Brisbane university students protest in Brisbane's Queens Park against increasing university fees. Credit:Tony Moore “Young people are among the worst affected by this budget – every media outlet is saying it. “Young people are just being kicked in the guts by this budget.” There was a tense 10-minute period when police were forced to stop members of the University of Queensland Liberal National Club who noisily interrupting a speech by Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters. Ms Waters carried on with her speech while the UQLNC students tried to drown her out, with senior police telling the LNP students the protest had been legally granted to the National Union of Students to protest the budget cuts.

Police move on UQ LNC members who tried to interrupt a protest in Brisbane's Queens Park against increasing university fees. Credit:Tony Moore Ms Waters said Greens, Labor and Palmer United Party senators would block the changes to university fees – to compensate for the cuts in direct government funding to universities - in the Senate. Ms Waters said the changes to higher education in Tuesday’s Federal Budget amounted to “$5.8 billion cut” before being interrupted by UQLNC students. Greens Senator Larissa Waters addresses students in Brisbane's Queens Park. Credit:Tony Moore However, talking journalists before the protest, she said the Greens would block the changes in the Senate, which could leave students with loans “the size of a small mortgage”.

“It is looking like Labor and the Greens and even the Palmer United Party will be able to combine and block these cuts in the Senate and block the worst of the Budget,” she said. “So if Tony Abbott wants to insist on these cruel measures, and if he takes us to the polls, I think the Australian people will really relish having their say on the fact that the fair go is really part of Australia’s identity.” Senator Water said it took her 12 years working as an environmental lawyer for a community group to pay back her HECS debt for dual degrees in law and environmental science. The government insists students do not have to pay any loan upfront and that the increase in interest rates on student loans – from 2.9 per cent to a maximum of 6 per cent from 2016 – only reflects the cost of borrowing the money to provide the loan. It says it plans to invest $820 million over three years to TAFE, private universities and give greater emphasis to diploma and associate diploma courses.

Journalism-arts student Josephine Zavaglia and her friends came to the protest because they were worried at the impact on their student loans. “Life is already hard enough, we are graduating into a downward market and it will be even more difficult for me to find a job,” she said. Jazz Mill, studying landscape architecture, said the decision to deregulate university fees was a “scary, unknown thing”. “The fact that the university can control how much they charge for a degree can block out certain people from education in the future.” Creative writing student Billie Star said she was worried the decision would also affect the next generation of students.

“People in younger generations - my younger sister - they might be discouraged by the increasing fees,” she said. “Which makes me sad because there will be fewer people going out there and learning.” Meanwhile, John Slater, from the University of Queensland Liberal National Club, was part of the group of students who stood in front of Senator Waters and shouted her speech down. “There is in fact a body of students who support the government’s plans for higher education,” he said. “There is a body of students who support it. There isn’t universal opposition.”

Mr Slater said there was a middle ground of students who believed the changes would benefit students in the longer term. “We were simply getting our message out there,” he said. “We take issue with the Greens on a lot of issues and that is why we chose to interrupt Larissa Waters’ speech.”