WA Greens take stand with students and academics against funding cuts

Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam will join academics and students Thursday morning in a united stand against the Federal Government's proposed funding cuts.

"This is a perverse kind of blackmail in which the Government claims we can't provide more funding to the nation's schools without targetting the nation's universities - we won't tolerate it," said Senator Ludlam.

"The Government's decision to fold under the pressure of the big mining lobby and water-down the super profits tax has thrown away billions in potential revenue. Instead of going after Rio Tinto and BHP, Labor is going after Curtin and ECU."

Senator Ludlam will join students and academics Thursday April 18th at 7.30am at a protest at the University of Western Australia.

"Converting the scholarships programme into a loans scheme adds to student debt and discourages students from lower income families. It's an anathema to what used to be ‘Labor values'.

"The Government's plan seems aimed at boosting school students' chances of attending an under-funded and poorly-resourced university. It's not fair for students and it's not smart for the future of the economy either."

Greens spokesperson for high education Senator Lee Rhiannon is meeting with the new Higher Education Minister Craig Emerson in two weeks and is petitioning him to fund schools by fixing the mining super profits tax, not by cutting $2.3 billion from higher education: http://greensmps.org.au/content/help-stop-university-funding-cuts