Jacqui Lambie to vote down university student fee reforms

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie says she cannot back the university student fees legislation as it will deny poor people their dream jobs.

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie. Picture: Getty Images

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has struck a near-fatal blow to the Morrison government’s overhaul of university student fees, saying she cannot back the legislation as it will deny poor people their dream jobs.

Education Minister Dan Tehan will now rely solely on the vote of Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff to have any chance of passing his reforms, which will push up the price of law and humanities units by 113 per cent.

Senator Lambie on Wednesday night joined independent upper house MP Rex Patrick in opposing the bill after high-level negotiations.

“I want everyone to have the chance at being what they want to be. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be the vote that tells the country poor people don’t get dream jobs,” she said in a statement.

“This bill makes university life harder for poor kids and poor parents. And not only does it not have the same impact on wealthy families, it even gives them sweetheart discounts.”

A Centre Alliance spokeswoman said Senator Griff and lower house MP Rebekha Sharkie were still in negotiations with the government and the higher education sector.

Ms Sharkie, who is leading negotiations for her party, said earlier this week she still had reservations with the bill, despite agreeing with some elements of the package.

The funding shake-up would see student fees slashed in courses like science and maths, while the cost of units in subjects like law and humanities would increase to $14,500.

Mr Tehan said he continue to try and convince the senate crossbench to support his reform package.

“The Job-ready Graduates legislation will provide more university places for Australian students, make it cheaper to study in areas of expected job growth and provide more funding and support to regional students and universities,” he said.

“I want to thank the Senate crossbench for their good faith negotiations. I look forward to continuing to work with the crossbench to secure passage of the legislation.”

Her statement comes as Mr Tehan promised to spend $326m on adding 12,000 university ­places next year. He said on Wednesday that there would be 30,000 new commonwealth-funded university spots overall in 2021 if his overhaul of student fees was passed by parliament.

Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said on Wednesday the extra 12,000 places would provide more certainty to a sector battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is an important piece of the funding puzzle to help universities weather the storm of uncertainty caused by COVID-19,” she said.

“More young people than usual are opting for vocational or higher education. Universities will be better placed to support them now.”

Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson also welcomed the extra places, but said Mr Tehan still needed to explain how he would support university research.

“Wednesday’s announcement is a step in the right direction,” she said, “but there is more to be done to ensure we can continue to deliver on the research needs of our nation as part of our COVID recovery and the minister has acknowledged this.”

Universities are already reporting a spike in demand for early university offers and the University Admissions Centre, which processes applications for courses in NSW and the ACT, has seen applications rise by 20 per cent compared with last year.

Mr Tehan said on Wednesday the extra places showed the government’s support for universities.