A ¡°bromance¡± between the two political kingpins of Australian higher education marks the end of the contentiousness that turned last May¡¯s election into a bidding war to reduce international student numbers.

Shadow education minister Jonathon Duniam, a senator from Tasmania, has promised to take a far less combative approach than his predecessor in shaping the debate around university policy.

¡°Adversarial political systems generate a situation where, if you¡¯re in government, you progress with your agenda,¡± Duniam told the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit. ¡°If you¡¯re in opposition, you point out how bad the government¡¯s agenda is.

¡°I¡¯ve decided, after a thumping election loss¡­that the best approach might be [to focus on] getting the best outcomes. You don¡¯t achieve those outcomes by picking fights for three years and retreating to your corners.¡±

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Australia¡¯s schooling outcomes have been going backwards for two decades, Duniam told the conference. ¡°That¡¯s not a Labor problem. It¡¯s not a Liberal problem. It¡¯s all of our problem, and no one has done anything to fix it. Early on in the piece, both [education minister] Jason [Clare] and I sat down in Canberra during the sitting week and agreed that it is in the nation¡¯s interest that we¡­work together.¡±

Clare told the summit that the new cooperative approach presented ¡°a real opportunity¡± for ¡°bipartisanship that is badly needed¡±.

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¡°I¡¯m working with Jonno at the moment on all of the challenges that we¡¯re grappling with in early education¡­and I¡¯m looking forward to working with him [on higher education]. He is a serious person and a serious thinker. He thinks about the national interest.¡±

The opposition has to ¡°work with the tertiary education sector¡± on achieving a ¡°sustainable¡± international education intake. Duniam told the summit that the ¡°damaging¡± pre-election debate around international election had lacked ¡°nuance¡±.

¡°Is there a concern out there in the community that needs addressing, with regard to some of the reasons why that debate was happening? Yes, and we can¡¯t ignore that. It is something that both major parties and the sector need to work on to ensure the outcome is suitable moving forward.¡±

Duniam also resisted chastising vice-chancellors for being paid too much, saying politicians attracted similar criticism. ¡°You can cut v-c salaries to¡­A$1 a month and it¡¯ll still be too much. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a place for politicians to dictate how much an institution is willing to pay their leader.

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¡°If a university is going backward; if they¡¯re not generating outcomes¡­then perhaps that university ought to talk to their v-c about what they¡¯re being paid. But I think the debate around v-c salaries has been a bit of a red herring. As education minister or shadow minister, you need to be focused on the best outcomes. I¡¯ll support any v-c, no matter how much they¡¯re paid, if they share that view.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com