was requested by the universities themselves was that they, for the very first time, would set the HECS charge which would be levied from zero—no HECS whatsoever—to a level no more than 25 per cent above what it currently is.

It is important that the House and Australians understand that with HECS, the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, the Australian taxpayer pays for three-quarters of the cost of university education and students pay back about a quarter of the cost of that education, not when they are students but when they have graduated from university and are earning in excess of $36,000 a year. In other words, as far as HECS is concerned, it is free at the point of entry and, as the British Prime Minister has said, fair at the point of repayment.

Throughout Australia at the moment, universities are now in the process of implementing these reforms. We have 17 universities that have decided to increase the HECS contribution—13 of them by up to 25 per cent and four of them by less than 25 per cent—eight universities are not changing HECS at all and 13 universities are yet to decide. Every single dollar of that HECS goes to the university to benefit the students who will be educated in that university, while at the same time Australian taxpayers, many of whom have never seen the inside of a university, will each contribute three additional dollars.

The Labor Party has said repeatedly that it is opposed to any increase in HECS, including up to 25 per cent. In fact, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Opposition have both stated this on numerous occasions. As a result of the decisions that have been taken by the 17 universities in Australia that have chosen to increase HECS, those universities will receive an additional $377 million over the next four years to benefit the education of Australian students. That is $377 million in addition to the $2.6 billion that this government is committing in public funds to universities. On Meet the Press on 18 April this year, Brian Toohey asked the Deputy Leader of the Opposition a question, and she said:

Brian Toohey then asked—and this is very important:

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition then said, `It includes the 25 per cent price hike compensation. That's part of it.' So she made it very clear on this occasion, and others, that the Labor Party's policy includes compensation to the universities for the 25 per cent price hike where they have chosen to apply it. I then went to the Labor Party's policy booklet, Aim Higher—the name of Tony Blair's higher education policy I might add. I went to page 23 of Aim Higher. I was looking for at least $377 million. By the time the other 13 universities have made decisions, it might be $400 million or even $500 million in compensation. I went to the costings. I was looking for the HECS compensation fund and maybe $400 million or $500 million. Do you know what I found in the Labor Party policy document? How much has the Labor Party budgeted to fully compensate universities for increases in HECS? $15 million.

It is embarrassing. The Labor Party has budgeted $15 million to fully compensate universities for an up to 25 per cent price increase over the next four years. Then—Prime Minister I ask you to restrain yourself—I thought I should be excessively generous. I thought, `Okay, we've got $15 million. We are now looking for another $362 million or thereabouts to basically compensate for what the Labor Party is doing.' I went further down the policy and found indexation. I was looking for indexation, and what I found was $312 million. In other words, the Labor Party's indexation to university funding over the next four years and its compensation fund, at a piddling $15 million, do not even add up to what will be required to fully compensate universities over the next four years—probably $400 to $500 million.

I ask the Leader of the Opposition: which group of Australians are you seeking to mislead? Is the Leader of the Opposition seeking to mislead the Australian universities into believing that they will be fully compensated for this 25 per cent increase in HECS, or is he showing his economic illiteracy and seeking to mislead the Australian taxpayer into believing they will not have to fork out at least another half a billion dollars, added to the half a billion dollars already found by the department of finance as a hole in Labor's higher education policy? This is not just deception on Australian universities—it is a con trick on the Australian taxpayer. The more scrutiny that is provided to this prior to the election rather than after it, the better off all of us—in particular, the children in Australian universities—will be. I table my department's analysis of the incomes being derived by universities from HECS, I table the transcript of the Meet the Pressprogram of 18 April and I table Labor's policy document, including what pass for costings.