Opposition Spokesperson for Higher Education Senator Brett Mason appears to be hiding from students as the election enters the home stretch, refusing to attend a pre-scheduled meeting with postgraduate leaders at his office in Queensland this morning.
Senator Mason was scheduled to meet with two representatives of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations this morning at 10am to receive over 500 postcards signed by postgraduates from Universities across Australia as part of the ‘Polls for Postgrads’ campaign.
When Jason McNeil and Md. Zahirul Islam, both representatives at Griffith University Postgraduate Students’ Association, arrived at Senator Mason’s office at the scheduled time to present him with his postcards and take a photograph, they were told that the Senator was no longer prepared to meet with them and was “otherwise engaged”.
“Senator Mason refusing to meet with leaders of the postgraduate community does not set a good precedent for the level of consultation students can expect under a Coalition Government,” said President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, Meghan Hopper.
“I suspect Senator Mason is hiding from postgraduates following his party’s shameful announcement yesterday that they intend to politicise the Australian Research Council grants process,” said Ms Hopper.
“Over 500 postgraduates have sent a message to Senator Mason loud and clear that they want a potential Coalition Government to value the Student Services and Amenities Fee, provide better funding to higher education, promote a more secure academic workforce and support a sector that commits to the student experience – all goals of the Polls for Postgrads campaign held by CAPA over the past two weeks,” Ms Hopper said.
“Now Senator Mason refuses to meet with the postgraduate representatives who have delivered that message.”
Jason McNeil said he was perplexed by Senator Mason’s decision to cancel their meeting without notice.
“GriffithUniversity obviously falls within Senator Mason’s electorate and as a Queensland voter, I’m concerned that Senator Mason doesn’t want to hear from local postgraduate students about what is important to them this election,” Mr McNeil said.
Md. Zahirul Islam said the incident was “disgraceful”.
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Meghan B. Hopper, CAPA National President
