Senator RHIANNON (New South Wales) (17:44): by leave—I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that in its first budget the Abbott Coalition Government is cutting $5.8 billion from public higher education, including: (i) $3.2 billion from changes to the HECS-HELP repayment threshold and increased interest rates for HECS-HELP debt, (ii) $1.1 billion from cuts to Commonwealth funding for course fees, (iii) $504 million from removing the grandfathering provisions included in the conversion of Student Start-Up Scholarships into loans, (iv) $290 million from cutting funding to Relocation Scholarships, (v) $204 million from decreasing indexation rates for grants, (vi) $170 million from research training cuts, (vii) $121 million from cutting higher education reward funding, (viii) $87.7 million from removing the HECS-HELP discount for priority courses redundant, (ix) $75 million ARC funding cuts, (x) $51 million from cuts to Access and Participation Grants, and (xi) $31million from cuts to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standard Agency; (b) acknowledges the crucial role played by public higher education in providing millions of Australians with skills that benefit the broader community; and (c) calls on the Government to immediately reverse these budget cuts and commit to a well funded and accessible public higher education system.