Senator McGRATH (Queensland) (15:17): Labor, where art though? Where are the Labor reformers of the Hawke-Keating era? Where are you? Where is the Labor Party of Chifley? Where is that light on that hill? Where is that reforming Labor Party? I do not know. Can someone please tell me? All we have from the modern Labor Party opposite—we do not have the light on the hill; we have this damp squib. We have the grey ghost of the Labor Party wandering around the corridors, looking for some policies, plans or values. All we get from the Labor Party, the Leader of the Opposition and those opposite are scare campaigns. When you look at Labor's policy manifesto for the coming election, it is a very simple document. Open it up and it is going to have two letters in it. It is going to be 'no' in 18-point font because the Labor Party has become the party of negativity. Labor Party has become the party of saying no to anything and everything. The Labor Party does not— Senator Abetz: Including their own savings. Senator McGRATH: Including their own savings. There is the Labor Party of the reforming Hawke-Keating era, and where has it gone? It has gone somewhere. Where are the people from that era? They are hiding because they are embarrassed about the modern Labor Party. The modern Labor Party does not have the courage of its convictions— Senator Conroy: How's Boris? Senator McGRATH: Boris is doing very well, thank you very much. And let's talk about someone who does have the courage of his convictions, and that is Boris Johnson. You are not a toenail to Boris Johnson, my friend. Where is the Labor Party? All we get. Senator Conroy: He had the courage to give you the boot! The closest you come to his toenails is when you got the boot! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senators, that is enough. Senator McGrath, if you could direct your comments through the chair and, Senator Conroy, if you could cease interjecting. Senator McGRATH: Thank you. I encourage Senator Conroy to do some reading in the first instance but also encourage him to read some of the books of Boris Johnson in terms of his views on higher education, because all this Labor negative party wants to do is say no. All they want to do is run scare campaigns. They want to run a scare campaign about taxes. Let's talk about their record on taxes in terms of the carbon tax. Let's talk about their record in government, but they do not want to talk about 2007-2013. To them it was some sort of Doctor Who episode that never actually happened; they went into the vortex and forgot about it! I can understand why Labor would want to forget about 2007-2013: it was a terrible government. It made the Whitlam government look good. But at least the Whitlam government and Hawke-Keating governments had policies. They had values. As mad as Whitlam and his cabinet were, they had policies and they had values. But why is the modern Labor Party not talking about the reforms of the Hawke-Keating era? Why aren't you looking back in your history book, Senator Conroy? Open your history books up— Senator Conroy: I was there. Senator McGRATH: Were you there? Tell us about what happened. Tell us about the reforms they made to higher education. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: It would be better if you addressed your remarks through the chair and not actually directly asked Senator Conroy to respond to you, because it does invite him to do so and it would be most inappropriate. Senator McGRATH: I don't think Senator Conroy needs much invitation to respond! But I encourage him, if he is going to speak shortly, to talk about what happened between 1983 and 1996 in terms of the reforms that the Hawke-Keating governments brought forward. For some reason that has become a black hole for Labor also. I do not know why it has become a black hole for them. They should be proud of that government. They should be as proud of that government as we are proud of the Howard government between 1996 and 2007—a strong, reforming government. That is what this government is trying to do with our proposals and reforms to open up the university sector. The Labor Party know that the deregulation of fees will have no negative impact on disadvantaged students. In fact, may I quote to you from the Shadow Assistant Treasurer— Senator Conroy interjecting— Senator Bilyk interjecting— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator McGrath, resume your seat. Senator Conroy and Senator Bilyk, if you could cease interjecting that would assist the Senate. Senator McGRATH: I quote from the Shadow Assistant Treasurer—a fine man, I am told—Andrew Leigh. This was in a book. He is another person who has written a book. Through you, Mr Deputy President, to those on those benches: you might want to read this book sometime. I am sure he will lend you one of the copies of his book. He might sign it for you! He said there is no reason to think that it would adversely affect poorer students. That is in relation to the deregulation of fees. Through you, Mr Deputy President: if your Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Labor party, is saying that—someone who has a PhD; he is quite a learned gentleman—why are you not supporting these reforms? Why are you scared of reform? Why are you scared of opening up the university sector to make it the best university sector in the world, so we can really grow the Australian— (Time expired)