The Federal Government has struck a deal with South Australian minor party Centre Alliance to back its contentious changes to university course funding, a day after they were urged not to back the legislation by Senate crossbenchers.
Key points:
- The Government shake-up will increase fees for some subjects, and cut government funding for students who fail more than half their subjects
- Lower House MP Rebekha Sharkie and senator Stirling Griff supported the reforms on the condition students had some protections
- The party also secured more university places in South Australian universities
The shake-up of the tertiary sector is one of the most significant in a generation and will result in sweeping changes to the way certain courses are funded.
Education Minister Dan Tehan has argued the current funding model results in a glut of graduates with degrees in areas such as humanities, and wanted to increase fees for those courses while reducing the cost of qualifications in fields like maths and nursing.
Centre Alliance's sole remaining senator, Stirling Griff, was the last vote needed by the Coalition to secure passage of the bill through the Upper House.
Senator Griff and his Lower House colleague Rebekha Sharkie announced they had secured concessions from the Government on Tuesday morning.
The bill had proposed that university students who failed more than half of their subjects would lose access to government loans and subsidies under changes announced by the Federal Government.
Ms Sharkie told Sky News that she and Senator Griff would support the reforms on the condition that those students have some protections.
"You can be going through university qualification and can have some unexpected events in your life — bushfire, death of a spouse, death of a parent," she said.
"We're saying to the Government that needs to be in the legislation so that those protections are there and it's not at the discretion of a university so that students have a legislative framework that they can see as protection should they be in those circumstances — and Government agreed to that."
Ms Sharkie said they had also negotiated for South Australia to be treated the same as Tasmania and regional Australia.
This means there will be more Commonwealth Supported Places for South Australian universities, Senator Griff said.
"This means substantial extra funding for our three universities over four years, over and above current funding allocations, and an additional 12,000 students will have access to a university education over a four-year period," he said.
Education Minister Dan Tehan said the Senate crossbench had negotiated in "good faith".
"The … legislation will provide more university places for Australian students, make it cheaper to study in areas of expected job growth and provide more funding and support to regional students and universities," he said.
Sharkie and Griff criticised for saddling students with massive debts
Labor was quick to take aim at the Centre Alliance duo, accusing them of saddling students with massive higher education debts.
"Think about what it means when you graduate from university at an age where you're getting your first job, perhaps starting a family, thinking about buying a home of your own, to start off that process with a $58,000 debt," Shadow Education Minister Tanya Plibersek said.
"I think this legislation is unsalvageable, how do you amend legislation that has at its heart more than doubling the cost of a degree for thousands of students when that is exactly what Centre Alliance and One Nation have agreed to do today?"
On Monday, Senator Griff and Ms Sharkie's former Centre Alliance colleague Rex Patrick and South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young issued a plea to the pair not to side with the Federal Government, hoping they would scuttle the deal.
The now-independent Senator Patrick said he was disappointed Ms Sharkie and Senator Griff had decided to support the bill.
"It's an awful, awful situation where most students have made up their mind a number of years ago about what they want to do, some of them just leaving year 12 now, having done all the prerequisites for the course they have chosen, to be now told that that course is going in some cases to double in price," he said.
Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie had said she would not support the legislation, arguing it would be detrimental to students across the country — but particularly those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Along with the votes of One Nation, and barring any last-minute changes in policy position, the legislation now looks likely to pass the Senate.
The National Tertiary Education Union described the legislation as a "mess", and accused Mr Tehan of trying to "completely abandoned Australian universities during their worst ever crisis".
"Rather than stepping in with a robust support package, the Liberals and Nationals have pushed the cost of the crisis onto students and the university workforce," NTEU President Alison Barnes said.
"Livelihoods and careers will be destroyed and damaged by this legislation."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiWmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEwLTA2L21pbm9yaXR5LXN1cHBvcnQtZm9yLWhpZ2hlci1lZHVjYXRpb24tYmlsbC8xMjczNDk4MNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjczNDk4MA?oc=5
2020-10-06 00:51:00Z
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