Uni legislation put off until spring
THE government will hold off putting legislation on its university savings measures to parliament until after the election.
THE Gillard government will hold off putting legislation on its university savings measures to parliament until after the September 14 federal election.
Science and Research Minister Don Farrell told a Senate estimates hearing yesterday the legislation would be introduced in the spring session of parliament.
The May budget announced savings measures of $2.3 billion from universities by increasing the efficiency dividend, converting student scholarships to loans and scrapping discounts for early HECS payments.
The savings, to take effect from January 1, were produced to make fiscal room for the Gonski school reforms.
"It is our intention to bring the legislation back in the spring session," Senator Farrell told the committee, adding: "After the election, yes."
Additional reporting by AAP
Shorten: ‘We will ensure our campus is safe for everybody’
In his first speech as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, long-serving Labor government minister Bill Shorten says ‘intolerance is not inevitable’.
Drone researcher continues fight against WMD finding
Chinese researcher Xiaolong Zhu may be ‘entirely unaware’ of how the Australian government came to the conclusion that he implicated in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but that doesn’t matter for visa rejection, the government says.