Roger Cook, Western Australia's Premier, has proposed that the three universities in WA—Curtin, Murdoch, and the University of Western Australia—could fund their potential merger by selling some of their land for housing development. This idea comes after opposition to the merger intensified due to concerns over costs and job losses, as seen in a recent survey where 68.7% of staff members opposed the proposal. The Premier argues that this approach would make the merger self-funding and not reliant on taxpayer money, although critics still estimate potential costs ranging from $1 billion to $2 billion.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.65, but all 4 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 73272: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-12
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.
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universities → say → 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.
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university → heat → case
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.
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which → point → 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.
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cent → release → 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.
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he → seek → bill
“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.”
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that → get → committee
He rejected opposition concerns the merger could cost the state between $1 billion to $2 billion.
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merger → reject → 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.
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he → estimate → case
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.
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that → come → university
Cook said the three-way merger was “preordained”.
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merger → say → ?
“We’ll look at the business case.
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We → look → case
If it stacks up, well, then obviously we’ll take the opportunities that come with it,” he said.
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he → stack → it
“I believe this is an important reform.
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this → believe → ?
It’s important to make sure we have a world-class university from Western Australia, not only for our students, but for our economy.”
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we → ’ → economy
According to the union survey results, opposition to the merger was strongest at Curtin University at 75 per cent.
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opposition → accord → 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.
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that → oppose → 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.
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he → say → opposition
“That’s exactly the message I’ll be delivering as part of the steering committee.
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I → ’ → committee
Beyond that, we’ll be using everything at our disposal to fight hard against a merger,” he said.
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he → use → merger
“It’s highly concerning that the committee’s work is centred on a business case.
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work → ’ → case
Public universities exist to serve students, staff and the wider community.
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universities → exist → students
Any decision about their future should be through that focus, not a simplistic approach that puts profits over people.”
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that → put → people
Murdoch University urged the state government to re-consider the merger in a statement released on Sunday.
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University → urge → 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.
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spokeswoman → express → Australia
“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.”
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Australia → state → characteristics
The steering committee will be led by Fortescue deputy chair Mark Barnaba and medical researcher Professor Fiona Wood as deputy chair.
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committee → lead → chair
The Aporia
