We’re with you on accord, Australian opposition tells government

Australia’s opposition has promised “bipartisan support” as the government reshapes the higher education sector through its once-in-a-generation review.

But shadow education minister Sarah Henderson has vowed to provide “necessary unsolicited advice” if the government “heads in the wrong direction”. And she has wasted no time in doing so, chastising it for moving too slowly.

Addressing the Universities Australia Conference in Canberra, Ms Henderson said she hoped to “find common ground” with the Labor government and education minister Jason Clare but warned them against “being caught in a review vortex”.

“While the opposition welcomes the Universities Accord…this represents delayed action. Labor had after all nine years to formulate a policy but they did not do a sufficient amount of work. Now the proposal is to stall for another two years before the government presents a plan, let alone takes any action.”

The rebuke reflects a relationship that is simultaneously combative and warm. Ms Henderson had been the first person welcomed by Mr Clare during his speech at the conference dinner the previous evening, and the pair embraced afterwards.

“This is the best portfolio in the world,” Mr Clare told his opposite number, who had succeeded previous shadow minister Alan Tudge just 10 days earlier. “I know we’re going to do some great things together.”

But Ms Henderson’s warning may strike a chord in the sector, amid perceptions that the accord is too consultative. Its panel had already received more than 180 submissions and quizzed 1,900 survey respondents before releasing a discussion paper during the conference.

It has now launched a fresh round of consultations ahead of its interim report in June and intends to further road-test its ideas before delivering a final report in December. Sources say this may be too late for any reform proposals to be funded in the 2024 budget, potentially deferring significant cash injections until 2025 at the earliest.

But the sector is also wary of snap reforms. The former government’s Job-ready Graduates package, developed with minimal consultation during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, has proven widely unpopular.

Ms Henderson warned the conference that Mr Clare’s equity focus could backfire. “Without first setting up Australian students with a functional education journey from the early years of schooling, university access based on disadvantage indicators will set students up to fail,” she said.

She said completion rates had fallen when disadvantaged enrolments rose under Labor’s demand-driven system, leaving students “lumbered” with tuition debts and “no qualifications to help them pay off”.

Ms Henderson also criticised foreign minister Penny Wong for reportedly vowing not to approve any new Confucius Institutes, while declining to use powers under the Foreign Relations Act to force any existing institutes’ closure. “This conflicting position is difficult to reconcile.”

But the shadow minister commended universities for not adopting a collective position on the forthcoming referendum over an Indigenous voice to parliament. “Whilst not stifling robust debate and the expression of strong and legitimately held views, this position is entirely consistent with academic freedom.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com