Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) That the Coalition Government's plan to rip $900 million out of Australian universities and increase student debt by $1.2 billion will not be legislated,

(ii) the enormous contribution by organisations such as the National Union of Students and the National Tertiary Education Union in campaigning against these proposed cuts,

(iii) That the former Labor Government commissioned two major reports into university funding, the Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education (2008) and the Lomax-Smith Higher Education Base Funding Review (2011),

(iv) that both the Bradley and Lomax-Smith reviews found that Australian universities are chronically underfunded,

(v) That the Bradley review found that Australia was the only Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country where the public contribution to higher education remained at the same level in 2005 as it had been in 1995,

(vi) That the Bradley review proposed a 10 per cent increase in base funding of universities to maintain standards at their current level, and

(vii) That the findings of these reviews are still relevant due to a lack of implementation by the former Government of their recommendations; and

(b) calls on the Government to commit to an immediate 10 per cent increase to base funding of universities.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When Labor formed government in 2007, the higher education sector was suffering under decades of neglect—a legacy of the Howard years for universities was crisis. The reviews Senator Rhiannon refers to confirm as much. By contrast, under the Labor government university revenue rose from $8 billion to $14 billion between 2007 and 2013. Were we still under a Labor government this would increase further to $17 billion in 2017. We increased real funding per student place by nearly $2,000 in real terms to $18,000. Labor improved indexation, replacing the coalition's hopelessly out-of-date system. We increased the science research and innovation budget by nearly 30 per cent. We delivered more capital infrastructure in the last four years than the coalition managed to do in a decade of power and we gave 190,000 more students a place at university, compared to 2007, by introducing the demand-driven system. We reintroduced campus life and essential services— (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Rhiannon be agreed to.