2007 Federal Election Recap

In 2007 CAPA had a short list of key priorities for the federal election^[1]. Below is a quick recap of the campaign and how we fared, and how we hope things might work out under a new government.

On this issue, the election campaign saw intransigence on the part of the coalition, a firm commitment from the minor parties and some equivocation from Labor.

The new government has however moved swiftly to consult on the impact of “VSU”, and re-stated its commitment to ensuring access to independent services, advocacy and representation for all students. They now have in hand submissions in response to the discussion paper by released Kate Ellis in February^[2]. We hope to see at least preliminary measures to address the worst impacts of the former Federal Government’s devastating legislation announced soon.

The outcomes we look forward to here are simple: student control of student affairs, and a return to sustainable model for the provision of quality student services, independent advocacy and representation for postgraduate students.

• Scholarships for a Competitive Future, involving an increase in the number of Australian Postgraduate Awards (APA’s) offered to commencing research students from 1,580 awards in 2008 to 3,500, effectively doubling the number of scholarships offered by 2012
  
  
• The Future Fellowships program, involving 1,000 four-year Fellowships for mid-career researchers valued at $140,000 per year, with an associated $50,000 project and infrastructure grant to go to the institution for the duration of the Fellowship.

There was consternation at the time among movers and shakers in higher ed that the much hoped for pot of gold in the promise of a big boost in sector funding didn’t materialise. These commitments were pretty much all the ALP were prepared to put on the table for higher ed in the lead up to election day, and were a significant feature of Labor’s campaign launch. These announcements were however a win for prospective research postgraduates, and a win for CAPA, in demonstrating that the ALP were listening on postgraduate issues.

The veracity of the new government’s commitment in this area will be tested from here. Kim Carr in particular has for a long time indicated support for improving funding and conditions for research students. Increasing the number of APAs is a good start, but more needs to be done. The Minister now has the perfect opportunity to move on simple fixes that will have a big impact in this area, including;

• Increasing all federally funded postgraduate stipend rates by at least 30%
  
  
• Funding all PhD postgraduate awards to 4 years (to match the term of candidature)
  
  
• Exempting all scholarships and awards from assessable income for taxation and income support purposes (including, importantly, part time awards), along with amending commonwealth scholarship guidelines to give recipients greater flexibility in going part time.

These are just the basics, and they’re both achievable and affordable, even for an “economically conservative” Labor government. We look forward to seeing movement in this area soon.

The new government certainly won’t want to be caught napping here. In the lead up to the election the Coalition announced measures to allow access to income support for some coursework postgraduate students^[4]. These were by no means landmark measures in terms of impact, but they were significant in at least recognising the critical need identified in this area. Many students are doing it tough, but postgraduate coursework students stand out as an area of particular concern^[5]. The Democrats and The Greens both continued to be clear on the need for reform in this area in the lead up to the election. Now in government, Labor will find itself out of step if it fails to move on the following:

• Allow all coursework postgraduates eligibility to apply for Youth Allowance and Austudy (extending the total entitlement duration accordingly)
  
  
• Review income support measures for research students not in receipt of a stipend, with a view to making income support available to all students regardless of the course in which they are enrolled.

We certainly welcome the consultative approach adopted by the new government. In this case however we don’t need another review to tell us that access to income support for coursework postgraduates is an area of critical need. This is an issue on which the new government can and should show leadership, and move quickly if it is serious about a policy agenda informed by quality, access and equity.

Here the proposal-to-beat will be the former government’s Higher Education Endowment Fund (HEEF). It won’t be hard, but it will require a mix of vision and consultation to get the right formula for a sustainable model for infrastructure funding that works. And as most universities are now beset with crumbling infrastructure after many years of neglect, this won’t be cheap.

Addressing the issue of looming generational change in the higher education workforce will also need to be high on the agenda if the new government is serious about a sustainable higher education sector. The best place to start here will be better support for the next generation of researchers, and finally addressing the miserable treatment of casually and sessionally employed staff in higher education.

Research funding will continue to be a matter of ongoing (and possibly excruciating) review. It remains to be seen whether the new ERA initiative (Excellence in Research for Australia) will address the concerns we’ve shared with the RQF (Research Quality Framework), or if it raises new ones, and how this all fits in with the inevitable review of the Research Training Scheme (RTS).

In terms of overall outcomes for higher education, the demise of the Democrats as a political force at the 2007 federal election will come at a significant cost. The hard work and personal commitment of Natasha Stott-Despoja and her team will be greatly missed. There is a real opportunity for The Greens to fill the void created by the departure of Senator Stott-Despoja as a leader on higher education issues, but that won’t be easy. This will be made all the more difficult with the departure of the Kerry Nettle, another very talented Senator strongly committed to equity in higher education.

For Labor in government there’s lots of room to move, and many opportunities to have a lasting positive impact. They have the chance to use reviews and consultation to bring about genuine reform, and position Australia’s higher education system to be a leader internationally.

What we certainly don’t want to see however is “shrinkage” on existing commitments. In a recent speech, Minister Carr proposed opening access to the Future Fellowships program to international students. The proposal itself is sound: CAPA has long been an advocate for adequately supporting international postgraduates studying in Australia, and the same holds for international early and mid-career researchers. New ideas without adequate funding to back them up however will inevitably deplete resources committed to other areas, no matter how innovative they are. Vision, and reforms long overdue, must be accompanied by a genuine will on the part of Carr’s colleagues for adequate funding. We’d hate to see initiatives like the ALP’s election commitments get “shrunk” in the wash.

Life under labor? In higher education it will mean change. Slow change, staged change, but change regardless. Critics may moan about how long it takes, or wail when they fail to see any genuine revolution in policy proposals as they unfold. But guess what? That’s exactly how they would want it. Few would really want some bold new vision of higher education imposed upon them overnight. But with a bit of vision, some genuine consultation, and, of course, a commitment to adequately fund any new initiatives, I believe we have a real hope that by the end we’re all going to be better for it. Fingers crossed.