Senator ABETZ —My question is to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. There were dire predictions that the number of students enrolled in Australian universities would collapse with the introduction of both higher and differential HECS contributions in 1997. The Democrats spokesman claimed in a February press release that enrolments were down. Will the minister inform the Senate whether Senator Stott Despoja's predictions have been proven true or false?

Senator VANSTONE —Thank you, Senator Abetz. I am pleased to inform the Senate that he who is often referred to as Chicken Little over there has been proved wrong. The sky, in fact, is not falling in on higher education in Australia. Universities have more places for Australians than ever before.

Senator Hill —More places?

Senator VANSTONE —Yes, it is true. Their enrolments and revenues are thriving. Australians have shown a strong and growing appreciation of the value to them of higher education.

The changes to HECS, both the increases in the levels and the introduction of a differentiated band, have had no significant impact on enrolments. In fact, there were more government-funded undergraduate places this year than last year and universities have accepted 26,000 more students over and above the government-funded places available.

Senator Carr said our changes would mean fewer opportunities for Australians to attend a university. That has clearly been rubbished by this data. Senator Stott Despoja predicted a drop in university enrolments. In one of the hundreds of press releases she put out—she spends every day putting three or four out—she has been proved wrong again. They had not even finalised the enrolments at the time, yet there was a claim we would have fewer enrolments.

Peter Baldwin, the then education spokesperson, claimed that there would be unfilled places and a general decline in demand for university courses in another February press release. Did it happen? No, it did not. Demand for law and medicine have not collapsed—in fact, medicine and dentistry have increased. Engineering is over-enrolled. So are teacher education, the performing arts and business courses. There are increases in mathematics, in computing science and in a whole range of areas.

The partial information and rumours on applications that were circulated late last year touted the collapse of higher education. It is not the applications, rumours of application levels or reports about numbers of offers that matter. What matters is the number of people who are on the books at 31 March when they become liable for HECS. These are the figures we are talking about. This is the real evidence.

But there is more. The figures also mean that there are more opportunities for Australians to go to university. They mean that Australians recognise the value of the opportunity and are willing to make an investment in their future. The increase in fee paying postgraduate places will add an estimated $12 million to university revenues. Increased Commonwealth operating grants over and above last year will add $67 million to the funds universities received last year.

Senator Stott Despoja yet again said that overseas students have expressed concern about the government's cutbacks and the impact on higher education—prophesying doom and gloom for the export market of higher education. She will be pleased to know that there are increased enrolments of international students, which will add an estimated $92 million to the level of revenue which was available in 1996. Overseas students clearly know the state of Australian universities and are voting with their feet.

Increases to Commonwealth funding of research will add a further $23 million in 1997—altogether another $194 million in revenue for Australian universities over what they had last year. So the truth is finally out: there are more students; there is more revenue for universities; the sector is thriving.

Senator ABETZ —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. Have the Bollinger Bolshevik, Senator Carr, or Peter Baldwin or Senator Stott Despoja apologised for their misleading statements?

The PRESIDENT —Senator Abetz, I ask you to refer to Senator Carr differently.

Senator ABETZ —Senator Carr is often referred to by a number of titles, but I will not do so on this occasion.

Senator VANSTONE —I thank Senator Abetz because he does remind me that Gary Gray, the National Secretary of the Labor Party, indicated that one reason Labor had done so badly was that they could never bring themselves to say they were sorry. They never said they were sorry for the recession we had to have or for what they did to unemployment.

Senator Carr has not said he is sorry for misleading the Australian public or misleading Australian students. Senator Stott Despoja never says she is sorry for misleading the students, for using them in her political barrage to take over the Democrats. As far as Senator Stott Despoja is concerned, there is not room for two blondes down there and she is working on it. She will use anybody. She will misuse Australian students or anybody she can to get there.

She will not say she is sorry. She should because she is one of the key people who have been trying to tell students that they will not be able to go to university unless they have got a lot of money. What an atrocious lie for an education spokesperson to tell students you need money to go to university! You should be ashamed of yourself and you should apologise. (Time expired)