Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's no surprise to us in the west of Sydney that we're going to be hit hardest by the government's latest cuts to university funding. Western Sydney University, where 2,000 of the students in my electorate of Macquarie go, will face the biggest hit of any university in New South Wales. It will be $54 million worse off over the next four years than under the current settings. The consequence of those cuts is that students will be worse off, there will be fewer staff employed, scholarships will be at risk and some of the schemes that support not just students but the wider community will have to go. Around a quarter of the university's total students are of low-socioeconomic status and nearly 62 per cent are the first in their family to go to uni. Every student who starts at Western Sydney University is able to get free e-text books in their first year. That can make the difference between someone choosing to go to university and finding it just too big a bridge to cross. The program is at risk with these cuts.

Even more than that, as the vice-chancellor told me, and as a Senate inquiry has been told, this cut will undermine the university's ability to skill people for the jobs the future will demand. For instance, the university offers courses in robotics and automated manufacturing, which support changing labour market needs. Initiatives like the Launch Pad start-up incubator network have given more than 150 regional start-ups the chance to collaborate and have the office space and the technology they need. These sorts of things will not be able to be funded if the cuts go ahead.

Not all my local students go to Western Sydney. Many go to Sydney University, New South, UTS or Macquarie, but all of those universities will face cuts, totalling $165 million over four years; plus, the students have to contend with the failing trains, the increasing tolls and the exorbitant cost of living close to uni, on a wage that is less likely than ever to cover the costs of living.

This is yet another attack that will increase inequality. In my community, 11 per cent of families with children under 15 are without work. That is nearly double the percentage that there is in Woollahra. Those who do work are on average $35,000 worse off than those living in the eastern suburbs. Someone living in the Prime Minister's electorate has five times more investment income than someone living in Macquarie. If you are self-employed, like a tradie or a small family business, you will earn nearly three times less in Macquarie than similar people in businesses in the Prime Minister's seat of Wentworth.

This Prime Minister needs to get out of his bubble. He needs to see what it is like for hardworking families and see the uphill battles they fight every single day in the west, just to get a fair go.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand it is the wish of honourable members that constituency statements continue for a further period of 15 minutes. There being no objection, the chair will allow that course to be followed and call the member for Forrest.