Students around the country are celebrating the Senate's defeat of the federal government's tertiary education reforms.
The proposed changes would have been the final act in the destruction of free tertiary education in Australia that started with the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme 25 years ago.
The government proposed removing caps on university fees, cutting course funding by about 20% on average, charging higher rates of interest on student debts and extending funding to private colleges, TAFEs and sub-bachelor programs in 2016.
The bill was defeated by a combination of Palmer United Party senators Glenn Lazarus and Zhenya Wang, independents Nick Xenophon and Jacqui Lambie, Labor and the Greens.
University students were at parliament house when the bill was defeated to take their protest directly to the government and pressure cross-bench Senators to oppose fee deregulation for universities.
NSW Education Action Network (EAN) co-convenor Mia Sanders told Green Left Weekly: "The crushing of university fee deregulation in the Senate this week is the biggest win for the student movement in years. Students have not only forced the Labor Party to oppose their own education cuts, but we've forced cross-bench Senators to stand with students in voting down deregulation.
“Working-class families and students have become increasingly alienated and deterred from higher education by the unequal playing field between public and private high schools. But that’s not enough for the government. [Prime Minister Tony] Abbott, [education minister Christopher] Pyne and the Coalition want to price poor students out of university altogether. It’s not about introducing competition; it’s about stacking the deck against the poor.”
The successful action at parliament house follows a long campaign by the EAN and other student groups around Australia. The campaign included nationally-coordinated rallies, a disruption of ABC's Q&A, chasing Coalition MPs off campuses and occupations calling for free education.
Pyne introduced a slightly amended version of the legislation to parliament the day after the bill's defeat. "Round one is over; round two begins," Pyne told a Universities Australia gathering on December 2, just after the bill was rejected.
University of Sydney SRC Education Officer David Shakes told GLW “We've won this week but our fight is not over. While this package of legislation has been defeated, higher education remains underfunded and punishingly costly for students.
"The government has already begun an attempt to reintroduce many of these 'reforms', and it is up to us to go on the offensive for our education. The EAN believes in a free, fair and funded education.”
In a statement, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) congratulated the “majority of Australian senators who refused to pass the Abbott government’s radical and destructive changes to university funding that would have led to many ordinary Australian families abandoning their dreams of a university education.”
National President of the NTEU Jeannie Rea said that the new bill was just a rehash of the old.
“We are still facing down the spectre of $100,000 degrees and an unprecedented cut in public funding. No matter which way you look at it, these changes will still wreak havoc on our universities and force students into a lifetime of debt.
“The government’s desperate tinkering is an admission of how unfair and disastrous their policies are. Adjustments would not be needed if plans to deregulate were shelved altogether.
“The fact that the minister is proposing targeted scholarships for disadvantaged students just underlines the inherent inequity of his original Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme which was funded by increased student fees.
“Fortunately Senators agreed with 75% of Australians who rejected these proposals following the Abbott government’s pre-election promise that no changes would be made to university funding arrangements.
“Staff and students must be applauded for speaking out for our universities, our students and our communities, especially the women, Indigenous, and rural students who have entered universities in the last decade. And for all the Australian families who expect that their children should have the opportunity to go to university."
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