Dynamic DEST Duo Get Opposition Nod -- New Deputy PM gets Education Portfolio. (November 30, 2007)

If it weren't for the decisive victory of Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party in last Saturday's federal election, the elevation of Brendan Nelson and Julie Bishop to leader and deputy leader respectively of the federal Liberal Party, ought to have struck terror into the tertiary education sector. The two former ministers for education, science and training during their reigns gave every appearance of gleefully carrying out former Prime Minister John Howard's vendetta against Australia's universities.

As it is, awarding the education portfolio to the newly elected deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard, has been met with palpable relief by representatives of the tertiary sector, academics and students alike.

Terry Aulich, the executive director of Australian Council of State School Organisations, told The Age that bringing the two portfolios together made sense and was manageable if junior ministers and parliamentary secretaries took on some of the administrative burden, and if Ms Gillard didn't try to micro-manage the Education Department and took a strategic overview, she would not be overwhelmed by the role. "The John Howard-driven micro-management from flagpoles through to constant fights," he hoped would be, "A thing of the past"

National Tertiary Education Union president Carolyn Allport told The Age she looked forward to working with Ms Gillard and working out what Labor's "education revolution" meant for universities. Dr Allport said: "While the announcements made by Labor during the election campaign were limited … the recognition that universities have been significantly underfunded over the last decade and the commitment to reverse this situation are significant,"

Australian National University's vice-chancellor, Ian Chubb told the ABC: "It's the first time I can remember that a Deputy Prime Minister has had education in their portfolio responsibilities so I do think that elevates it substantially. "I think the potential benefits of being able to work with somebody at that level is very significant for education and training, skills development in Australia."

Professor Chubb went on to say: "A lot of what we will need to be able to do is to understand the science of what's happening around us. The science of climate change for example won't get clean coal or new technologies [just] by thinking about them, we're going to have to do the experiments, do the work, do the development that takes us ... somewhere different from where we are now."