2017-04-24
The Australian Greens have pledged to use their power in the Parliament to protect Australia's higher education sector from any further funding cuts ahead of the Turnbull government's budget in May.
"We are putting the Government on notice that we will not accept any more nasty cuts to our universities and tertiary institutions," Greens education and finance spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“The figures released by Universities Australia today are staggering, but not surprising. For too long our universities have been seen as a slush fund for the Government and our society suffers for it. The Greens will stand up to the Government to fight the further cuts to unis that are bound to be in next month’s budget.
“Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t have to look very hard to find billions of dollars in subsidies and tax cuts for fossil fuel companies, corporations and the big banks, but when it comes to adequately funding our universities and giving students the support they need, the cupboards are bare.
“Students are already being priced out of an education and universities are being forced to do more with less every year. It’s time the Government faced facts and saw the university sector as an economy-building part of the budget, rather than a burden.
“The Greens will continue to fight against cuts to universities as we did to help topple the Government’s university fee deregulation agenda in the horror budget of 2014.”
Media contact: Amy Moran 0427 604 760