Cook suggests land sales could fund WA mega-uni merger

WA Premier Roger Cook says WA’s universities could sell land for housing to help fund a proposed three-way merger between Curtin, Murdoch and the University of Western Australia.

Opposition to the merger has heated up after the WA government announced it would develop a business case to see whether a mega-university stacked up.

Curtin University vice chancellor Harlene Hayne and the WA opposition have pointed to job losses and the blown out costs of the Adelaide University merger, which has reached more than $1 billion.

The National Tertiary Education Union also released survey results in Monday that found 68.7 per cent of the 936 university staff surveyed opposed the proposal.

Cook sought to allay fears that taxpayers would be on the line for the merger costs by suggesting the universities could sell land.

“We believe this should be not up to the WA taxpayer to foot all the bill,” he said.

“They’ve got significant parcels of land, land which could be repurposed for housing, and so that’s an explicit objective of the steering committee.”

He rejected opposition concerns the merger could cost the state between $1 billion to $2 billion.

“By critics of the proposal, yes, it has [been estimated to coast $1 billion], but we have an explicit objective of the steering committee who are putting together the business case for this to be self-funding,” he said.

The business case comes after two separate reports into the sector in 2023 and 2025 that called for a merger to create a more competitive university globally.

Cook said the three-way merger was “preordained”.

“We’ll look at the business case. If it stacks up, well, then obviously we’ll take the opportunities that come with it,” he said.

“I believe this is an important reform. It’s important to make sure we have a world-class university from Western Australia, not only for our students, but for our economy.”

According to the union survey results, opposition to the merger was strongest at Curtin University at 75 per cent.

Those opposed pointed to the disruption that followed the Adelaide University merger, the scale of likely job losses, and the size and complexity of the merged university.

The tertiary union will be part of the steering committee and Curtin branch president Professor Scott Fitzgerald said he would be relaying the opposition.

“That’s exactly the message I’ll be delivering as part of the steering committee. Beyond that, we’ll be using everything at our disposal to fight hard against a merger,” he said.

“It’s highly concerning that the committee’s work is centred on a business case. Public universities exist to serve students, staff and the wider community. Any decision about their future should be through that focus, not a simplistic approach that puts profits over people.”

Murdoch University urged the state government to re-consider the merger in a statement released on Sunday.

“The potential merger is at odds with the federal government’s approach to higher education policy as expressed through the Australian Universities Accord and the establishment of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, which promotes a greater diversity of universities across Australia,” a spokeswoman said.

“As we have stated continually throughout the merger debate, we believe Western Australia is best served by having four public universities, each with its own special characteristics.”

The steering committee will be led by Fortescue deputy chair Mark Barnaba and medical researcher Professor Fiona Wood as deputy chair.