FOUR of Calare’s six federal candidates have made the commitment to maintaining equitable access to university education.
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The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) invited federal candidates in the upcoming election to sign a pledge on Friday at Charles Sturt University.
Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) candidate Rod Bloomfield and Labor’s Dr Jess Jennings made it to the signing, and Central West Greens candidate Delanie Sky and independent Anthony Craig promised to add their signatures to the pledge at a later date.
The pledge asked each candidate to, if elected on July 2, support policies to keep the cost and debt of going to university within reach for students and maintain investment into the future of tertiary education.
Mr Bloomfield said supporting tertiary education for “country kids” was particularly important to him.
“When I was leaving school at Molong, we didn’t have any universities in regional areas and that I think limited the options in my life and the lives of tens of thousands of others,” he said.
“Now we have quality tertiary institutions, like Charles Sturt University, in regional areas and it is vital that we support them.”
Communications students at CSU would be familiar with Mr Bloomfield, who has coached them through broadcasts at 2MCE as part of their courses.
He said many them came from regional areas, were required to pay additional costs so they could study and simply wouldn’t have attended university if fees weren’t regulated.
Dr Jennings said there were already barriers for country students to get to university and imposing $100,000 degrees would be a massive deterrent.
He said he relied on financial support to see him through university, saying he would likely have left school in Year 10, worked in unskilled labour and used government benefits if he hadn’t had the support.
“It is vitally important for regional areas that the Libs don’t get to implement their policy,” he said after signing the pledge.
Melanie Wood, NTEU branch organiser at CSU, said it was important for candidates to commit to tertiary education support when fees deregulation and further cuts to education could soon be a reality.
