Funding
Dumb Cuts are still being pursued At the Universities Australia Conference in Canberra in February, Education Minister Christopher Pyne delivered a speech designed, no doubt, to be reassuring and downplay the sector’s concerns about the direction the Abbott Government is likely to take in the higher education sphere. ‘Freedom and autonomy will be the hallmarks of this Government’s approach to universities,’ he declared. Autonomy does not mean absence of accountability, the Minister reminded, nor does it prevent advice being given. However, this early in the Governments term it hard to properly gauge how genuine the Minister’s assurances can be treated. It was a speech that relied heavily on the track record of former Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, with no less than 37 references to the Menzies and his government. This was in stark contrast to the five references to the current Prime Minster, Tony Abbott. It was a clear attempt to signal a return to a more traditional hands off role for government and to downplay the interventionist approach taken during the Howard years, where direct interference in university affairs became the norm. It was a speech that was reinforcing the message delivered last year at the same conference by the then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that his prospective govern-
ment would exhibit ‘masterly inactivity’ in the higher education arena. Since that speech, we have seen the new government commit to push through the $2.3 billion cuts first proposed and then opposed by the ALP before and after the election, respectively. But of the new Government’s own accord, they have so far introduced cuts to the Australian Research Council (see article, p. 20), implemented a return to ministerial oversight in the selection of grants, provided ‘friendly advice’ to the University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor to consider his institution’s reputation when deciding what to do with academics expressing unpopular views (see editorial, p. 2), and given further advice about more aggressively pursuing online education. It is little wonder that the Minister sought to calm the waters with an audience that had the memory of these actions, and of the last Coalition Government’s aggressive interventions. The Abbott Government has been trumpeting an end to the era of entitlement, while seeing off thousands of jobs in manufacturing and in Qantas. In the process, the people working in these jobs have themselves been blamed for the decline of their industries; they are apparently paid too much (most under $50,000 per year). At the same time, we are seeing further announcements about record company profits. The Government has been withdrawing from industry support, resulting in job losses being announced almost daily. Yet the higher education funding cuts are still being pursued. The Coalition had promised one million new jobs over the next five years, which one would think meant that the focus must surely be turning to skills development. Yet
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the higher education funding cuts are still being pursued. Calling on the history of the Menzies Government for the second last time in his speech, Minister Pyne stated that his Government would bring active support to the sector. Yet the higher education funding cuts are still being pursued. The campaigning priorities for the NTEU must be to continue oppose the ‘dumb cuts’. They are even dumber cuts now with the thousands of Australians needing to change their careers. The full implementation of the cuts is not yet guaranteed as there are legislative changes required to give effect to them. Labor and the Greens are currently holding them back, but the change in the Senate in July will create an uncertain dynamic. If we finally succeed in this effort, we will still have an underfunded university sector to fight for. The Union’s efforts will continue. Matthew McGowan, National Assistant Secretary