Budget limits education access
By Francesca Davidson
The projections for higher education in the 1995 budget signal the ALP government's commitment to privatisation, and hence reduced access to education.
Access to Austudy will be reduced, HECS repayments increased and up-front fees introduced for residents who are not Australian citizens. Students 22-25 years old who live at home will lose $20 a week under an "at home" Austudy rate. Permanent residents who are not Australian citizens will no longer be able to receive Austudy.
Up-front fees will continue to be charged, and more will be introduced, for postgraduate courses. As a sweetener, more funding will go towards increasing university places (4200 of the additional 5850 places in the next three years have been allocated to Queensland) and research programs.
The government wants to recoup the HECS charge more rapidly. While the budget does not lower the income threshold for repayment, it encourages voluntary repayment for students earning $20,000 a year. This puts pressure on those with incomes below the average wage to further reduce their living standards to pay back the debt.
The impact of national student protests against up-front fees has influenced the decision not to introduce up-front fees for all students yet. Nevertheless, the decision to require non-citizens to pay their fees up front is an indication of Labor's eventual plans for up-front fees across the board.
As WA Greens Senator Dee Margetts said, this "is the first set of undergraduate fees introduced by this government. It is an insidious way of introducing fees for all students."
Permanent residents who do not take out citizenship by the third anniversary of their entry into Australia will be denied Austudy. It is estimated that up to 50,000 students will be cut off, barring many from tertiary education.
Students have already begun organising against the budget decisions. Students at the University of Queensland set up a week-long tent city. In Canberra, 500 students marched on Parliament House on May 11.