Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Youth and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, we have heard a number of positive responses and I would like to share them. The Group of Eight universities called it a ‘sensible compromise’. We heard from Universities Australia, who said:

Universities have struggled … to prop up essential student services through cross-subsidisation from other parts of already stretched university budgets …

We heard from Australian University Sport, who stated that sport has been an innocent victim and that participation numbers had been hit hard. And we heard from the very reasonable member for New England, who noted that, under the previous government’s legislation, the baby had been thrown out with the bath water, which is absolutely true. But I can assure the member for New England and others that what we are offering is a balanced, responsible and sensible way forward to ensure that our universities remain world-class institutions with services and representation.

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