Mr PYNE (Sturt—Leader of the House and Minister for Education) (14:50): I am delighted to get a question from the shadow minister for tertiary education. I think it is the first question the member for Kingston has asked me, and it is the first question that the opposition has asked me about higher education since the last election. It gives me the opportunity to point out that the facts as presented by the member for Kingston are quite wrong. The government is not increasing fees for students at universities. We are proposing the largest reform to universities in 40 years, which will allow some course fees in many subjects to come down, and it will be universities that make their decisions about fees, because that is what deregulation means. Mr Watts interjecting— Mr Conroy interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Charlton and the member for Gellibrand will desist! Mr PYNE: This question also gives me the opportunity to point out that the Labor Party is the party that proposed $6.5 billion of cuts to higher education in the six short years it was in government—$6.6552 billion. I table the list, the table of cuts to universities that the Labor Party proposed, when it was in government, without any other capacity for universities to raise— Mr Dreyfus: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question was about doubling university fees and threatening to cut university budgets. The SPEAKER: No, there is no point of order. The member will resume his seat. I have informed members before that when you raise a point of order on relevance, it is not an invitation to repeat the question. It is totally out of order and the member knows that. Mr PYNE: I thank you for your protection, Madam Speaker. It also gives me the opportunity to call on the opposition to give a Gonski. I want my local MP to give a Gonski on higher education. The SPEAKER: We do not have props, Minister! Mr Pyne: No props? I will table the poster that says: 'I want my local MP to give a Gonski on higher education.' Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. On a day when opposition member after opposition member gets thrown out, how does he get away with holding that sign up? The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, I would like to conclude my point of order. The SPEAKER: I have listened to it and there was no point of order. Resume your seat. Mr PYNE: This wide-ranging question also gives me the opportunity to comment more broadly on the issue of universities and fees and free education. I would point the member for Kingston to one of her former party leaders, Bob Hawke, in Collective Wisdom, where he says: 'One of the greatest stupidities was the proposition the Whitlam Labor government introduced of so-called free education. Ms Plibersek interjecting— Mr Dreyfus interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Sydney will desist and so will the member for Isaacs. Mr PYNE: There is no such thing as free education. It is a question of who pays and how it is paid for. Ms Plibersek interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Sydney will desist. Mr PYNE: The reforms to universities that we are proposing will lift the contribution that students make to their education, from 40 per cent to 50 per cent. It will be a fifty-fifty split with the taxpayer. Right now the taxpayer is paying 60 per cent and this proposal will lift the student's contribution to fifty-fifty. Ms Plibersek interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Sydney is warned! Mr PYNE: I think that is fair. Bob Hawke obviously thinks it is fair, because he recognised there was no such thing as free education. Paul Keating recognised that as fair, because he was part of the government that introduced the HECS-HELP scheme. That was when the Labor Party was led by gigantic figures—not the Lilliputian leader we have at the moment.