Labor flip flops on Higher Education reform

Further evidence has emerged today that Labor is flip flopping and split on the Australian Government’s Higher Education Reform package. Just a month ago the Leader of the Opposition said: “Labor will vote against this legislation and we will vote against it every time it is presented.” Today Higher Education Spokesperson Kim Carr indicated he supports parts of the package, despite previously declaring: "Christopher Pyne's package is rotten to the core and should be rejected in its entirety." Senator Carr admitted today he actually supports the critical research elements of the package, which is asking to have his cake and eat it too. At the federal election, Labor abandoned the two research programs, leaving funding cliffs for both the Future Fellowship programme and the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy by ending them abruptly to help their deficit. Through the Higher Education Reform package the Government has found the funding to continue these vital research programmes. They will be paid for by savings measures within it. If the reforms do not pass then the research funding will not proceed and Labor’s funding cliffs will be exposed. Today in Senate Estimates the Australian Research Council outlined clearly that if the Future Fellows programme ends, Australian research will suffer from job losses and the loss of mid-career researchers at the peak of their careers. Labor is putting 1500 jobs at risk, not to mention the significant intellectual capital and expertise built over the nine years of the programme. Bill Shorten and Kim Carr can’t agree, but the decisions they make in the Senate will have real consequences for Australian research and the viability of higher education into the future.