Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government's hypocrisy is exposed in that very statement—absolutely and completely exposed! The government can't manage to separate the issue of so-called academic freedom from freedom of speech. It can't define these issues, or has no capacity to define these issues, because what this is really about is the campaign by right-wing extremist elements within the government to try to find a diversion from its problems. There is no evidence—no evidence—anywhere that the universities are in a crisis on the question of academic freedom any more than there is a crisis in terms of the capacity to have freedom of speech. But the government can't accept any proposition that says, 'We'll enshrine that in legislation,' exposing, as such, the hypocrisy—the total hypocrisy—of this government when it comes to this measure.

The minister's response does not surprise me, because this is a flawed proposition from beginning to end. It was designed to actually allow for the extremist elements within the government to claim that it's doing something to try to bring the universities to heel—universities which they regard as essentially institutions hostile to them. It's a nonsense proposition to begin with, given the number of coalition members who had academic careers within our universities; it's a nonsense, given the range of extraordinarily conservative views that come out of our universities; and it's a nonsense in view of the fact that their own appointed reviewer, Chief Justice Robert French, found that there was no crisis. There was no crisis and they had to manufacture one for their own narrow political purposes.

That's because they can't reconcile the problem of university autonomy and they can't reconcile the fundamental principles of proper debate within universities with the proposition that they want to bring them to heel. That's the real nub of the question here. This amendment puts them fairly and squarely on the spot so they have to make a decision. If people are able to have freedom of debate, freedom of opinion and freedom of speech then the capacity to criticise the government should of course be willingly accepted. But it's not, therefore exposing the hypocrisy of this whole proposition that the government has before the chamber.

The CHAIR: The question is the amendment on sheet 1231 as moved by Senator Carr be agreed to.