Funding bill revised to stop Canberra defunding courses

Australia’s government stands accused of rushing out flawed higher education legislation, after making over a dozen changes to its university funding bill ahead of a looming Senate inquisition.

The House of Representatives has passed the Opening the Doors of Opportunity bill, as expected, but with unexpected amendments.

Education minister Jason Clare had predicted that the legislation would need to be changed, but only after a Senate committee completed its inquiry into the bill. The committee is not expected to report until early September, following a public hearing on 24 August.

Clare told parliament that the government had introduced 17 amendments to “clarify the effect” of certain provisions and “fix minor drafting errors” that his department had identified since the bill’s introduction in June.

Shadow education minister Julian Leeser said the amendments were “an admission that the government got it wrong. There are errors and unintended consequences…and it seems that the government only became aware of these after I pointed them out. The only conclusion to be drawn here is that the bill doesn’t do what the minister says it does.”

Clare said the government amendments would guarantee universities’ allocations of subsidised places “at the level of their existing core student load”, ensuring that institutions that filled their quotas would not have their allowances reduced in subsequent years. It follows criticisms that the legislation lacked a “floor” on teaching funds.

The amendments also “preserve existing safeguards” on ministers’ powers to impose conditions on funding. In particular, they prevent the minister from defunding particular courses.

Clare had earlier indicated that the legislation may need changes to “future proof” it against possible governments – specifically, one dominated by the populist One Nation party. Monash University policy expert Andrew Norton, who had recommended 19 amendments to the bill in his submission to the Senate committee, warning that the original draft included a “minister can do anything he or she wants” clause.

Norton told the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit that the clause could allow a future One Nation minister to ban “woke” arts courses. “This is a very dangerous power,” he said.

The opposition voted against the amended bill, after earlier indicating it would not oppose the legislation in the House of Representatives. The new version “was only introduced last night, and we just haven’t had time to work through it”, Leeser told parliament. “We’re not prepared just to wave it through.”

The government nevertheless prevailed in the lower house, where it has an absolute majority. It also rejected changes proposed by two independent MPs, saying it would consider them alongside the Senate committee report.

Western Australian crossbencher Kate Chaney had proposed amendments to increase oversight of ministerial decisions and “protect students from having their places withdrawn”, among other changes. “We don’t want a system where second- and third-year students are losing their places because of bureaucratic decisions made in Canberra,” Chaney told parliament.

Chaney also wanted the bill to mandate publication of reviews of the new funding arrangements, and to require an additional review of the proposed system for allocating international student places.

“Considering how politicised this topic can become, and how significant it is for our economy and education system, this evaluation should be a no-brainer,” Chaney told parliament.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com