Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities) Bill 2009. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the part being played today by the National Union of Students and the Deakin University Student Association in their campaign to improve access to education and, importantly, campus services. This bill seeks to redress the devastation that the former government’s misguided policy direction has wrought on our higher education institutions. This bill is about putting the heart and soul back into universities and returning them to being bright and vibrant centres of social and intellectual interaction. It has about returning these institutions to being the creative thinking centres of new ideas and producing Australia’s next leaders in science, industry, government and, of course, culture.

I believe that an environment on campus that is conducive to fostering a social atmosphere that assists in developing initiative and engagement is integral to underwriting every degree our students study for at our universities. This bill is an important part of re-establishing basic campus facilities such as child care, food services, sporting options, campus culture and entertainment—services and amenities that have been culled since the introduction of the voluntary student unionism legislation some years ago.

The previous government’s policy was based on outdated dogma. The student fees legislation passed by the former government was based partly on ideology and partly on fear. They feared political debate, they feared student involvement, they feared they were losing the battle of ideas on campuses. They suggested that the views of student organisations were those of a dedicated group of activists, not the broad views of a majority of students. Instead of recognising that student representative organisations have a range of views and responsibilities—from running sports and social and cultural organisations through to providing advocacy—they failed to accept that student associations have a legitimate role to play in their communities. So the coalition ran a totally false smear campaign against student organisations.

The coalition ran some bankrupt intellectual arguments about what student organisations do on their campuses. They suggested that student unions were badly run and gave poor service to the majority of students. Some coalition members claimed that student unions could not possibly accurately represent an entire student body—a good argument for a dictator. The coalition could not fathom how the National Union of Students joined the protestors at the Baxter detention centre against the previous government’s position. The coalition could not understand how students could legitimately have a social conscience. They cried foul when students ran campaigns against the ‘war on refugees’. The truth is that the Liberals cooked up legislation because they were losing the battle of ideas, the battle for involvement on Australian campuses. Rather than participating in the battle of ideas, they decided on the coward’s way out. They decided to scuttle legitimate student forums. They decided to scuttle their institutions. They decided to carve the heart out of universities and student campus life. That is what they did.

The previous government’s misguided belief in their own dogma caused them to legislate against student associations. They gutted the system and almost killed student life. They were and are killjoys on legitimate campus culture. Back then it was ‘Little Johnny Killjoy’ and his unhappy band of sad sacks. Today, of course, we have the mutterings of Malcolm—and they are an even sadder bunch. When the previous ‘mean and tricky’ government were thrown out by the Australian people one of their clear legacies was the ghost campuses we often see today.

This bill has already been voted down by those on the other side, which clearly denotes that they have learnt nothing from that sad episode in this parliament—sad considering that a number of those in the opposition who participate in the parliament today developed their skills in university organisations. The debate and the forums they participated in were funded by services and amenities fees and ultimately led them to this chamber. That is absolute hypocrisy. They seek to kill off the very institution that led them to this place. The ideological farce that the opposition maintain in suppressing student organisations is an anathema, and it should not continue in this place.

Those on the other side who sought to ban student unions might have conveniently forgotten their role in Australian history. The Liberals’ move to ban student unions and get rid of student services was crass. Let us be honest, in many cases universities are why people are here in the chamber today. The ideas that we have were in many cases spawned or developed at university through the courses we undertook as university students, the debates we had with our friends and the debates we had in our student organisations. In many cases, the people we met at university are the contacts who have helped us on our path to the parliament to develop and represent one another and to pursue the common interests of our campuses and this parliament.

Many members on the other side went to university. Nearly all are lawyers or have similar occupations and many of them participated in student unions or student associations. Almost all of the opposition members who went to university would have enjoyed the services and lifestyle, met their political contacts there and participated in debates in clubs and societies. Then we had the consequence of their coming here, where they attempted to legislate against and close down those services. That was based on pure ideology and madness.

A quick look through the biographies of many opposition members shows some very interesting things. Within the opposition ranks there are two former members of the University of Western Australia Liberal Club, two former presidents of the Melbourne University Liberal Club, one former Curtin University Liberal Club executive member, one former president of the Adelaide University Liberal Club and two former presidents of the University of Sydney Student Representative Council. These parliamentarians no doubt enjoyed the well supported student amenities and campus communities that their clubs or societies were affiliated with.

Back in March, when we last debated this legislation, I tabled an article on campus communities which talked about some of the social democrats who, in broad terms, in the 1970s supported the idea of Australian workers working together. That was within the culture that existed naturally on university campuses. I noted with great interest and enthusiasm that the recently retired member for Higgins, the Hon. Peter Costello, was photographed accompanying that particular article. Given his history within student unions through that period, it is disappointing that Peter Costello took the view that he took in this place, championing legislation that ripped $170 million from university funding. That led to a very dramatic decline in student services—in the health, counselling, employment, child-care, sporting and fitness services that university student associations and unions delivered to their campuses and their communities. That led to a very dramatic cut in the capacity of universities to deliver important funding for research and teaching; because in good conscience universities had to make up for the decline in services that had historically been offered by student unions and associations.

My research went on further, revealing that the founder of the Liberal Party, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, was in fact a former president of the University of Melbourne Student Representative Council. I am sure that he would be rolling in his grave if he knew what the Liberal Party has done to student life through their attack on student associations and student unions over the course of the last 15-odd years. When I look at my university, Deakin University within my electorate, I can recall a much more vibrant student culture than the one we currently see. There were many more services and a much stronger university student cultural life than we currently have as a consequence of that funding being ripped out of student associations. It is fair to say that student activism plays only a small part in the development of a vibrant culture on university campuses, but it is an integral part. There are also the services which stem from that and which support the efforts of students in their studies.

This bill is about rebuilding student representation in Australia. This bill will overturn a very nasty piece of legislation that was introduced by the Howard government. We know why the Howard government abolished student fees—they did it because they feared, they loathed, the idea that students might come together and state strongly what they believed in and offer services to support students in their studies. The Liberals believed universities had become a hotbed of political recruitment for Labor and that Labor was using campuses to recruit support for the Labor Party. The Liberals were wrapped up in this view and decided for their own ideological reasons to ram through parliament a most foolish piece of legislation—a nasty piece of legislation.

Australia’s university campuses used to be thriving places full of fun and life. The previous government went too far with their approach to university services and amenities, putting in place legislation to curtail them. As a consequence, university campuses were gutted of services, sporting clubs were decimated, debating societies fell apart, cultural organisations could no longer be funded, music events dried up and drama groups had no funding. Political clubs were seen by the Liberals as evil. This was all because the Liberal Party feared they were losing the battle of ideas on campuses. The motives were shocking and the legacy today is a tragedy.

This bill will amend the previous government’s voluntary student unionism legislation and deliver a balanced, measured and practical solution to rebuilding student services and those amenities to re-engage students in an independent, democratic organisation that is able to deliver strong services and amenities to those students. The Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities) Bill 2009 is about putting life back into student life. Students have often inspired the world; they have done so in the past and they will continue to do so into the future. It is a very important and basic premise that student representative organisations in universities should be fostered, and this bill does that. I commend this bill to the House.

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