Fed: Govt has fight on its hands over uni changes - Democrats

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Fed: Govt has fight on its hands over uni changes - Democrats

CANBERRA, Aug 27 AAP - The federal government had a fight on its hands over its plansfor higher education, the Australian Democrats said today.

Democrats higher education spokeswoman Senator Natasha Stott Despoja endorsed today'sNational Day of Action which she said was an important part of the campaign against thegovernment's reform package.

The day of action includes rallies organised by students around the country.

Senator Stott Despoja said the rallies would send a clear message to the governmentthat access to education should be based on brains, not bank balance.

"The government has a fight on its hands in the community and in the Senate," she saidin a statement.

"The measures announced in Our Universities: Backing Australia's Future will destroypublic education."

She said further fee increases, greater debt for students, interest-bearing loans,attacks on staff and student organisations and blackmail of universities to implementindustrial changes were anathema to a sustainable higher education sector.

"The Democrats unequivocally oppose such measures and will fight them in the Senate," she said.

"Our higher education system should be characterised by equity, sustainability andsupport of excellence wherever it is found. That requires significant increased publicinvestment, which the government's reform package will not deliver.

"If implemented, this package will further entrench the insidious cost-shifting tostudents and will result in a more inequitable, stratified sector that will deter thousandsof qualified students from participating in higher education."

AAP dep/sb/ldj/jlw

KEYWORD: UNIVERSITIES