2024-11-05
Australian Greens Deputy leader and spokesperson for higher education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi has responded to reports that Labor is considering rolling back the atrocious Morrison government job ready graduates scheme, stating that they should urgently legislate these changes.
Quotes attributable to Senator Faruqi:
“It's yet another win for the Greens that Labor is finally considering undoing the fee hikes, but they need to get their skates on and dump them now.
“Labor should have dumped Morrison’s Job-Ready Graduates scheme the second they came to power. The scheme is a cruel, punitive mess that does nothing except burden students with fee hikes and deprive staff of resources.
“Labor was vehemently against Morrison’s uni fee hikes scheme in opposition, calling them “beyond repair”, yet they’ve backed the fee hikes whilst in power and ignored advice from their own Accord process to urgently address them.
“Students starting university next year shouldn’t have to cop these ridiculous fees. Too many have had to cop them already because Labor has dragged their feet on overturning some of the most patently unfair higher education policy this country has ever seen.
“Let’s be clear that university should be free and scrapping uni fee hikes is just the start. The Greens will continue to fight to wipe all student debt and make university and TAFE free, as it was when the PM went to uni.”