Campus Review Vol 29. Issue 11 | November 2019 | Seite 15

policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
Catriona Jackson. Picture: Kym Smith/News Corp
The end of the EIF
Key stakeholders ‘disappointed’
over scrapping of Education
Infrastructure Fund.
By Wade Zaglas
L
egislation passed through the Senate
recently will see funds redirected
away from the $3.95 billion Education
Investment Fund (EIF) to provide finances
for natural disasters and emergencies.
While Universities Australia chief
executive Catriona Jackson supported the
creation of the Emergency Response Fund,
she said in a statement that “closing the EIF
was not the way to finance it” and that it
spelt “the end” of the EIF.
“The EIF was designed to be an education
fund that would finance teaching and
research infrastructure to serve the nation in
perpetuity,” Jackson said.
“With its de-funding, there is now no
other dedicated source of ongoing funding
for investment in capital works – new
classrooms and research buildings – for
universities or TAFE.”
Jackson also argued that training and
education were vital in equipping our first
responders and recovery teams with better
technology and research breakthroughs
to help Australians experiencing ever-
increasing natural disasters.
The Australian Education Union (AEU)
has similarly taken aim at the Morrison
government’s decision to redirect the EIF
funding, calling it a “short-term decision
that will hurt the education prospects for
young people in drought, fire and flood-
affected areas for decades to come”.
AEU deputy federal president and NSW
Teacher’s Federation president Maurie
Mulheron agrees with Universities Australia
that redirecting a substantial sum of money
for education infrastructure was “not the
answer”, although he also expressed the
importance of the government providing
relief to communities experiencing
record droughts.
“People in rural and regional areas who
are suffering under the current drought,
as well as those subject to extreme fire
and flood events, deserve generous
Commonwealth assistance to help them
keep their communities alive,” he said.
Mulheron added that the government
needed to identify new sources of funding
for the Emergency Response Fund rather
than taking away the nearly $4 billion
flagged for investment in public education
infrastructure and TAFE. According to
Mulheron, this could be achieved by
fixing “the loopholes” on the Petroleum
Rent Resource Tax, which enables mining
companies to avoid paying billions in taxes
every year.
“With high unemployment and drought
impacting on employment and training
opportunities for young people in rural
and remote areas, we should be increasing
investment into TAFE in these areas, not
cutting it.
“This short-sighted move is yet another
Indication that the Morrison government
has never believed in public education.”
Mulheron also blasted the government
for “an ongoing campaign of defunding
and deprioritising TAFE in favour of profit-
seeking private training providers”.
He said the government has already cut
$3 billion from TAFE funding, eventuating
in 140,000 fewer apprentices than when it
was elected.
He also expressed disappointment in
Labor for supporting the legislation and not
proposing an alternative way of funding
natural disaster efforts.
“The TAFE sector desperately needs
investment. Diverting the Education
Investment Fund from its original purpose
will make it that much harder to reinvest
and reinvigorate our public provider of
vocational training,” he said.
Meanwhile, the TAFE sector has called
on the Commonwealth and the states to
“ensure adequate funding” after the EIF
was cut.
“TAFE facilities are under extraordinary
pressure, and our skills needs are
greater than ever. It is very important
that we continue to make an economic
investment in the country’s TAFEs so
that we can meet growing skills needs,”
TAFE Directors Australia CEO Craig
Robertson said.
While the EIF has been scrapped, the
government has committed $50 million
to “TAFE revitalisation” that it expects to be
matched by the states.
“We strongly urge the states to commit
to matching this funding so that vital
infrastructure works can continue and TAFE
facilities – especially in regional and rural
areas – can be brought to a world-class
standard,” Robertson said.
“We fully support the priority given to
disaster funding, but that shouldn’t be at
the expense of funding for TAFE.”  ■
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