Centre Alliance and One Nation likely to back uni fee changes
An overhaul of university course fees looks more likely to pass the Senate after the Centre Alliance praised the move.
A radical overhaul of university course fees looks more likely to pass the Senate after the Centre Alliance praised the Morrison government’s push to get more students into teaching, nursing and STEM subjects.
The government will need 39 votes to pass its university cost reforms — which would also hike prices for arts, law and commerce degrees — and appears likely to secure the support of both the two Centre Alliance senators and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, which also controls two upper house seats.
However, Labor and the Greens have blasted the proposals to hike the fees of some courses, warning the changes could make university more inaccessible.
Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff told The Weekend Australian his party supported the policy in principle, but had concerns that changing course fees alone would not convince enough young Australians to stop enrolling in humanities and law.
“We haven’t come to a formal position but it’s a positive first step. It’s a good idea to focus study on areas of growth,” he said.
“And it’s good if more students move away from subjects that might be considered more glamorous. We know there are too many law students for the legal job market.
“However, we also know the main driver in choosing courses is not cost. It’s what your parents and your friends and your ambitions drive you towards.
“This policy would need to be part of a package — perhaps a big promotional campaign — to convince young Australians to take up these other subjects.”
Sources close to One Nation also say Senator Hanson is likely to support the package when it is presented before the Senate, but she will be pushing for more support for apprenticeships.
If both One Nation and Centre Alliance cement their initial support and vote for the fee overhaul, the government will not need Labor, the Greens or Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie to pass the reform.
After years of failed attempts by the Coalition to get university reforms past the Senate, Education Minister Dan Tehan said he hoped crossbench upper-house MPs would back the overhaul and improve the chances of employing young Australians post-pandemic.
“I will do with the Senate what I’ve done with the sector and with industry in putting this package together,” he said.
“I will consult with them, I will put the case and my hope is that they will understand that this is going to be really, really important for how we, as a nation, deal with the coronavirus pandemic and growing our economy out of that pandemic.”
Opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said the federal government should leave parents and students to decide which courses they wanted to do, and questioned Mr Tehan’s ability to predict which university subjects would be economic growth areas. “I’m an arts graduate and so is the Minister for Education, so I’m not sure you can draw the conclusion that we’re completely unemployable,” she said.
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