University of Australia Online

The second reason we need this policy is that Australia needs many more tertiary graduates if we are to become a Knowledge Nation. This is an issue of both national prosperity and social justice.

What I am talking about with this proposal is nothing less than a revolution in social democratic education policy. We on the progressive side of Australian politics all look with pride to Gough Whitlam's abolition of university fees as a landmark in education policy in this country.

For all the benefits of that reform, there remained cultural and other factors that were never resolved, and prevented too many talented Australians from getting a tertiary education.

Labor's reforms during the 1980s and 90s saw the numbers of students at Australian universities expand from 348,000 in 1983 to 634,000 in 1996.

But still, too many Australians have felt estranged from a tertiary education. Often, no-one in their family had ever been to university. Perhaps the family support was not there. More likely, they could not afford several years without work.

Today, Labor has come up with a solution that builds on the reforms of the past, by harnessing the power of modern technology:

• For people who might have been intimidated by the classroom, the classroom will now come to them;
• For people who cannot afford the luxury of years without work, online learning lets them work and study at their own pace; and
• For people shut out by the Howard Government's punitive fees, relief will be at hand.

This plan is one of the keys to boosting lifelong learning in Australia. Indeed, I encourage you not to look at this solely as an education policy, but as Australia's first comprehensive lifelong learning policy.

And I encourage you all to think about the opportunities this policy will provide, not only for universities, but also for vocational education.

Too often, those reporting on politics in this country see education policy through the prism of a university education. Yet many TAFE colleges are proving already that online opportunities are equally exciting in the vocational as the university sector.

A Beazley Labor Government will work with ANTA to ensure that vocational education also benefits from this online education revolution.

Let me conclude by showing where this policy fits into the broader Knowledge Nation agenda. In practical terms, becoming a Knowledge Nation will include: