Senator McKENZIE (Victoria) (16:36): It gives me great pleasure to rise this afternoon in this place and debate the Abbott government's plan for $100,000 degrees and a new student tax! Senator Lines and others have made reference to the new secret tax. It is so secret that no-one in the government has any idea what they are talking about. It is so secret that Minister Pyne— Senator Kim Carr: That doesn't surprise me! Senator McKENZIE: It is so secret, Senator Carr, that Minister Pyne does not know about it. Senator Kim Carr: Really? Read his quotes this morning! Senator McKENZIE: Really! The secret new tax. Senator Kim Carr: It's the mushroom syndrome! Senator McKENZIE: You have really overreached! Hundreds— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Gallacher ): Order! Senator McKenzie, can I remind you to address your remarks through the chair and not across the chamber please. Senator McKENZIE: Certainly, Mr Acting Deputy President, my apologies. It is so secret that there has been no announcement. We have heard continually from the other side that Minister Pyne has made an announcement—that he has gone out to the masses and said that we are taxing students. What a joke! They come in here with claims that we have made an announcement, which are completely false. And yet the opposition, like the claims of $100,000 degrees, continue to conflate and bring fear into the hearts of young students, particularly those who those on that side of this chamber should be most concerned about and who their electorates represent. They are those from lower-socioeconomic families who are the beneficiaries of this, our reform package. Senator Kim Carr: $100,000 degrees are progressive? Senator McKENZIE: We are very proud to be the socially progressive party of this particular policy area, Senator Carr. And if you had any bright ideas, you would not be calling a Senate reference inquiry to go out there into universities and private providers— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator McKENZIE: But we are not calling those; we are not calling the private providers to Senator Carr's Senate inquiry on Friday, because they do not matter. Senator Carr has to be the most elitist Labor Party senator when it comes to education policy that I have ever come across. He is elitist: this is about the very students who Senator Carr should care most about—those from first-generation university families, those from rural and regional Australia, those from lower-socioeconomic families and those who struggle to get into university . They struggle not only with the ATAR but also with the aspiration. They are exactly the students who are the beneficiaries of the former Labor government's plan to have a demand-driven funding system. And we want to assist to make that system financially sustainable. We want to make sure that system can continue. Professor Peter Lee is Vice-Chancellor of Southern Cross University and that is a university with a very high proportion of exactly the types of students that those opposite talk about. Senator Rhiannon also talks particularly about them, although as she is more concerned about inner urban areas maybe there are not so many lower socioeconomic families and poorer families. If those opposite cared about those kids they would want to ensure that they can continue to have access, like they do now. Senator Carr's secret plan! The only secret plan that needs to be debated today is Senator Carr's secret plan to recap university places and ensure that white, grammar kids get to go to university. That is not good enough. It is not good enough for my kids out in regional Australia and it should not be good enough for the Western suburbs of Melbourne or the Western suburbs of Sydney and the like. Senator Bilyk: Make up your mind! You don't even know what you're saying! The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Bilyk! Senator McKENZIE: Thank you for your protection, Mr Acting Deputy President! The only secret is that Senator Carr actually has a plan to recap places and to recap them by using the ATAR. What that actually does is ensure that those students from Tasmania, Senator Bilyk, who have a state system where they do not actually get an ATAR like other states because they do not do years 11 and 12 in the same numbers, are locked out. It means they are absolutely locked out. My students from rural and regional areas who have a lower ATAR are locked out and those from poorer families who have a lower ATAR are locked out. That is the only secret plan that needs to be debated today. It is an absolute joke and it is absolutely abhorrent that the Labor Party is purporting to recap fees based on ATAR. What the research shows, Senator Carr—through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—is that it does not matter what you got in year 12. If you can get the right pathway and make the right choices then you will be able to complete your bachelor degree and go on to further education with an excellent result. Your ATAR does not matter. (Time expired)