SENATOR KIM CARR

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION,

RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND INDUSTRY
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA
MEDIA RELEASE
PYNE CONTRADICTS HIS OWN SHAMBOLIC UNIVERSITY POLICY AGAIN

Australians are right to feel confused, fearful and betrayed after Education Minister
Christopher Pyne has again misled the public by contradicting his departments
website during a television interview this morning.

oday, as on previous occasions, Minister Pyne said university students enrolled
before the !udget on "# May $%"& would not be hit by higher interest rates on their
student debts ' this is wrong,( )hadow *igher Education Minister +im Carr said
today

,n television today, he said that students currently enrolled would have their
student debts grandfathered under current arrangements until $%$%.

*is departments website ma-es it very clear that this is not the case..
FRAN KELLY: Just to be clear, though, those students who are enrolling now or next
year, they will be repaying their E!" debt at the higher rate, won#t they$

!R%"&'(ER (YNE: Anybody who was enrolled be)ore *ay +,, nothing will
change in ter-s o) their arrange-ents.

KELLY: &he E!" debt will always stay at !(% into the )uture until it is paid o)).

(YNE: &hey are grand)athered until they )inish their courses, which is by /0/0 in
-ost cases. Anybody who enrols )ro- January +, /0+1 will )ace the new
arrange-ents )ro- the ti-e they enrol. Anybody who enrols between the 2udget
and 3ece-ber 4+ next year will )ace the new arrange-ents )ro- January + and the
current arrange-ents until that ti-e.
C*/0),P*E/ P12E ' A!C 02)03E/) ' )423A1, " 542E $%"&
!ut his own department6s website reads7
&he new arrange-ents will apply to all elp debts 5including those incurred by
)or-er students, continuing students and new students6 beginning with the
indexation o) debts on + June, /0+1.
3EPA/ME2 ,8 E34CA0,2, )431 A))0) 9E!)0E

he Minister clearly refuses to come to grips with his own shambolic policy and
admit that it will have a devastating impact not only on future students, but many
e:isting students and graduates,. )enator Carr said.

0ts absolutely clear that anyone, including current and past students, with a
*EC);*E<P debt after " 5anuary $%"= will be hit with a new higher interest rate of
up to = per cent per annum.
0ts well overdue for Mr Pyne to ac>uaint himself with that aspect of his policy and
stop misleading the public.
(*ow can Mr Pyne ever understand how much his government is hurting students if
he doesn6t understand his own policies?
0ts also time he stopped dismissing the implications of saddling young people and
their families with crippling fees and debts that could ta-e decades to pay off.
9e have university vice@chancellors warning that fees for some degrees will double,
and even treble, Aust to cover the Abbott Bovernments cuts to course subsidies.
his is Aust the beginning. he revelation that fees for the top universities could rise
by between CC and =% per cent Aust to ma-e up for Abbotts cuts ma-es a lie of the
repeated assurances that some university fees will go down.
he reality is that all fees at universities will increase as the government imposes a
massive cut on universities and shifts more and more costs on to students and their
families.
<abor will not support a system of higher fees, bigger student debt, reduced access
and greater ine>uality.
9e will never tell Australians that the >uality of their education depends on their
capacity to pay..
SUNDAY, 1 JUNE 2014