Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has launched a blistering attack on major parties over a deal to create a $4 billion disaster relief fund at the expense of education funding.
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The Morrison government's emergency response fund bill passed the upper house on Thursday after Labor struck a $100 million deal to support it.
Soon after it was given the final tick of approval in the lower house.
The $4 billion will be repurposed from an unused education infrastructure fund, which Senator Lambie argues should be used for ailing TAFE colleges around Australia.
The firebrand Tasmanian gave the government and opposition both barrels for striking the deal.
She said the coalition was using natural disaster help, an issue no one opposed, to shut down the education infrastructure fund.
"You may as well have shut down the EIF and transferred all the money to 'curling up on a rainy day with the good book fund'," she told parliament.
Senator Lambie said Tasmanian TAFEs were plagued with issues and desperately needed money the fund could have provided.
"It's all about a surplus - how's that going for millions of Australians out there who are suffering," she said.
"More important to have a surplus so we look like the great economic geniuses - let me tell you, you're not. You're not and you're failing our children."
While the opposition initially shared Senator Lambie's concerns about the education fund, it backed the bill after securing $50 million a year for disaster mitigation.
Through the fund, $200 million will be available each year to support communities facing a significant or catastrophic event.
Under the deal, $50 million will also be given for TAFE upgrades, with that money expected to be matched by states and territories.
Labor frontbencher Murray Watt said he was extremely disappointed the education fund would be shut down.
But, on balance, the government's commitments were enough to clinch the opposition's support.
"As a result of climate change, we do face the certainty of increased frequency and scale of natural disasters into the future," he told the upper house.
The Greens also opposed the bill, with senator Mehreen Faruqi slamming the government for cuts to tertiary education funding, and not doing enough to address climate change.
She said $50 million for TAFEs was a "drop in the ocean" compared with the end of a $4 billion fund.
Australian Associated Press
