Mr. Tony Donohoe:

As I said to the Senator's colleague, it is politically toxic. That is a very easy answer but maybe the argument has not been made properly. There is a perception of student loans as some kind of commoditisation of education or as epitomising a neoliberal view of education. I was always much more confident arguing for a loan system in terms of equity because, as I said, if we go back to first principles, anybody who cannot afford it should be supported into higher education but those who can afford it should make a contribution. It is as simple as that. Maybe those of us who have been making this argument should argue it more from the perspective of social equity. I am quite disappointed to hear political leaders just taking this off the table without any real debate. I have heard a couple of members of the Government just dismissing it but it needs to be interrogated more.