Yvonne Langenberg has questioned why Barnaby Joyce has not spoken out against the University of New England cutting staff numbers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The local businesswoman, who stood against Mr Joyce as the Labor candidate at the last federal election, said the university had been let down by the government.
"I find it quite disgraceful that ministers from churches can get JobKeeper, but there is no similar assistance for universities to keep going," Ms Langenberg said.
Read Also:
Last month the university's vice chancellor, Brigid Heywood, announced it planned to reduce annual costs by $20 million by calling for voluntary redundancies.
"$20 million leaving our community after drought, bushfires and now coronavirus, is truly dreadful," Ms Langenberg said.
The restructure announced by the university in July includes spending to build some new facilities for the Armidale campus, while it also creates a new campus at Tamworth and improves their Parramatta centre.
The savings would come from the $20 million in redundancies from the local campus.
Ms Langenberg, who is the president of Armidale's Labor Party branch, said the university only went through a restructure two years ago, which saw some faculties merge.
"The thing that frustrates me with all of this restructuring, is that no one really holds the UNE Council (accountable).
"What was the result of the (last) restructure? Why is Brigid Heywood faced with a decline in income?"
She said it could not just be from COVID-19 as she said the university had been shielded from many of the effects because of its prominence in online education
The UNE Council, the university's governing body, signed off on the latest restructure plan shortly before it was announced.
Ms Langenberg said she would not criticise the decision by Professor Heywood, who she said was "between a rock and a hard place".
But she said she was disappointed Mr Joyce had not spoken about how terrible it was for the local community.
The only comments Mr Joyce has made on the matter was to support what the university was doing in an interview with The Guardian.
ACM has spoken to Mr Joyce's office about getting the MP's views on the redundancy program.
