Fed: Nelson gives voters clear election choice on uni reform

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2003
Fed: Nelson gives voters clear election choice on uni reform

By Denis Peters

CANBERRA, Dec 5 AAP - In the end, the federal government's bewildering array of higher
education reforms came down to an argument about industrial relations.

The Higher Education Support Bill 2003, heralding the biggest shake-up in university
education in 20 years, called for the tying of individual contracts to $404 million in
grants.

Tasmanian Senator Shayne Murphy, a former ALP representative and one of four crossbench
senators on whose votes the government relied, refused to give ground.

The government buckled, and the deal was done on a set of reforms Education Minister
Brendan Nelson says will bring $2.4 billion in funding to the sector over five years,
and more than $10 billion over 10 years.

Australia's 38 universities will now be able to charge up to 25 per cent more for government-funded
HECS courses, and increase the quantity of full-fee-paying places - open to those students
who have not qualified for HECS - to 35 per cent of courses.

A strong opponent of the bill, Australian Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja,
described it as a profound shift in direction for Australians.

"We've now got a higher education system that is marketised, corporatised and privatised,"

she said.

She, among others, accused the government of simply putting back what it had taken
away from the sector in previous years.

Dr Nelson, on the other hand, repeatedly said that without fundamental reform, the
Australian higher education system was heading for mediocrity in a highly competitive
sector.

"The kind of Australia that Australians will be living in and young people today will
be living in when they are parents and grandparents will be driven largely by higher education,"

he said.

"This bill, and these amendments which we strongly support, may not be popular in all
quarters but the government is not here to be popular, we are here to do what is right
for our country."

The scene is now set for education, along with health, to take centre stage in next
year's federal election campaign.

The coalition's emphasis on increased student contribution to their education, rather
than relying on the public purse, will contrast with Labor's call for universal access
to university on merit.

They will give voters seeking a profound difference between the major parties solid
grounds on which to make their choice.

AAP dep/sb/tma/de

KEYWORD: UNIVERSITIES (AAP NEWS ANALYSIS)

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