Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For the benefit of the chamber I withdraw on the Deputy President's request. It would be fascinating to hear, because I'm sure many people would be very interested to hear, about what the donations from the migration agents have been to the Liberal Party, and to get that figure from the Liberal Party or any other Senator within this chamber.

But today I want to talk about another legacy of those opposite in the education portfolio and that is their gross negligence and their management of the higher education sector. Their legacy in many portfolios is shameful, but higher education might take the cake. Under the Liberals and Nationals—under their watch—degrees became unaffordable for students. The coalition grossly inflated HECS debts through their Job-ready Graduates laws. They slashed funding for universities, making them more reliant on international students, and funnily enough that worked out really well for their migration agents, who happened to also be donors. The coalition made jobs in universities more insecure, and under the coalition, wage theft, casualisation and rolling short-term contracts became rampant. Meanwhile, pay soared for vice-chancellors and others in the managerial class.

It's funny, whether you look at universities or any other sector of the economy, when the Liberals and Nationals go in, executives' pay goes up through the roof and everyone else's pay goes down. Last week the NTEU released a report titled 'Ending bad governance—for good'. It revealed the average vice-chancellor's pay was a whopping $1.049 million in 2023. I know Senator Henderson doesn't want to hear this, because she wants to run a protection racket for these extreme wages that have been paid. That means the average vice-chancellor earns almost double what the Prime Minister of Australia does. These people are paid out of the public purse—how is that appropriate? The average university now has six executives paid more than their state premier. Monash University, the worst offender, has 16 executives paid more than the Victorian premier, and the Vice Chancellor earns an incredible $1.57 million per year.

I'm not sure what university executives are doing to justify being some of the highest-paid people in Australia, but they aren't teaching any classes or marking any assignments or publishing any research. They're just about managing the universities. But, for starters, universities spent a whopping $743 million in 2023 on consulting professional services. Why are they earning so much when they're outsourcing their duties to consulting firms? Then you read some of the stories from people working at universities about the extravagance of management. I know Senator Henderson doesn't want to hear this but I'm going to say it anyway. One spoke about the refurbishment of the VC's office, saying the refurbishment was done three times in one year, with a spend approaching $1 million.

Really? They can't afford to pay staff fairly and can't afford to give them secure work, but can afford to refurbish offices three times.