The brazen dumping of allegiances on Friday by Glenn Lazarus—formerly of the Palmer United Party, now, after a text, independent—may well have shaken up the senate in more ways than just leaving Clive Palmer‘s party looking far less united than its namesake suggests: Christopher Pyne claims that Lazarus’ move will provide a crucial vote for passing uni deregulation reforms in the senate.
According to the ABC, Christopher Pyne is “contemplating victory” over his controversial higher education reforms, a bill that was once seen to be met with strong opposition in the Senate, and unlikely to pass. Pyne is reportedly scheduling a vote for the university reforms in the Senate for this Wednesday, a vote which may sway in Pyne’s favour after PUP senator Dio Wang is left without the influence of his ally Glenn Lazarus, who is reportedly against the reforms.
Wang, on the other hand, supports Pyne’s reforms, but effectively had his hands tied in loyalty to Lazarus. Now that bridge has been burned, Wang’s vote could shift dramatically. “Dio Wang has indicated in the past that he supported the reforms but was constrained about voting for them by Glenn Lazarus’s opposition,” Christopher Pyne said.
Christopher Pyne told the ABC: “I always fought right through to the end and we will fight right through to the vote. It’s too important not to win for students and for universities and for Australia.”
The university deregulation reforms have proved to be controversial among senators and students alike since Pyne introduced the bill; in February, however, SMH reported that up to 80% of students mistakenly believed that the reforms were intending to scrap HECS payments in favour for up-front payments – a facet of the deregulation that has decisively not been proposed.
University deregulation reforms could, however, cause fees to rise and interest rates on HECS loans could be applied.
Senators have criticised Christopher Pyne’s “ransom” statement, in which he stated that “1700 researchers will lose their jobs” if the Senate failed to pass the reform.
“Christopher Pyne is holding the Senate at ransom,” ALP senator Penny Wong said, according to SMH.
Lead image by Stefan Postles via Getty.
