Extract from The Guardian
Tanya Plibersek to announce Labor plans to ‘make investment in education a priority’
Labor has promised a $300m fund to pay for university research
facilities, including labs and other infrastructure, and has accused the
Coalition of failing to fund capital projects.
Labor’s deputy leader and education spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, will announce the five-year funding grant in western Sydney on Tuesday.
Labor will ask the university sector for submissions on how to spend its proposed $300m future fund, but plans to spend it on small to medium infrastructure projects, investment in new or updated research equipment, labs or other important projects.
The announcement comes on top of Labor’s promise to uncap university places in response to the Coalition’s two-year unlegislated freeze in commonwealth grants.
Plibersek said: “Labor wants Australia to be a country with a strong economy, and secure, decently paid jobs. That’s why, unlike the Liberals, we will make investment in education a top priority.”
In the 2014 budget the Coalition government announced it intended to abandon the education investment fund set up by the previous Labor government to pay for facilities.
When the Senate blocked an attempt to axe the $3.8bn fund, the Coalition said it planned to roll it into the national disability insurance scheme savings account.
The education investment fund has paid for more than 200 projects, including $90m for the chemical sciences hub and $88.4m for the Magellan giant telescope project at the Australian National University.
Universities Australia has warned the federal government it must continue to invest in university infrastructure or risk “a gradual erosion of our world-class facilities”.
Labor’s deputy leader and education spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, will announce the five-year funding grant in western Sydney on Tuesday.
Labor will ask the university sector for submissions on how to spend its proposed $300m future fund, but plans to spend it on small to medium infrastructure projects, investment in new or updated research equipment, labs or other important projects.
The announcement comes on top of Labor’s promise to uncap university places in response to the Coalition’s two-year unlegislated freeze in commonwealth grants.
Plibersek said: “Labor wants Australia to be a country with a strong economy, and secure, decently paid jobs. That’s why, unlike the Liberals, we will make investment in education a top priority.”
In the 2014 budget the Coalition government announced it intended to abandon the education investment fund set up by the previous Labor government to pay for facilities.
When the Senate blocked an attempt to axe the $3.8bn fund, the Coalition said it planned to roll it into the national disability insurance scheme savings account.
The education investment fund has paid for more than 200 projects, including $90m for the chemical sciences hub and $88.4m for the Magellan giant telescope project at the Australian National University.
Universities Australia has warned the federal government it must continue to invest in university infrastructure or risk “a gradual erosion of our world-class facilities”.
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