Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Mason, you know the evidence. On the basis of collaboration between industry and universities we went backwards. We went backwards on the number of PhDs in the workforce. When we look at the measurement of our capacity to meet the challenges of the future, under the previous government our performance went backwards.

We are no longer just competing with advanced industrial countries. The explosion in research and development investment in China and in India has transformed the global innovation landscape. Are we ready to face that challenge? Because of the previous government’s legacy, we are not. Patent activity in China increased by 470 per cent in the decade from 1997 to 2006. Between 1999 and 2005 India’s total R&D expenditure rose by 73 per cent and its higher education R&D expenditure rose by 180 per cent. What have we done? We have gone backwards. There has been a four per cent reduction.

That is why it is so important to undertake an education revolution in this country. That is why it is so important to get a whole new approach to the way we deal with universities. That is why we are embarking upon a whole new approach, a cultural change, to the way in which we deal with university governance and engage the university leaderships on the basis of trust and on the basis of respect for their professional abilities to manage their own affairs. Of course, nothing could stand in sharper contrast to the position we take now than the position that was taken by the previous government.

The opposition will say that we are stripping away measures and that of course means that there cannot be any accountability in any new system. That is just not the case. It is not the case in fact. Senator Mason, as a person with some interest in education, would have read the Higher Education Support Act and would know what the provisions of that act are regarding universities being subject to regular quality audits by the Australian Universities Quality Agency. He would also be aware that sections 19 and 20 of the act require a higher education provider to comply with any requirement imposed on the provider by the minister to implement recommendations of the quality auditing body. He would also be aware that, under the research act provisions, universities are required to deal properly with proper requests from the government. That is a provision that cuts across both the teaching and the research programs of universities.

The position you are arguing—that, unless your amendments are carried, there will not be proper accountability measures—falls to the ground because it is in defiance of the facts; it is in defiance of the legislation. The AUQA’s submission to the recent review of the national governance protocols indicated that the AUQA’s audits had not revealed that there was any clear evidence of ongoing poor performance and failure to meet the minimum expected standards for effective governing body operations.