Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I am not sure if that is because this is hardly surprising coming from me as the higher education spokesperson for the Australian Democrats or whether you are agreeing with the fact that these were ideologically driven policy reforms under the former government. Initially, universities were offered a financial bonus and incentive for complying with those particular processes, and that is one thing. But of course, as we recall, the previous government soon turned the bonus that was offered into a penalty for noncompliance, which had the effect of bringing in a much more paternalistic approach. The HEWRRs are basically Work Choices for universities. So Senator Carr has a point when he talks about this being the last vestiges of Work Choices, which I thought, incidentally, the coalition had decided to get rid of.