Doorstop Parliament House

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Press Conference — Parliament House Doors Date 4/06/2014 SUBJECT/S: Higher Education, Victorian politics, Clive Palmer CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning everyone on this fine Canberra morning. Labor’s debt and deficit disaster meant that the Budget required us to make some tough decisions. And the decisions we had to make needed to be fair for all Australians and right for the country and the economy. And I think we got the balance right. In Higher Education – I decided that we should have a major reform. A reform that freed up our universities to set their own fees to attach a value to the courses they offer their students. I’ve had some calculations done by my office and verified by the Department of Education that show that even if students leave university with a debt of say $30,000 or $40,000 which would both be quite high debts in comparison to the current average which is $16,800 on 2012 figures, they would be asked to pay $3 to $5 more a week in order to pay back that debt. If it was a $30,000 debt it would take them one year extra at $3 a week and on a $40,000 debt it would take them two years extra on $5 per week. So we think that is not an unfair burden to place on students and the [indistinct] to that is of course that students who are complaining about being asked to pay $3 or $5 a week are expecting the Australian taxpayer to pay that on their behalf. Now already 60 per cent of Australians don’t have a university degree and yet they pay 60 per cent of the tuition fees of students at university and those students will go on to earn a million dollars more on average over a lifetime than people who don’t go to university. So I don’t think $3 or $5 a week is an unfair burden to place on students given they will go on to earn so much more than those Australians who don’t go to university and after these changes have become implemented on the first of January 2016, the share, the contribution between taxpayers and students will be about 50-50 rather than the 60-40 at the moment in favour of the students. JOURNALIST: The $3 to $4 figure though… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: $3 to $5… JOURNALIST: The $3 to $5 figure per week – at what time period does that apply to? It is over the course of paying the debt off over 5 years or 10 years, because this is cumulative – these are cumulative inflation that you are increasing at. On the longer term that is going to be much more than $5 a week isn’t it? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No. That’s the whole point of the tables. My Department are happy and my staff are happy to give you a copy of the tables because it outlines over the period of time that we are talking. At the moment a person with a $30,000 HELP debt takes 8 years to pay it back under the CPI indexing arrangements. Under the 10-year bond rate which is what the taxpayers are paying to borrow that money on behalf of the student, we say it will take one year extra and cost the student $3 a week. If they have a $40,000 debt, we are saying that would normally take them 10 years to pay back, it’ll take them 12 years under these calculations and will cost them $5 extra a week. It is based on what is happening now under the CPI and what would happen under the rate that the taxpayers are currently paying on behalf of the students. JOURNALIST: Mr Pyne first it was Martin Hamilton-Smith and now Geoff Shaw, what is it with the Liberals and treacherous candidates? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Look [indistinct] I think that Denis Napthine is handling the Victorian situation extremely well – there is no constitutional crisis and no political crisis in Victoria. We have a Victorian government with a AAA credit rating, delivering surplus Budgets and record infrastructure. If there is any political crisis in Victoria, it rests at the door of Daniel Andrews who’s painted himself into something of a corner either having to support the Napthine government or take Geoff Shaw’s vote. But he has said that he will pass the Budget in Victoria, so there is no constitutional or political crisis and Denis Napthine is getting on with the job of government while Daniel Andrews is spinning around in a circle in Melbourne demanding meetings which won’t be going ahead. JOURNALIST: [inaudible]…election…[inaudible] CHRISTOPHER PYNE: These are all matters for Denis Napthine but I have absolutely every confidence that Denis is handling it extremely well. JOURNALIST: …[inaudible]… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well the Labor Party and the Greens won’t vote against the appropriations budget so it’s rather a moot point. JOURNALIST: What do you make of his claim that people will take their own lives as a result of your Budget? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I thought it was a rather extreme statement but if he’s aware of anybody in his constituency who is contemplating suicide he should make sure that those constituents are put in touch with the appropriate authorities – whether it’s Headspace which I founded ten years ago, or whether it’s the local mental health institutions to do with hospitals or various clinics that exist in Hobart. JOURNALIST: Should Clive Palmer be forced to apologise to Parliament for the comments he made about Peta Credlin? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think Clive Palmer made a very big mistake in trying to drag staff into the debate about the Paid Parental Leave scheme. It was a cowardly attack knowing that Peta Credlin couldn’t respond on her own behalf. His statements were wrong because far from influencing Tony Abbott about the Paid Parental Leave scheme, Tony had written about those matters in his Battlelines book well before Peta Credlin worked for him. And most unfortunately they were ignorant statements because Peta Credlin, if she was to give birth, would have the Paid Parental Leave scheme of the public service which is exactly the kind of scheme that we are trying to implement for people in the private sector through our Paid Parental Leave proposal. JOURNALIST: Mr Pyne there’s been some confusion in your portfolio over the last couple of days [inaudible]…I just wonder if you might take this opportunity to finally clear up once and for all when does the bond rate begin...[inaudible]… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well the interest rate – or the indexation which was CPI – now the interest rate which is the 10-year government bond rate. This is always applied on the first of June every year to the HECS debt which means that the first time that the 10-year government bond rate will be applied is the first of June 2016, which would be the next time after 2015 obviously on an annual basis that it’s applied. The new fee regime that the universities determine will start on January the first 2016. There are three types of students. There will be those who’ve been enrolled before the Budget who will face no changes to their fees. Those enrolled between the Budget and December 31st who will face the current arrangements til then and then the new fees after January the first, and then those students enrolled after January the first who will face the new regime. JOURNALIST: And will those timelines change [inaudible]...legislation in the Senate? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well we’ve given ourselves a good 18 months Laura to pass these arrangements and to work with the universities and the non-university higher education providers to bed down these changes. A very complicated area and we are attempting a very big reform – a reform that I think is important and necessary and will change the face of higher education in Australia for good and make our universities internationally competitive but also spread more opportunity to 80,000 students, to people who do diploma courses and associate degrees, to people from low SES backgrounds and first generation university goers – and we’ll have a massive injection of competition through the non-university higher education providers being able to access the Commonwealth Grants Scheme, and as well as that a Commonwealth Scholarships fund – the biggest of its kind in Australia’s history. So these are complicated areas and I’m sure people will try and pick up individual ministers on detail, but the overall change will be better for students, fairer to taxpayers in terms of the contribution they’re currently making for the tuition fees of students and allow our universities to achieve the excellence that they need to be able to compete against our Asian competitors. JOURNALIST: Mr Palmer has made it pretty clear what he thinks of the Government, and specifically Tony Abbott. Is it time for the Government to stop tip-toeing around him? What’s the approach going to be? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I get along very well with Clive Palmer and I think most people do in the government. Clive is the leader of a political party that has three Senators and himself in the House of Representatives. We will work with him cordially and as fairly and generously as we possibly can to pass our Government’s measures. But we were the Government that was elected last year with 90 seats out of 150. We have more Senators than any other political party in the Senate and we have a mandate for change and I think if you get elected as a conservative and then vote with Labor and the Greens then the people who voted for you as a conservative will punish you at the subsequent election. And I’m sure Mr Palmer has that uppermost in his thoughts. JOURNALIST: Will you be advising back benchers and Ministers to lay off Clive Palmer? He’s had some pretty nasty things said about him over the last couple of days? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Who? JOURNALIST: Clive Palmer. I mean the Treasurer Joe Hockey said he doesn’t deserve all the oxygen. He got a very angry response from yourself calling him cowardly now you are saying you have to be cordial in the relationship. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Obviously you haven’t been in too many fights. If you think we are being unkind to Clive Palmer. You’ve obviously been molly coddled all these years. JOURNALIST: I’ve been in plenty of fights but what about you? There has been a war of words between yourselves and Clive Palmer and now you’re saying you have to have a cordial relationship with him. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I wouldn’t describe this as a war of words at all. But when there is a war of words I’ll let you know so that you can pick up on it. JOURNALIST: The latest poll shows that the majority of Australians support tow backs. That must be a big win. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well we have stopped the boats and one of our policies in the election was that we would. They said it couldn’t be done. Labor and the Greens and the left said it was an impossible task that we had set ourselves. It’s amazing in the…I think it’s 187 days, but don’t hold me to the day, that there hasn’t been a unauthorised boat arrival. It’s been a great achievement on behalf of Scott Morrison the Minister and the whole Government in showing the resolve necessary to protect our borders. And I’m pleased the Australian public have recognised that we have certainly kept our promise that we made them to protect our borders and I hope that will continue into the future. JOURNALIST: Just quickly and back on Victoria. You said there is no political crisis, that’s extraordinary given what we saw last night with the press conferences with Denis Napthine and Daniel Andrews, how is there not a crisis in Victoria at the moment? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well there isn’t a government about to fall, there isn’t a Budget about to be blocked, there is a Premier who is getting on with the job of delivering surplus Budgets and a massive infrastructure programme. His state continues to have a AAA credit rating. The opposition is no closer to Government than it was two days ago and they have put themselves in the rather unfortunate position now of either rejecting Geoff Shaw’s support if it gets to that point or accepting it when they have said they wouldn’t in the last 12 months. [ENDS]