Government’s cuts to universities

TANYA PLIBERSEK, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Just overnight, we've received information that shows that Australian universities, while still performing well by international standards, are beginning to slide. We've seen The Times university ranking list that ranks universities globally, come out overnight and show that Australian universities, while still performing relatively well, are beginning to slide. What's very significant is that the director of this Times university ranking index has warned that if legislation currently before the Parliament passes, and the Government gets its way and cuts $3.8 billion from our universities, this slide will continue. Universities this morning are equating this to being on a watch from Moody's, one of the ratings agencies, a negative credit watch. We're being warned that if we make these cuts, our university quality will suffer. Around the world, governments are continuing to invest strongly in their universities. In fact, countries like China are investing a large amount of money to make sure that they pursue excellence in their university sector. Examples such as Chinese mainland universities, Hong Kong universities, are continuing to improve in their quality and their rankings, and they are directly competing with Australian universities. If we persist with these $3.8 billion of cuts, and around the same again in education investment fund cuts, so total cuts to the university sector of close to $8 billion, then our universities will suffer. We know that student education will be compromised, students will be expected to pay more. They'll be expected to pay more, sooner, for a poorer quality education. We won't be attracting students from around the world if our university rankings continue to slide. The Government absolutely must shelve these foolish plans today.

 

JOURNALIST: At the Nationals' federal conference on Sunday, they're going to vote on a policy to ban the burqa in public places and in government buildings in Australia. What do you think of that policy and what would it mean if it got up?

 

PLIBERSEK: It's just nonsense, isn't it? This is an effort to find a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I don't agree with governments telling people what to wear, I don't care who the person is. Now obviously if you've got a scenario where someone's entering into a secure building and their identity needs to be checked, they can't wear full-face covering. They can't wear a motorcycle helmet or a ski mask or a balaclava either. But other than specific situations where people need to be identified, having governments tell people what to wear is just not on.

 

JOURNALIST: The Nationals say that they're the party of freedom of speech and these sorts of debates are welcome at conferences like theirs. I mean, is this a discussion that should be taking place at a major party's national conference?

 

PLIBERSEK: Well really, do they really think it's convincing to say that they support freedom of speech but they don't support freedom to wear what you want if you're a woman in Australia?

 

JOURNALIST: And just on North Korea, if the US declares war on North Korea should Australia follow? Should we send troops?

 

PLIBERSEK: Well let's not leap to those discussions yet. What we are absolutely committed to is supporting diplomatic engagement and strong international pressure on North Korea, which is behaving irresponsibly, irrationally, dangerously. It is important that we stand with the international community to say that these tests, the belligerence that's being displayed, is completely unacceptable. We'll continue to do that with the international community, but we should be seeking diplomatic solutions. We continue to say that the most important engagement here is the engagement with China, we know that it is really only the leadership of China that has the authority and the influence to change the behaviour of North Korea.

 

JOURNALIST: Just quickly on energy. The Prime Minister's going to meet with the CEO of AGL on Monday to discuss the Liddell power station. Do you think the Government can find a way to keep that power station open for another five years, beyond 2022?

 

PLIBERSEK: Well perhaps he should've had that discussion before he announced a five-year extension yesterday in Question Time. He announced a five-year extension that didn't last five minutes. Look, the real issue here, of course we need affordability, we need energy security, but we also need to seek greater input from low-carbon emissions sources of energy. The reason there is no confidence in energy markets at the moment, to invest in new generation capacity, is because this Government refuses to do the one thing that would give investors confidence to invest in new generation. It refuses to commit to a Clean Energy Target or some other mechanism that will reward new investment in low-emissions energy generation. Thanks.