Senate calls on Pyne to fix public funding fiasco

The Australian Senate has today passed a Greens motion calling on the Federal Liberal party to return the $15 million of public funds it spent advertising its failed party higher education policy.

“Christopher Pyne might call himself a ‘fixer’, but his efforts to blackmail the Senate have failed – and so have his attempts to brainwash the Australian public.

“The Abbott government set aside nearly $15 million to spend advertising its doomed plan for $100,000 degrees.

“According to the Auditor-General, this included $10.5 million on media placements, $2.5 million on ‘creative development’ and $1.4 million on the campaign website – all to promote a failed Liberal party policy/

“Now, the Senate has backed the Greens’ calls for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to direct the federal Liberal Party to return the public money it used to run its advertising campaign.

“Our motion also called on the Abbott government to shut down its publicly funded highered.gov.au site.

“Christopher Pyne cannot continue to treat higher education policy as his personal plaything – and he cannot continue to use public funds to do it.

“If Mr Pyne wants to ‘fix’ the mess he’s created in higher education, he and the Prime Minister should start by returning these funds.”

Motion

The Senate –

1. Notes that the Abbott government has allocated $14.6 million in public funding to advertise its failed higher education changes.

2. Calls on the Abbott government to:

a. Direct the federal Liberal Party to return the $14.6 million of public money allocated to its higher education advertising campaign; and

b. Shut down its publicly funded highered.gov.au site, which was designed to advertise the failed changes.