Tasmanian Senator Jacquie Lambie has announced she won't support the government's university funding reform bill, saying it unfairly penalises poor students.
Senator Lambie took issue with a deal brokered with One Nation to secure their support which would see a 10 per cent discount on university fees for students who pay upfront reinstated.
She said plans to revoke government-support for first-year students who fail half of their subjects was"completely at odds with the idea of helping people get a leg up", stating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were 50 per cent more likely to fail at least one subject in their first year than non-Indigenous students.
Education Minister Dan Tehan has promised universities an extra $326 million in funding for more domestic places ahead of next week's federal budget. "It seems to me demonstrably unfair that some students should pay over 90 per cent of the cost of their degrees and others well under 50 per cent of the cost of the degree," she told ABC Radion on Wednesday.A Senate committee examining the bill ons, despite strong dissent from members from Labor, the Greens, and independent senator Rex Patrick.
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