Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this amendment, although it thanks One Nation for proposing it and respects the sentiment behind it. Employers and employees are free to make enterprise agreements which include terms that pertain to the employment relationship. The proposed amendment seeks to constrain university employers' and employees' ability to freely agree to the terms and conditions of employment in their enterprise agreement. It also seeks to constrain the standards and policies that universities may set in relation to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Item (b) of the proposed amendment is also unnecessary, as in practice it simply reflects the operation provisions in Mr French's proposed model code on freedom of speech and academic freedom. Effectively, the amendment proposes that other institutional policies should reflect and be consistent with the institution's policies on freedom of speech and academic freedom, which the government expects will be consistent with the model code.