Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens are supportive of strong enterprise bargaining agreements developed with higher education workers and their unions. We are supportive of enterprise agreements that clearly protect academic freedom. But we are not supporting this amendment. Any legislative steps to ensure that academic freedom is incorporated into enterprise agreements should be treated with sensitivity and must be carefully considered before being brought into parliament.

This amendment was circulated just a few hours ago. As far as I know, Senator Roberts has not even consulted the National Tertiary Education Union about the implications of this amendment. Moreover, there is a clear need so far, Senator Roberts, as it relates to enterprise agreements, to distinguish academic freedom provisions from broader protections with respect to freedom of speech, and this amendment does not do that.