2007 Federal Election Outcome: Room for Hope

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomes the outcome of the 2007 Federal Election. “We look forward to working with Labor to rebuild the higher education sector, to support the promise of an education revolution, and to ensure that Australia remains a leader of innovation and research, in the sciences, in the humanities and in the arts. There will be many opportunities for the new Labor government to demonstrate “new leadership”. What needs to underpin this is a continued commitment to quality and equity in higher education” CAPA President, Nigel Palmer said.

“Support for the next generation of researchers was a prominent feature of Labor’s commitment to a long term view of higher education during their campaign. We believe that support for today’s postgraduates will continue to be central in developing a model for higher education that will be both equitable and sustainable. We very much look forward to working with Labor on this.

“We don’t believe that Labor will be able to pull an education revolution out of the hat overnight. We do believe however that a consultative policy environment, support for the academic freedom and autonomy of our universities, and a funding commitment that genuinely promotes both quality and equity will be important first steps along the way” CAPA President, Nigel Palmer concluded.