Uni and TAFE for all

A publicly owned and properly funded TAFE system plays an essential role in providing economic prosperity and a socially just society by offering lifelong educational opportunities and skills development to a broad range of our community. 

The Greens propose that we reverse the corporatisation of TAFE and restore a strong public TAFE sector, with increased accountability and a highly expanded capacity to provide high-quality training and skills development for the 30 TAFEs across South Australia.

Vocational education and training should be primarily provided through the public TAFE system, while the community and not-for-profit Vocational Education Training (VET) sector should also be supported. There should be no government funding for providers that operate for private profit. 

We need a program in South Australia to encourage girls, women and gender-diverse people to participate in the full range of trades and disciplines, especially those which are traditionally male dominated. The Greens will introduce a Women in Trades program that offers grants between $5-10,000 for eligible participants¹ at a total cost of $500,000 a year.

^{1. https://www.tafe.wa.edu.au/scholarship}

The University of Adelaide claims to have fully divested from fossil fuels at the end of 2024. They have committed to invest in Osmosis’s Resource Efficient ex-Fossil Fuels Fund². However, the University of Adelaide also hosts the Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources, which is dedicated to extraction industries, particularly gas, and was set up using part of a $25 million donation provided by Santos - one of the biggest single donations ever provided to a university by a corporation³.

In addition to using money from fossil fuel companies, Adelaide University has close ties and extensive funding arrangements with the military. The newly merged Adelaide University receives sponsorship from 39 defence organisations⁴. This includes $38 million in funding for undergraduate placements for students to be part of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal⁵. This is dangerous considering the current state of play with the Trump-led United States government and its shaky commitment to providing anything at all to Australia. The AUKUS deal and associated research and business arrangements, makes South Australia beholden to the whims of an unpredictable President Trump and refuses to guarantee the promises made in the AUKUS deal. 

The Green propose that universities in South Australia divest their research partnerships and business deals with anything related to AUKUS, or nuclear-powered submarines, along with fossil fuel industries. 

^{2. https://financialnewswire.com.au/funds-management/uni-of-adelaide-commits-to-osmosis-ex-fossil-fuels-fund/}

^{3. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news82.html}

^{4. Source: FOI received on 22 May 2025}

^{5. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/newsroom/news/list/2023/11/29/undergraduate-places-support-nuclear-powered-future}

The Greens introduced a bill to state parliament in 2024 to cap vice chancellor salaries at the same level as the South Australian Premier’s salary (which is $418,000 per year) to ensure they are more in line with community expectations. Australian vice chancellors are some of the highest paid in the world, meanwhile their staff are subject to ongoing casualisation and wage and job cuts.

As an example, the former Vice Chancellor of UniSA was paid over $1.2 million per year in his last 4 years of employment. In 2022, he was paid $1.401 million⁶.

All the while, universities owe their staff millions in unpaid wages. 

Between July 2019 to 31 December 2024 the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered over $176 million in unpaid wages belonging to more than 80,000 higher education sector employees. This accounts for 9 per cent of the total recoveries in that time⁷.

The Greens will continue to advocate for legislative changes that reduce vice chancellor salaries by over half. The money saved from this initiative, up to $5 million annually, will be reinvested into educational outcomes for students, and support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

^{6. https://www.indailysa.com.au/news/opinion/2025/06/12/university-vice-chancellors-dont-want-you-talking-about-their-millions-why-we-need-to-keep-at-it}

^{7. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2024-media-releases/december-2024/20241212-university-of-sydney-eu-media-release}

The Greens will tackle the critical lack of diversity on university councils, ensuring a mix of people who genuinely represent the university community. It is clear there is an over-representation of business interests, and those with links to fossil fuel companies, as well as an over-representation of people who have been former government ministers. 

For diplomatic governance, university councils should have representation from academic staff, administrative staff and students.

We need a mix of people who bring fresh skills and experience relevant to the higher education sector, and who are attuned to the needs of university students and staff. The Greens will introduce legislation to boost the number of student and staff places on university councils.

It’s undeniable that the merger between the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia into the new ‘Adelaide University’ risks losing some aspects of UniSA’s positive culture, including inclusivity and diversity. This has implications both for students and staff, so we need to fight to protect this inclusive culture and ensure that students can have a range of choices when it comes to their own education. While the university sector has their eye on the dollars, the new Adelaide University must provide high quality services and support for students that ensure they can afford to live and study and feel safe and supported at university. The state government has committed to fund a $120 million student support fund to assist students from the regions or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education⁸. The Greens will be monitoring closely to ensure that this fund is directly committed to the students who need it most. 

Students leaving university or TAFE now face greater pressures than ever before, including high youth unemployment and record high housing and living costs. Being saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt that takes decades to repay is unsustainable and unfair.

^{8. https://statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/higher-and-international-education/adelaide-university}

The Greens will pay an additional subsidy to the federal government’s prac payment⁹ commencing from July 2025. This proposed payment by the federal government covers university and TAFE students for the equivalent of the single Austudy rate of $319.50 per week while they’re undertaking a placement. This is an unsustainably low salary. 

This should be doubled to $639 per week per student at a cost of $10 million per year. Further, the prac payment should apply to additional degrees beyond the listed Bachelor or Master qualifications in teaching, nursing and midwifery, and social work. There are qualifications that require prac experience, including many arts degrees.

^{9. https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-prac-payment-cpp}