March 31, 2015
The West Australian, 01 Apr 2015
By Andrew Tillett
Education Minister Christopher Pyne has rebuffed calls from Australia’s most prestigious universities to abandon his controversial higher education reforms because they had been watered down so much to become meaningless.
The Group of Eight Universities, which includes the University of WA, has urged the Government to conduct a review into the sector after its bid to deregulate fees was stymied by the Senate.
Chief executive Vicki Thomson said the review would press the reset button on the Government’s overhaul, which it has vocally backed but fears would be fatally flawed because of further concessions offered by Mr Pyne to crossbenchers. Mr Pyne vowed to push on when the Senate quashed his reform package for the second time last month, and yesterday ruled out another review.
“The higher education sector has faced 33 reviews since 1950 and another review is not a substitute for action,” he said.
“When you have the right policy and the sector’s support, as we do with higher ed reform, you don’t succumb to paralysis by analysis.” Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged crossbenchers to talk to universities to help make the reforms as beneficial as possible.
Source: The West Australian
