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MARY DOYLE, LABOR MP: My question is to the Minister for Health. Why is it important to strengthen Medicare…
LAURA TINGLE, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Governments almost always claim big ambitions for their time in office. The Albanese Government is no different except perhaps in two ways. From a student's perspective, they start with changing course fee structures and HECS debt arrangements. And the reason for the introduction of university tuition through the HECS system, it was to make sure that the system got bigger and I think that is the single most important contribution to the substantial increase in the participation of disadvantaged young people is that we've got a big system, all accompanied by a tuition charge arrangement, which meant that nobody had to pay at the point of entry.
BRUCE CHAPMAN: In my view, the prices have never been set correctly. There should only be one criterion for the setting of prices, which is expected future income. LAURA TINGLE: Dan Hall is studying to become a social worker and hopes he will be qualified by next year but the financial strain of doing a thousand hours of unpaid work has forced him to delay finishing his degree.
The only way you get reform done is for strong ministerial determination to cut through where necessary.
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