17th Jun 2020, 5:34 PM – Representatives Education Legislation Amendment (2020 Measures No. 1) Bill 2020 - Second Reading - Post-secondary system

The majority voted in favour of a motion to keep the wording of the original second reading motion unchanged. In parliamentary jargon, they voted "that the words proposed to be omitted stand as part of the question."

The usual second reading is "that the bill be read a second time," which is the same as agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This vote was put after the MP for Sydney Tanya Plibersek (Labor) introduced the following amendment to the usual second reading motion:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the Government has damaged the quality of Australia's world-class post-secondary education system by:

(1) cutting billions from universities, slashing research funding and locking students out of tertiary education;

(2) cutting billions from TAFEs and training, presiding over a dramatic decline in students undertaking vocational education; and

(3) failing to develop a long-term policy for the Australian post-secondary education system".