Shorten labels Pyne a 'loan shark' Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has lashed out at the government's "bleak, nasty" plan for higher education and labelled Christopher Pyne a loan shark. He also re-committed Labor to opposing the plan, saying he was `not for turning' - borrowing a phrase from Britain's Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who said: `You turn if you want; the lady's not for turning'. The government wants to deregulate university fees, expand commonwealth funding to private providers and degrees below bachelor level, cut the per-student funding level and increase interest rates on student debts. Hikes to interest rates on debts would lock local young Australians into an interest trap and hobble young women in particular, Mr Shorten said. " (Education Minister) Christopher Pyne is playing loan shark," he told the National Press Club. The Labor leader cited NATSEM modelling which showed charging higher interest on HELP debts would mean some women, who took time out to raise kids, spend their entire lives paying off their university degree. "Each year she spends at home with her children ... compounds her debt to Christopher Pyne," Mr Shorten said. This is the government's bleak, nasty plan for higher education. Mr Shorten wondered whether his mother would have been able to afford to become a teacher, raise a family and later study law in a deregulated university system. His own experience only strengthened his opposition to the "short-sighted and unfair class war changes." "This is part of who I am and I am not for turning," he said. The government continues to negotiate with Senate crossbenchers over its plans. Family First senator Bob Day says he will vote for the package as long as the government dumped the interest rate hike, something Mr Pyne has indicated previously he might consider. The senator though likes the idea of poorer families being able to access "low cost, no-frills" higher education. The legislation still faces fierce opposition from the Greens and other crossbenchers as well as Labor. Mr Pyne said the opposition leader's speech was "devoid of substance and riddled with meaningless platitudes." "If Labor is intending to vote against the government's reforms, then they have a moral responsibility to reveal their alternative," he said in a statement.