Beattie urges Labor to back uni reforms

A senior Labor figure has urged the party to take a bipartisan approach to the future of Australia's universities.

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie says doing nothing is not an option, calling for some bipartisan commonsense that puts the interests of the nation first.

Mr Beattie, writing in The Australian, says the Senate is holding back the country's future by blocking the Abbott government's higher education reforms.