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

The reason you developed them, the reason you imposed them, was to keep the NTEU off administrative councils of universities. Let us get to the nub of this: this was all about making sure that the union was not able to find representation on university councils and that student groups were not able to find representation on councils—that the universities could only have certain persons on university councils that the government thought were appropriate.

Senator Mason, as a result of your changes, you and I were removed from the ANU Council. I have always said to you that I thought that was a retrograde step. I knew that they were not really complaining about my presence on the ANU Council, that Dr Nelson was really after you. We understand the poverty of that philosophy that took the view that certain groups being represented on university councils were incompatible with the good management of the university.

We now know that one size is not appropriate to fit all higher education institutions in the 21st century. We trust universities to develop an approach to governance that best fits their circumstances with respect to their autonomy and their capability to undertake their functions in society. We believe that the next fundamental reform for the sector is to foster diversity and to recognise the importance of diversity in their institutions in the 21st century.

Universities Australia has supported this move, and its chair, Professor Richard Larkins, made the point about governments loosening:

... existing prescriptive requirements and allow universities to pursue their missions as self governing bodies.

Under this legislation universities will be free from micromanagement and red tape, which has characterised the oppressive attitudes—the essentially anti-intellectual attitudes—of the Liberal Party in regard to their ideological obsessions with and their hostility towards centres of learning in this country. It represents a deep ignorance and a poverty of philosophy in regard to the Liberal Party.

The national governance protocols were designed by the Liberal Party to, in their mind, bring to heel their ideological opponents. This morning we heard that Senator Mason believes that the opposition of the vice-chancellors is nothing of concern to the Liberal Party. In fact, he dismissed—