Christopher Pyne right to stand firm, be upfront

THERE is no doubt, no ambiguity or mixed messages about where the government stands on university reforms — it wants deregulation and is prepared to fight for it.

It’s good policy and the reforms have been made more politically acceptable by the process of negotiation with crossbench senators. Christopher Pyne has done the right thing in embracing the reforms, not slinking away from them in the face of emotional and politically immature opposition.

While the defeat of the Coal­ition’s amended university reforms in the Senate on Tuesday by Labor, Greens and some independents, mostly Palmer United Party or former PUP senators, is a setback but it’s no more than that.

The government is right to press ahead for good policies which are supported overwhelmingly by the universities in the interests of standards and availability for higher education.

It is also right to clearly stake ownership of the reforms and a clear determination to fight for them. Vacillation and confusion have harmed the cause of getting the $7 Medicare co-payment even into the starter’s blocks.

Instead of being seen to be locked into fruitless talks and horsetrading, the higher-educa­tion reforms, with their significant concessions, are there for all to see and consider before they come back to the Senate next year.

If the concessions were slightly enhanced, through the regional and structural adjustment fund to help create jobs, and some ways were found to ease the repayment burden on students, there is a good chance they will be passed.

Of course, the fear of the unknown, exploited by Labor — the party that did away with fees under Gough Whitlam, introduced HECS fees under Bob Hawke, then hit unis with big cuts in Julia Gillard’s final months — remains the government’s biggest hurdle. Bill Shorten is able to talk about “$100,000 degrees” and PUP senator Glenn Lazarus says he doesn’t want his children saddled with “excessive debt”.

But as Paul Wellings, Wollongong University’s vice-chancellor, said this week in a major speech on university funding, some universities will want to lift fees to make up for the cuts but others will want to “recoup cuts made in the 2012 and 2013 budgets” under Labor.

The Coalition’s cuts to universities are not the first but they offer a chance for universities to take charge of their own future while broadening opportunities for those wanting a higher education.