The State Government's plan to fold UWA, Curtin and Murdoch into one giant university is in serious trouble. On Wednesday 21 October 2026 the Liberals formally said they would not support it, and Higher Education Minister Tony Buti conceded the merger could be voted down before it gets started.
The Liberals' position came on the day hundreds of students and staff were expected on the steps of Parliament House to protest the plan. Any merger needs an act of Parliament, and Labor does not control the Legislative Council.
The numbers in the upper house
Labor needs two extra votes in the upper house to pass a bill. The Greens already oppose the merger and last week urged the Opposition to join them. With the Liberals now against it too, WAtoday reports that the Nationals, who hold two upper house seats, are still weighing their position. So are One Nation and Legalise Cannabis MLC Brian Walker.
Mr Buti accepted the arithmetic.
"So if the support's not there in Parliament, well, of course, it won't happen." — Tony Buti, Higher Education Minister
He also suggested the Liberals had "painted themselves in the corner" if the business case ends up strongly in favour of a merger.
What the Opposition says
Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas framed the merger as an expensive distraction while West Australians struggle with bills, housing and healthcare.
"This is a mega-merger nobody asked for, and the more everyone learns about it, the less anyone wants it." — Basil Zempilas, Opposition Leader
He also pointed to the errors in the government's own cost-benefit analysis. The Opposition has called them "AI slop".
Buti: we haven't made our case
Ahead of the rally, Mr Buti said he understood why students were worried. He blamed misinformation, and said the government had not managed to explain its position to them. He also repeated that the government will not push ahead if the business case does not support a three-way merger. A steering committee is due to deliver that business case in mid-2027.
He argued the current system can't stay as it is. He said senior executives at WA's universities earn more than $36 million a year combined, and he wants much of that money redirected to students and staff. Earlier this week he told the ABC that some students were getting a "sub par" education. He also pointed to regional enrolment of about 12 per cent, less than half the national rate of about 30 per cent.
Mr Buti was invited to speak at Wednesday's rally but declined. He was in the Legislative Assembly introducing the Government's Equal Opportunity Bill.
Why the plan has struggled
The merger has been under fire since the Premier, Roger Cook, and Mr Buti announced the steering committee earlier this month.
- The vice-chancellors are split. Curtin's Harlene Hayne and Murdoch's Andrew Deeks both strongly oppose it. Professor Hayne has warned it would create a university of about 120,000 students. UWA's Amit Chakma has been more open to it.
- The report behind it. A 2025 Deloitte cost-benefit analysis recommended the merger, but it contained citation errors linked to AI use. Mr Buti asked Deloitte to repay the $160,000 it was paid for the report.
- The price. Critics say a merger could cost more than $1 billion.
- The panel. WAtoday reported this week that most members of the committee assessing the merger have ties to UWA, the only one of the three universities publicly backing it.
Edith Cowan University and the private University of Notre Dame are not part of the proposal.
What happens now
The steering committee keeps working towards its 2027 business case, but the politics have shifted. The merger now depends on the Nationals and a handful of crossbenchers, and for now it is short of the votes it needs. For tens of thousands of Perth students, and the staff at three of the state's biggest employers in higher education, the next few months of upper house negotiations will matter more than any report.
The story surfaced on X via @WAtoday.
Photo: Parliament House, Perth, by Steelkamp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). File photo.
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