Opposition Leader Bill Shorten should adopt a less negative stance and try to cut a deal with the Abbott government on higher education policy, according to former Labor MP Maxine McKew.
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Ms McKew, who unseated then Prime Minister John Howard at the 2007 election, said Labor risked losing its "pre-eminence" in education policy unless it presented a compromise plan to overhaul university funding.
Ms McKew, an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education, said she despaired in December when the Senate blocked the government's higher-education package, which includes a full deregulation of university fees.
"It was the worst of all worlds – it left a critical social and economic sector at a total policy impasse," she said.
"I'm looking for the Labor party – which has always had pre-eminence in education policy – to find a way through the impasse.
"I want Labor to be a positive player, not just a blocker."
Education Minister Christopher Pyne has vowed to reintroduce his reforms, which were blocked by the Senate last year, when Parliament resumes in February. Main-round university offers are released in Victoria on Monday in and NSW on Wednesday, with data showing enrolments are steady compared to last year.
Ms McKew said Labor, which abolished university fees under Gough Whitlam and introduced HECS under Bob Hawke, had earned a reputation as the party of higher education reform.
But the party lost the support of university vice-chancellors when the Gillard government announced it would "rob" them of $2.8 billion to help pay for increases to school funding, she said.
Ms McKew said that she had concerns about mounting student debt levels if universities were allowed to set their own fees. But she said most vice-chancellors agreed the current funding system was outdated and that universities needed to find additional revenues to avoid a decline in quality.
Labor higher education spokesman Kim Carr said the party's opposition to fee deregulation and a proposed 20 per cent course funding cut did not mean it believed the current system was perfect.
Senator Carr will take proposals for university funding reform to Labor's national conference in July.
"My focus will be on reducing the number of students who drop out and improving quality," he said, flagging an expanded role for "compacts" – direct funding agreements between governments and universities. Vice-chancellors have criticised compacts in the past as overly bureaucratic.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne backed Ms McKew's comments and said Labor had become a "laughing stock" on higher education policy.
"I have invited the Labor Party to enter into negotiations with the government regarding higher education; however, they have steadfastly refused, despite many of their members privately supporting our reforms," Mr Pyne said.
"I suspect they will opt for more of their baseless scare campaigning rather than working towards a meaningful outcome."
