Roger Cook Proposes Land Sales to Fund WA University Merger

Roger Cook proposed that Western Australia's universities could sell land to help fund a potential three-way merger involving Curtin University, Murdoch University, and the University of Western Australia. Cook stated that the steering committee has an explicit objective to make the merger self-funding, rejecting opposition concerns that the state taxpayer would bear the costs. The proposal follows sector reports from 2023 and 2025 calling for a merger.

The proposal represents a major policy push to restructure Western Australia's higher education sector. Cook suggested universities could repurpose significant land parcels for housing to offset merger expenses, despite critics citing the potential costs could range between $1 billion and $2 billion.