MEDIA RELEASE: LABOR STANDS WITH STUDENTS AND UNIS AGAINST THE LIBERALS CUTS AND FEE HIKES

06 September 2017

The Liberals are pushing ahead in the Federal Parliament with their legislation to jack up students fees and cut university funding by $3.8 billion.

Labor stands with students and universities and will fight against these short-sighted cuts and fee hikes.

The Liberals plan means Charles Darwin University will have funding slashed by $15.1 million over the next four years.

Cuts to universities risk lowering the quality of education students receive, which will mean students in the Northern Territory will pay more for less, and be forced to repay their debt sooner.

The Batchelor Institute, which is the only First Nations tertiary education and research Institute in Australia, faces uncertainty under the Federal Governments latest spree on education funding cuts in the Territory.

So determined are they to make cuts, the Liberals have also threatened to bypass the Federal Parliament. This could see the number of university places capped, and an end to Labors highly successful Higher Education Partnerships and Participation Program (HEPPP) which supports disadvantaged Australians to get a university education.

The HEPPP helped boost Indigenous student numbers by 26 per cent, increased regional student numbers by 30 per cent, and supported more than 36,000 extra students from low-income families to gain a university education.

The Liberals have already cut nearly $200 million from this program.

You just cant trust the Liberals on education.

In contrast, the policies of the previous Labor Government meant an extra 190,000 students benefitted from the opportunity to go to university.