Motion: Education Funding

Senator RHIANNON (New South Wales) (12:08): I move:

That the Senate-

(a) notes that:

(i) the Abbott Government's attempts to deregulate university fees and slash public funding to higher education have been defeated twice in the current Parliament,

(ii) the Minister for Education and Training (Mr Pyne) has so far spent $150 000 of public money hiring a private consultant to conduct parliamentary negotiations on his behalf, and

(iii) this spending is a significant waste of public resources at a time when the Government is inflicting huge cuts to public services such as health and education; and

(b) calls on the Abbott Government to stop wasting public resources in its attempts to wreck public higher education in Australia.

Question agreed to.