Coalition pledges $15m for study centres that have so far have been set up in seats where the National party faces threats

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced $15m on Tuesday to extend a program to build regional study centres in country towns to avoid students having to go away to the city for university.

The centres, which provide a study space, internet and computer access and links to lecturers online, have been hailed by the Nationals as a huge success in keeping young people in country towns.

But a lack of transparency about the criteria used for locating them, combined with links to serving politicians, raise questions about whether they are being used to pork barrel in seats that the Coalition wants to hold or win back.

As a result of their rural locations, the centres are more likely to be in Coalition-held seats. But so far they have mostly been established in seats where the Nationals are under pressure from either minor parties, like the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, or independents.

The latest federal grant is for five new locations, with only one settled – Wangaratta in the seat of Indi.

Indi was held by an independent, Cathy McGowan, who is retiring, but Voices of Indi has endorsed another independent, Helen Haines, to run against Liberal and National candidates and is ranked a moderate chance of keeping the seat from the Coalition.

In New South Wales the centres have been located in seats that coincidentally are under pressure from minor parties, like the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, or independents.

Country Universities Centres has been the only organisation in NSW to get grants so far. It is a not-for-profit organisation, with charitable status, that works with communities to establish affiliate centres in their towns.

The chief executive of CUC is Duncan Taylor, the brother of the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, and who is married to the Nationals state upper house MP, Bronwyn Taylor.

Three centres – Broken Hill, Moree and Narrabri – are in the state seat of Barwon, which the Nationals lost to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party in the March state election. The overlapping federal seat is Parkes, currently held by the Nationals.

A CUC will soon open in Grafton, in the federal seat of Page, regarded as a swinging seat. It is held by the Nationals at state and federal level.

Griffith and Leeton, where two more CUCs are located, are in the federal seat of Farrer, held by the Nationals’ Sussan Ley, who is facing a challenge from the mayor, Kevin Mack, an independent. The Nationals lost the overlapping state seat of Murray to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers in the recent state election.

The centre in Goulburn, which opened in March 2019, is in Angus Taylor’s seat of Hume. Goulburn is just an hour’s drive from Canberra where there are three universities.

With support from the NSW and federal governments the CUC has expanded from its initial site at Cooma, near where the Taylor family have extensive farming interests. The Cooma centre was initially supported by Snowy Hydro but has since received state and federal support.

Duncan Taylor has a long involvement in rural education issues and was the driving force behind the CUC initiative. He is the immediate past president of the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association of New South Wales, is on the NSW government’s Tafe Commission Board and has been a strong advocate for equity of access for students in rural areas for some years.

He is married to Bronnie Taylor, the NSW Nationals MLC and the former parliamentary secretary to the NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro.

After Bronnie Taylor became parliamentary secretary to Barilaro, the CUC was given a major grant. Barilaro announced the $8m NSW commitment at the Young Nationals conference in April 2017.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The federal education department said Duncan Taylor’s relationship with Angus Taylor, pictured, ‘did not factor in to the assessment process at any time’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Asked about the grant, a spokesman for Barilaro said: “Following on from the success of the Cooma CUC, in 2017 the NSW government provided $8m to expand this model of higher education across regional NSW, with a commitment to establish a further five centres.

“Mr Taylor had been the driving force of the original CUC in Cooma and sat on the CUC board. His relationship to the honourable Bronnie Taylor is well known and he’s a long-standing proponent of education access and equity, particularly in our regions.”

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Duncan Taylor said neither his brother, Angus, nor Bronnie Taylor had played any role in securing government support for the CUCs.

“I am passionate that regional students have opportunities for educational access and participation for their personal benefit and the benefit of their communities,” he said. He said his role as chief executive was on a voluntary basis.

Bronnie Taylor said: “While Parliamentary Secretaries are not involved in funding decisions, I am a big supporter of Country University Centres, which help young people from rural towns get a degree and improve their job prospects.

“Living in Cooma, I have seen first-hand the benefits of young people pursuing tertiary education when they never thought it would be possible.”

The federal government contributed $5.1m to the CUC in November 2018 as part of a bigger four-year grants program.

The grants were announced by the federal education minister, Dan Tehan, on 18 November 2018.

The six CUC sites were the only community-based study centres funded in NSW. A total of 16 community centres Australia-wide were successful in winning a share of $24.2m over four years.

Angus Taylor was at the announcement of the $830,000 federal grant for Goulburn though did not mention in his press release that the grant was awarded to an umbrella organisation (CUC) where his brother Duncan was the chief executive and a director.

“I am backing this centre 100% and have been since its inception,” Taylor said. “It’s an excellent resource for uni students and I’m delighted to be announcing this funding to help the centre expand.”

Barilaro said the NSW government did not predetermine where these new centres were located. He said the board of the CUC received community requests and runs a rigorous assessment of regional locations that would benefit from a CUC, including the area’s proximity to existing universities, population centres and trends.

A spokesman for the federal education department said the Regional Study Hubs grants were allocated using a merit-based application process overseen by a departmental panel that assessed the applications against published criteria.

“The minister approved funding for all applications that were recommended as suitable,” the spokesman said. “Successful applications attracted strong community support, demonstrated community need and explained how they will meet that need with experience, capacity and budget, including financial and in-kind support from their partners.”

The department said Duncan Taylor’s relationship with Angus Taylor “did not factor in to the assessment process at any time”.

A spokesman for Angus Taylor said he “had no influence in the decision to award any of the grants announced by Dan Tehan in November 2018 to Country University Centres in NSW, including the Goulburn CUC.

“Minister Taylor made no representations to the minister for education or his department in relation to this matter.”