Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move the Greens amendment on sheet 3712:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) this bill fails to grapple with the most significant issues facing our higher education sector, namely the impacts of the job-ready graduates package,

(ii) students are being shackled by a lifetime of debt which is making the cost of living crisis worse, locking people out of the housing market, causing people to delay having families and crushing dreams of going to university,

(iii) the student debt system cannot be fixed because student debt should not exist and higher education, like education at every level, is an essential public good that should be free, universal and provided by the government,

(iv) the recent final report of the Racism@Uni Study found that racism 'remains a significant barrier to equity and inclusion in Australian universities', and

(v) universities are being hollowed out by corporatisation and governance failures, while Commonwealth funding continues to slide backwards; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) wipe all student debt and return to free university and TAFE for all,

(ii) urgently reverse the fee hikes and funding cuts of the job-ready graduates package,

(iii) invest in higher education to ensure high-quality public learning, teaching and research, and

(iv) take urgent action to implement the recommendations of the Racism@Uni Study and address racism at universities".