The Democrats have greeted the announcement of $58 million for student services and facilities by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, as "smoke and mirrors".
"While $58 million is better than nothing, it is nowhere close to covering the amount that universities lost when the Government used their majority in the Senate to push their Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) legislation through Parliament," Democrats' Higher Education Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.
"And what of those universities that did not receive any funding? What does the Government suggest they do?
"The VSU Transition Fund is a piecemeal approach.
"Supporting one facility here and another there is a poor substitute for the $160 million each year that universities used to have at their disposal for a much wider range of student services and facilities," Senator Stott Despoja said.
Student advocacy services in particular have suffered under VSU legislation.
"In muffling, cynically, the collective voices of students in this way, the Government has not only reduced services but also the capacity of the student body to protest these changes," Senator Stott Despoja said.
"The Minister can spin this any way she wants but the fact is that the university experience is now poorer for students and the Government is responsible."
