CAPA applauds Democrats Higher Education policy

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Association welcomes the Australian Democrats higher education policy, and their commitment to free education.

CAPA President Stephen Horton, currently visiting postgraduate associations in New South Wales, thanked the Democrats for their long-standing commitment to free and accessible higher education. "The Democrats have always been great defenders of Australian education," said Mr Horton. "They have consistently voted against fee increases, and the imposition of new fees. In particular they have supported the role of students and student associations in leading the higher education debate.

"The Democrats also want to make scholarships tax free. Currently, scholarships for full-time postgraduate students are tax-free, while part-time scholarships, which are only available to students who are carers or have a medical condition, are taxed. The Democrats understand that this is simply unfair," Mr Horton continued.

"Senator Bartlett recently made clear to CAPA his commitment to free higher education for Australians at all levels of study , including the tens of thousands of students paying full fees of up to $78,000 to undertake postgraduate coursework. In this respect, the Democrats want to return Australian higher education to the free, fair, and quality system it was until comparatively recently."

"We also applaud the Democrats commitment to increasing universities' operating grants, creating a fairer system of student income support and establishing a representative and expert higher education advisory body."

"We wish the Democrats every success in the remainder of this election campaign, and encourage the major parties to take up the Democrats' challenge," Mr Horton concluded.

CAPA's 10 key concerns for postgraduate education in the 2004 election are available from the CAPA web site, www.capa.edu.au, under the "Election 2004' button.