Seldom do square pegs ever fit into round holes. And so too does unpopular legislation often have a hard time pushing its way through a Senate dominated by crossbenchers with differing ideologies.
For the previous Abbott Government, their method of dealing with a crotchety senate who, bless their hearts, simply did not take too kindly to their proposed Higher Education Reform legislation, blocking it with unusual swiftness.
The Abbott Administration’s method of dealing with this was to “fix it” (because, after all, it was they who were the fixers) by ramming it back down the throat of the Senate time and time again – legislation largely unchanged.
The Senate’s response to this, naturally, was to bin it each and every time.
Now with the new Turnbull Government – whose honeymoon period of goodwill will be accumulated simply through clearing out the stink left behind by the previous tenants – a new, bold strategy is being adopted.
If the square peg isn’t fitting, maybe stop trying to put it through the round hole.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today stated that, whilst his administration does support Higher Education Reform in principle, they have to be aware of what Turnbull labelled the “political realities” of the Senate.
Speaking on the ABC‘s AM program this morning, Turnbull indicated that Abbott’s version of the reforms will either be pared back, or shelved completely.
“Well if you can’t get something through the Senate, it is, I would say it’s highly possible that you could change it to something that will get through the Senate. This is what John Howard calls the iron laws of arithmetic.”
“The government’s position is that reform of the higher education system to enable, really to promote excellence and greater diversity and choice in higher ed is very, very important.”“But, clearly, we’ve got political realities to deal with in the Senate.”
Any new changes to Higher Education reforms would be decided upon through consultation with the cabinet, including the new Education Minister, Senator Simon Birmingham.
Meanwhile Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced Labor‘s counter-Tertiary Education reform package, which would include a huge increase in per-student funding, as well as offering incentives to Universities for students who graduate from their courses.
Or – to put all of this in a much more succinct, youth media-like way – Turnbull be all like:
Photo: Stefan Postles via Getty Images.
via SMH.
