We, the undersigned Aboriginal students of Blacademy, register our formal and complete protest against the proposed Federal legislative ‘reforms’ to deregulate Australia’s tertiary education sector. We register our serious concern regarding the current state of the debate, which is one of ideology over substance. We condemn the actions of many of the key actors, in particular, The Federal Government and Universities Australia. In writing this letter, we take it upon ourselves collectively, to speak out against the negligence that policy makers and representatives have shown not just to Aboriginal students, but also to students with disabilities and low SES students.
It is the position of Blacademy that our public education system should be properly resourced, and its resourcing through taxpayer investment be held distinctly apart from private education interests in order to ensure an equitable and a higher standard of educational outcomes for all Australians. We oppose the transformation of Australian universities into profit driven corporations, with a two-tier system that limits accessibility of educational avenues. Such an approach is fundamentally at odds with role that universities have within our society.
The concerns of Aboriginal students being priced out of critical avenues to further their educational and employment opportunities have either been treated as an afterthought, or ignored in this debate. Access to tertiary education is about more than seeing higher future returns on income, but also about the ability for us to contribute more to raising the standard of living in our communities, and preserving our unique cultures. It should be common sense to policy makers and common knowledge that Aboriginal students do not have a comparable level of access to tertiary education than the average Australian, and addressing those issues require nuance that is beyond some nebulous concept of ‘scholarships’.
It concerns us greatly, how little evidence the Australian Federal Government has presented in its case for the deregulation of the tertiary sector as they pursue a ‘free market’ myth: that opening public universities to an open market automatically creates fair access, quality education and market discipline. This is occurring in a context where the Australian Federal Government is engaging in crony-capitalism, supplying welfare to powerful private interests, and stripping public investment out of services critical to the health and well-being of the Australian public. This has disproportionately impacted funding to vital services for Aboriginal people. The last year of Coalition Government leaves beyond any reasonable doubt, that it is a government that has lied to the Australian public in the most egregious ways possible. It is a government that has provided no evidence to substantiate its claims that deregulation will achieve the desired outcomes.
If The United States is the exemplar of deregulation, as Christopher Pyne incessantly proselytizes, then we find little hope in the future of ‘Closing the Gap’. Every major example of the deregulation of tertiary education, be it the United States or Britain, have utterly failed to achieve fair access, leading to a system that disproportionately benefits wealthy families. We find these scenarios completely and utterly unacceptable outcomes to gamble our futures upon.
As Aboriginal students, we hereby:
- Call on all Australian Vice-Chancellor’s and University establishments to abandon plans for deregulation.
- We call on the Senate to unequivocally reject the Federal Government’s education reforms.
- We call for a holistic review of education funding that draws from the entire sector and not mere partisan interest for deregulation.
- We demand that any review be evidence and equality based.
- We demand a far greater emphasis on access for the most disadvantaged students.
- We call for a fair and equitable funding structure for students in tertiary education, and unequivocally reject calls to deregulate fees.
Blacademy supports accessible education and extends solidarity to Aboriginal students at Universities across Australia. Tertiary education is an investment in our future, not merely future financial returns. Our education should not be reduced to a simple commodity.
Signed:
Kyle Webb, Dharug, University of Melbourne.
Azlan Martin, Nunga, Edith Cowan University.
Maddee Clark, Bundjalung, University of Melbourne.
Todd Fernando, Wiradjuri, University of Melbourne.
Hannah Armstrong, Moonbird (Palawa), La Trobe University
Sharlene Leroy-Dyer, Wiradjuri/Dhurag, University of Newcastle.
Kyol Blakeney, Gomeroi, President – University of Sydney Students’ Representative Council
Anna Amelia, Guringai – University of New South Wales
Alison Whittaker, Gomeroi, University of Technology, Sydney
Oscar Monaghan, Murri, University of Sydney, Sydney
The Blacademy 