Latham outlines Labor education policy

By Alison Dellit

NEWCASTLE -- Mark Latham, federal Labor spokesperson for higher education, addressed a forum organised by the Newcastle University Students' Association and the Labor Club on August 24. About 25 students and staff attended.

Latham said that if Labor was elected on October 3, it would restore funding to education, although he declined to specify by how much until “closer to the election”.

Labor would also abolish up-front undergraduate tuition fees and set the HECS threshold “much closer to” average weekly earnings, he said.

Most surprisingly, Latham said that a Labor government would “look at” abolishing HECS and instituting a graduate tax which would kick in after earnings reached $40,000.

The age for independent status for income support would be lowered, “possibly” to the late teens. He was quick to add, however, that such a proposal could only be “fully developed” once Labor was in government and was not an election promise.

In response to questions from the floor, Latham argued that the education system could not be funded through a progressive tax system alone. Funding needed to be “diversified”. He particularly emphasised that some funding should go to universities that achieved the ``best results''.

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