Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I, of course, endorse the comments my colleague Senator Griff made to the chamber. I did want to expand on a couple of things. The first thing I'd like to do is talk about the abolishment of the education fund. As Senator Griff suggested, we have some grave concerns about the state of our vocational training system here in Australia. We would have hoped that there would have been more money allocated to education so that the split between the emergency fund and education was better proportioned. So I feel as though I do have to say something here in relation to the abolishment of this fund.

I note that Senator Carr is in London at this point in time, with the leave of the chamber. Senator Carr is a gentleman, in my view. He's a good man. He's old school. He's a man you can take on his word. He has been a great supporter of manufacturing, and his support for education has been strong and enduring. I want to make sure that the chamber is aware of his position. I do so because I know how strongly he feels about it. I know how strongly he feels about it because he wrote to me. Not only has he written to me twice this week, he called me from London at some ungodly hour of the morning. So I think it's proper that I at least let his views be known. In fact, he did put something out into the media recently, and I'll just read from that article. He wrote:

The Educational Investment Fund was created by the former Labor government in 2008. To date it has funded the development of research infrastructure and provided for the refurbishment of universities and TAFE colleges through 71 projects worth $7bn in new investment.

The EIF has lain dormant since the election of the Abbott government. Coalition governments twice have tried to abolish it, without success.

But now, for the third time, the Morrison government wants to shut down the EIF and transfer its $4bn balance to a new emergency response fund, no doubt calculating it can take advantage of high public awareness of recent natural disasters in Queensland and NSW.

The need to fund emergency responses properly is not disputed. This does not mean, however, that the right way to do it is to grab whatever pot of cash lies conveniently to hand, especially when it means punishing universities that are so vital to the economies and resilience of regional Australia. Raiding the EIF is the fiscal equivalent of raiding a piggy bank without thought for how its owner will be deprived by the loss of its contents.

That was Senator Carr. I would also like to seek leave of the chamber to table a letter that Senator Carr wrote to me on this topic, again just so his views are known.

Leave granted.