Opinion- 15 May 2006 |
Harry Robinson Exhorts -- On to 2026! |
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Treasurer Peter Costello (l) and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley "It's the Budget, Stupid" Photo: Chris Lane, Sydney Morning Herald |
To be blunt and brief, Australia’s major political parties proved themselves
shallow and irresponsible -- not once but twice during budget week.
First came the Liberal Party’s treasurer, Peter Costello, with his budget. All
smiles, he toted up the billions of surplus funds in the national kitty, which
indeed did show that he and his government had been good housekeepers: their
money-boxes were full. Cheering himself on, the nation’s chief clerk talked
about families a lot. ‘Families’ was his most-used word. Treasurer Costello
gave off the mantra that this was not really the government’s money -- it was
the people’s money. (Sighs of relief from the public gallery … “So that’s who
owns it!” … “Such a frank and open treasurer!” … and the occasional grumble,
“Who is he kidding?”
The dutiful Costello went on to give the people some of their money back to them
in the forms of tax cuts and new spending. The tax cuts turned out to be
adjustments to the existing scales. New spending was more significant. More
money for urgent tangibles such as roads, rail lines and river reclamation. On
the social side there was some for day care of children, a modest amount for
medical research and another amount for the shamefully neglected mental health
regime. For the Arts practically nothing, for the ABC a trivial amount to help
with drama production. The jubilant treasurer talked about the skills shortage
and promised to help breed more Australian apprentices.
But on higher education and scientific research the treasurer was silent. It is
true that Fran Kelly on Radio National’s Breakfast did ask him about the high
end of education. And it is true that the treasurer responded with spin. “More
money is going into universities than ever before,” he said blandly. When Ms
Kelly demurred, he span on, “More money into universities than ever.” Time was
up and she had to let the question float away.
Such a jolly treasurer.
Total flow of money is probably higher than ever but little thanks to the
federal government and more to HECS payments and full fee paying students from
Asia.
Clearly, the coalition parties don’t rate higher education and science as worthy
of much notice. After all, the numbers of people engaged are few, at election
time they don’t matter.
Two nights later came Labor’s Kim Beazley with his address-in-reply.
He gave a well-made speech. He looked good, he sounded good. He intoned a
favourite tune: “Middle Australia.” He also liked to say families, but Middle
Australia was his key phrase. It didn’t take political sagacity to spot his aim
-- to win swing voters back from John Howard. They had been labour voters who
switched to Liberal and now Kim Beazley wanted the prodigals back in the fold.
He promised much to Middle Australia. His party would protect them from this and
that government iniquity, he and his party would provide this and that marginal
increase in prosperity. He made much of Labor’s determination to create
apprenticeships for Australian-born youth.
But for higher education and scientific research he had no words. Obviously
while many many voters might live in middle Australia, few lived and worked on
university campuses or in the quiet of research laboratories. At election time
they could be ignored.
It was the second thump of the week.
The immediate effect is that universities and laboratories can go and whistle
for the foreseeable future. Even if the government changed hands at the 2007
election, higher education and scientific research could expect no encouragement
until, at the earliest, 2010 or later.
A likely long term effect is even darker. Suppose our political parties remained
as shallow and irresponsible for the next 20 years, we could confidently expect
to see our tertiary education to run down the mediocrity slope. We are not world
leaders now. We would be world camp followers by 2026.
In those 20 years we would certainly see a dreadful brain drain. A young
Australian of talent would see greater intellectual, professional and financial
opportunities elsewhere -- and go.
The dismal process has begun. We have one million of our people on extended work
and study in countries other than our own. If only one in ten is from academia
we are losing significantly already.
The trouble lies not with Peter Costello or Kim Beazley. They are products of a
past time and are unlikely to raise their horizons. The trouble lies with the
major political parties and their policy-making cabals.
Harry Robinson -- for 25 years worked in television journalism in Oz and the US and was for several years air media critic for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun-Herald.