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

I've spoken a few times in the last week about the gross conflict of interest the shadow education and shadow immigration ministers have. Senator Henderson has been out there at events with Liberal donors who also happen to be migration agents. I note that the member for Mitchell, Mr Hawke, was also at those events. He, of course, was the minister for immigration in the Morrison government. One of these immigration agents is the secretary of the Rouse Hill Liberal Party council. Then we've got Mr Tehan, the shadow immigration minister, who was at a breakfast forum with migration agents the day before he announced he would oppose international student caps. It seems every member of the opposition who has responsibility for their incredible backflip on international student caps, whether it's Senator Henderson or Mr Tehan or Mr Hawke, has been outsourcing their policymaking to migration agents. Now, I don't—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Scarr, on a point of order?

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy President, I've been listening very carefully to Senator Sheldon. I think clearly there's an imputation of motive when Senator Sheldon refers to senior members of the coalition outsourcing their legislative responsibilities.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd just ask you to be measured in your language, Senator Sheldon.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy President, just on the point of order, I want to draw your attention to the fact that Senator Sheldon was asked to withdraw an imputation he made in this chamber yesterday.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is out—

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a continuing campaign of deception.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, it's not a point of order, Senator Henderson. I've asked Senator Sheldon to consider his language and whether there are imputations, and I'm giving him the call.

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

Thank you, Deputy President. I'll follow that request. Of course, I don't know how much has been donated. Perhaps Senator Henderson could inform the chamber about that. But I should raise the question—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator Henderson?

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order on personal reflection: yesterday Senator Sheldon made a—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, but yesterday—

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, it's very important, because he's made this point falsely accusing me of accepting donations. It's completely false. He's continued this campaign. He was asked to withdraw this imputation yesterday and now he's trying to do the same thing again today.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Henderson, I can't account for what happened yesterday. I can only listen to the senator now and make a judgement on what he is saying or not saying. He's uttered three words. I'm going to listen carefully to the senator. Senator Sheldon, you have the call.

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

Thank you, Deputy President. I don't know how much was donated, but perhaps Senator Henderson could inform the chamber about that. But I should raise the question in everyone's mind: how much does it cost to get a core Liberal Party policy changed?

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, Senator Sheldon. Yes, Senator Henderson?

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm sorry; this is a personal reflection, an imputation on me, that Senator Sheldon is continuing to make. He knows that there was no donation, there was no fundraising. This was a policy forum. I'm sorry; this is a disgraceful attempt—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Henderson, you are now debating the issue. The words themselves are not, in my view, out of order at this point in time. If further words are added to it then it may be, but I can't make that judgement at the moment. You are making that judgement based on statements that may or may not have been made yesterday, and I can't make that call—nor could anyone sitting in the chair. You're debating the point with me now, and I cannot assist you in my role as Deputy President. Senator Scarr?

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With all due respect, Deputy President, I have been listening very carefully, and the particular concern I have was that Senator Sheldon here today—just now, not yesterday—said that Senator Henderson should be able to tell us how much was donated. Then, immediately following that statement, so there was a conflation of Senator Henderson being identified with that question, he posed the question, 'How much does it cost to change a Liberal Party policy?' Now that is an imputation, a clear imputation of corruption.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the benefit of the chamber, Senator Sheldon, could you withdraw to the extent that there was any imputation made and then proceed with your speech?

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Urquhart on a point of order?

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Henderson's constant interjections are disorderly.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Urquhart. Senator Henderson, please restrain yourself. Senator Sheldon, you have the call.

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

A worker from another university spoke about the party a new chancellor threw for themselves, saying: 'The university hired an event management contractor despite having countless staff with event experience. The installation was followed by a VIP luncheon for 80 guests. This came at the same time as staff were advised they could no longer travel, a hiring freeze was implemented and job cuts were imminent.' Another spoke about new fountains purchased for the engineering building at the university, saying: 'They're made of Italian granite which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, we have mass lay-offs and cuts to research funding. Our own mountains here are made of granite.' Finally, a Griffith University worker noted the university purchased the Treasury casino building for $67.5 million at the same time as a round of redundancies and restructuring was happening. They said, 'It seems the only way that you could realise the strategic investment in the casino building was by getting rid of staff.' This is the end result of the Liberals' and Nationals' transformation of universities. They used to be institutions of learning and research; today, they are investment funds with educational facilities attached.

The most immediate victims of this transition are staff and students. While vice-chancellors are living large, 68 per cent of people employed in the sector are employed on casual or fixed-term contracts.

As much as Senator Henderson wants to defend the chancellors, I'm here to say they should be held to account. If you had given workers fairly paid, permanent jobs, I guess that might have impacted the Italian-granite fountain budget! That's why they've got so many people on casual arrangements—to make sure those fountains can be built with Italian granite.

On top of the casualisation, there's the wage-theft crisis in the industry. According to the NTEU, the total amount of wage theft already uncovered at universities has reached $226 million, with another $168 million pending. When you put all this together you get a very clear picture of the university management acting in their own interests rather than the interests of students, staff and the broader public and national interest. The NTEU report says:

University staff constantly report to the NTEU the opaque, incoherent and inconsistent decision making coming out of university managements who have not acted in the interests of the community.

One of the most stunning examples given in the report is from the University of Wollongong, where the Interim Vice-Chancellor—a partner at an advisory firm called KordaMentha—has hired his own firm to conduct a wide-ranging review of operations and people. This is at the same time that the university is imposing mass job cuts to save money. Another example is given of a whole team of staff being forced to attend a pointless workshop on how to use LinkedIn, only to later find out that one of their managers is friends with the person who runs the workshops and charges thousands of dollars to facilitate them. It's a breathtaking conflict of interest, and I encourage everyone to read the NTEU report, even Senator Henderson. She might learn something about universities because it's very eye opening.

We aren't sitting on our hands. Just this week, the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, announced the government would be establishing an expert council on governance for universities. This was a recommendation for priority action in the Australian Universities Accord interim report. The expert council will look at transparency and accountability processes, including the way remuneration policies are developed for senior university staff. Minister Clare told the Australian on Monday that the council would ensure that 'consideration is given to comparable scale and complexity of public service entities such as government departments and ensure remuneration policies and packages are publicly reported'.

The council will also crack down on systematic wage theft against academics and lecturers and ensure that these public institutions are meeting workplace obligations—something those opposite refused to do and something Senator Henderson continues to talk against. I talked about some of the disgraceful examples of wage theft in this sector, but all workers should expect their employer to pay them correctly and fairly—regardless of what Senator Henderson says. The measures the Senate have passed this week, including the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill, go some way to repair the social licence of the sector. The move to clean up university governance is another piece of the puzzle. The opposition should get their hand out of the cookie jar and actually start working with us and put students back at the centre of the university experience.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Henderson?

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon has just made the same comment which—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, he didn't. I listened carefully. He referred to the party.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, he said 'hand in the cookie jar'. It's the imputation.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, that imputation cannot be drawn at this point because of the—

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The imputation is very—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Henderson, I'm not debating with you. I've made the ruling. It's done.