She told a group of students in India yesterday that she wouldn't be where she is today without the tertiary education Gough Whitlam made freely available to her - yet she's happy to deprive today's young people of that same right.

Clearly she does not believe that all Australians deserve the education opportunities that were afforded her and her sister, who - she acknowledged - wouldn't have been able to go on to further education without the open access Whitlam introduced.

Julia Gillard is effectively telling a new generation of Victorians that they won't have the same opportunities to strive towards a better life that she did, as education access and opportunities reduce for students who - like a younger Gillard - can't afford high fees or a loan.

She told the Indian students, as reported in the Herald Sun (2/09/09), "[Whitlam opened] the door to a tertiary education for an entire generation of Australians, including me."

Julia, don't deprive Victorian students access to the same open door to education that you benefited from.

Plenty of young Deputy PMs-to-be out there will feel the door slam in their face until these TAFE changes are stopped.

— Posted by Anna Kelsey-Sugg, AEU Victorian branch