House debates

Monday, 27 May 2013

Private Members' Business

University Funding

6:56 pm

Photo of George ChristensenGeorge Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

And what a Labor way it is! What a golden age we have, where we are ripping money out of universities, the future of this nation! The only way this is a golden age is if it is once again the government playing the role of King Midas in reverse, because everything they touch seems to go the opposite way to gold. What absolute hypocrisy from the government in these efficiency dividends, as they call them, in the typical parlance of bureaucratic speak, at the same time criticising state governments for making cuts—cuts that at least they are up-front to the public about. With this one, they are still trying to claim that there is going to be no problem here.

But I have to tell you that there is a problem, particularly for rural and regional universities. I can go to universities in my electorate such as the CQUniversity—my alma mater, in fact. This was the headline in the Daily Mercury this week: '200 CQU jobs in the firing line'. The university's vice-chancellor and president, Professor Scott Bowman, is quoted in the article as saying:

… the university would suffer a significant financial hit over the next two years, with the Federal Government's "efficiency dividend" reducing funding—

as has been said—

by 2% in 2014 and 1.25% in 2015.

Far from it being an insignificant amount, the university estimates that that is $5 million out of its coffers—a university, like many in rural and regional Australia, which runs on a very, very tight bottom line. As a result of these cuts, along with other added pressures, it has had to sack 200 teaching staff from the university. That is the impact of this decision from this government somehow cutting funds out of tertiary education to give it to this grand plan for schools. As has been said before, that is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul. I have as well a letter from Scott Bowman, the Vice-Chancellor of CQUniversity, sent to me on 22 May, where he again says that this financial repositioning that the university is going to have to do—basically, major cutbacks—has been done because of a number of impacts that he lists, but one of them is the upcoming efficiency dividends that the federal government is claiming.

It is not the only university in my area to be impacted by this. James Cook University also provides services into the Mackay region and into the northern part of my electorate. The vice-chancellor there, Sandra Harding, has been very critical. She has said that the university is going to have to take a long hard look at its budget for the next financial year because of this. I will quote her at length here. She says:

Most of the money that comes to us from the Federal Government goes in to teaching programs and research so we will have to look at those.

We will, of course, look at minimising the impacts on students but we will have to look at the whole budget and yes, courses may be affected.

You can't take two per cent out of any business model and not expect it to hurt. It will be felt right across the university.

It is just a great shame that that is going to impact on courses. One of those courses is probably going to be education, the thing that the government wants to improve. Because of an efficiency dividend, or a savage cut that this government is making, this university is going to have to cut back on its courses and the quality of those courses. That caused James Cook University Student Association President, Jesse Cook—a student union which is not normally critical of Labor governments I suppose—to say:

How can the Prime Minister claim we are providing young Australians with 'a flying start in life' when we are sending them into under-funded Universities? A flying start to where?

I agree with his sentiments.

This is just a savage cut at a time when it really is not needed. I notice the National Tertiary Education Union has come out as well against this saying that this will mean a write-down of $154 million in research support funding. It will be $7 million a year less in Indigenous support, disability support and participation and partnership funding. It is cutting funding to the most needy people in the community who we want to actually get into university education to better their lives. This is an insidious cut from this government and it really does need to be repealed. I am very glad to speak on this motion condemning the government. I hope that they see sense, restore the funding and stop being such hypocrites about this.

Debate adjourned.

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