Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on the Higher Education Support Amendment (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020. Of course, Labor is supporting this bill—and why wouldn't we? We've always promulgated freedom of speech, which is one of the pillars of our democracy and something that we can pride ourselves on. Freedom of speech is one of the most fundamental things you can have in a free society. So, therefore, there is no reason that Labor Party would not support this bill. In fact, history shows that on this side of the House we have always supported the ability to speak freely. Regardless of who's in government and what the government lines are, people should have freedom of speech to express themselves, to ensure that they can get their ideas across et cetera.

As I said, we support academic freedom. University students and researchers should absolutely be free to follow their intellectual curiosity, to express their opinions and beliefs, and to contribute to public debate, especially in universities. When we look at the history of our nation and some of the movements that have made changes to this country, the incubator, the hotbed, is the universities. Whether it be Vietnam conscription or refugees in detention, where we saw an outcry from universities and students and academics, it is always universities that are usually at the forefront. It is so important.

Gough Whitlam told us:

Academic freedom is the first requirement, the essential property of a free society. More than trade, more than strategic interests, more even than common systems of law or social or political structures, free and flourishing universities provide the true foundation of our western kinship, and define the true commonality of the democratic order.

That is as true today as it was when former prime minister Gough Whitlam made that statement.

We need to ensure that freedom of speech is freedom of speech across the board, not when it suits us or governments or particular organisations. Look at this government and the history of the last seven years. I'll give you a great example: when Simon Birmingham was minister for education, he alone vetoed more than $4 million of Australian Research Council grants because he 'didn't like the sound of them'; that's what was quoted at the time. It was an act that universities called 'abhorrent' and 'reprehensible' at the time, and which undermined the impartiality of the entire grant process. So freedom of speech should be across the board, not what we like or dislike ideologically. Former Chief Justice French himself says in the report:

From the available evidence however, claims of a freedom of speech crisis on Australian campuses are not substantiated.

We also have to remember why this bill is being introduced at this point in time. As I said at the beginning of my speech, when I stood up a few minutes ago, freedom of speech is the pillar of our democracy and is embedded in our laws and legislation. People should have the freedom to express themselves, to ensure that they have religious freedom and a whole range of things. But, if you look at the timing of this, it's very unfortunate that the reason this debate is before the House today is to do with previous bills that went through the parliament in the previous few sessions—that is, the increase in higher education costs. The government knew they couldn't get that bill through, so a deal was done with Pauline Hanson's party and a few others in the Senate to get it through, to increase fees for students. It's very unfortunate that the only reason we're debating this bill here today and putting it through is some sort of dirty deal that was done to get something through that universities, students and most of the public did not agree with—a hike in tertiary fees and university fees.

When we talk about expression of freedom and when we talk about the ability to express and explore ideas, especially in our think tanks—which are our universities—people need to have that ability. When you put pressure, through economic costs, on students getting their higher education degrees and when you put pressure on faculties and all the higher education system, it has an effect on freedom of speech and an effect on the students' mindset. If they're struggling to pay those fees and thinking about the day-to-day economics of their lives, they're less likely to be able to express themselves and feed ideas through to us from our tertiary education sector, which has been a hotbed of ideas for centuries. The bill that went through this House was criticised by many people.

When we talk about freedom of speech, we also need to keep in mind that freedom of speech is not about hurting others, vilifying others and bringing racism into it. That still must be our highest thought—to ensure that hate speech et cetera is not dressed up as freedom of speech. That's very important to remember, because lately we have seen many dressing up the term 'freedom of speech' and using it for their own purposes.

As I said earlier, the fee hikes are going to have a tremendous effect on education in this nation and on students and people wanting higher education. But, again, we shouldn't be surprised. We know the current government has continually sought to increase fees for university degrees. I call it the Americanisation of our education system. In the US, if you don't have a spare $200,000, you do not get a degree. Our year 12s have done it so tough this year with COVID. They've had to knuckle down and study from home when we don't even have the NBN working properly. Families have taken it in shifts when mum and dad are working from home. The internet is so slow that only one person can use it at a time.

If you want to talk about freedom of speech, that's great. It is within the pillars of our democracy, and it should be at the highest point. You also have to put mechanisms in place that give people the ability to think outside the square and to have their views heard. They should not have to struggle with debts. At the moment it costs, on average, $60,000 to get a basic degree. No Australian should miss out on the job they want or the education they need because they can't afford it. This is what's happening.

I'm raising this because we know that this bill is only here in this House today because of a deal done in the Senate to get higher education costs up. We should be encouraging young people to promulgate their views to ensure that their ideas get out there. We should also be encouraging as many students as possible to study at TAFE or university in order to get the skills they need to help rebuild our wonderful nation. This government's inaction has paralysed universities and left students in a very uncertain position. The government's university fee hikes have been built on perverse incentives.

All sorts of experts, including former Liberal education minister Julie Bishop, have expressed their concerns that the legislation will achieve the opposite of what the government says it will. It's going to discourage universities from offering STEM degrees, for example. Overall, the government's funding model is going to cut total funding for these degrees. The experts in science and technology, who have crunched the numbers, agree. They found that funding for STEM courses, such as maths and engineering courses, will fall because of the legislation and the deal that was done in the Senate. Universities across the country have advised that there will be similar results. What's more, students who choose to study courses that the government has deemed undesirable under its job-ready scheme will face skyrocketing fees. I don't believe it is right to penalise students for their dreams. You may say that this is all about the other bit of legislation that went through the House, but it has an effect on freedom of speech. It has an effect on the way students view their years of tertiary education. It puts pressure on them, not being able to express themselves. It puts pressure on them, dealing with the day-to-day grind of the economics of universities. That leads to the dumbing down of freedom of speech. It shouldn't be happening.

This year I met many, many students who, under COVID, were having all sorts of issues. One of them, for example, was Fleur, who lost her job because of COVID and because the government excluded universities from JobKeeper. She was a successful lecturer in theatre, performance and presentation skills. Last year, she won the Monash Student Association Teaching Excellence Award in the arts faculty and was short-listed for the university-wide Above and Beyond Award for her care of students during lockdown. At the same time as winning those accolades, she lost her job. After five years of dedication, of teaching hundreds of students, she was told that the university could not renew her contract without JobKeeper. We wrote to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, as did many of my colleagues and the shadow ministers, but it fell on deaf ears. Fleur contacted my office in absolute desperation. She stated, 'It feels like I am being punished just because the government did not pick my industry, didn't deem my career worthy of support in a pandemic.' She fears for her own future and much more—she fears that, without support, Australia will lose a generation of educators and researchers. Educators and researchers are the people who encourage our students to speak freely, to promulgate ideas, to get their views heard and to debate a whole range of things. These are the people we're losing. We're dumbing down our education system. I share my constituent Fleur's concerns. We want and need a well-educated society where people are encouraged and supported to follow their dreams. I don't think this government agrees.

As I said, we will not oppose this legislation, because freedom of speech is the pillar of our democracy and the pillar of the freedoms that we take for granted in this country. Strengthening academic freedoms in our universities is important, but you need to put all the other markers in place as well, to give students the ability not just to crunch the numbers, if they're doing maths, science or chemistry, but also to think as global citizens. We encourage that through freedom of speech. Unfortunately, we're dumbing down our system.

I'd also ask the Prime Minister and his government to make legislation that is in the best interests of our nation. The bill that went through the Senate previously, which dealt with higher tertiary education costs, is not in the best interests of our nation, our students or our tertiary education. In fact, it just makes it harder for people to study, to dream of their careers and to get expertise in a particular field. As we know, this was only done to appease One Nation so that they would support the government's abhorrent bill and pass its university fee hikes, which make it harder and more expensive for Australians to get a university education. When fewer people go to university, when it's harder for people to go to university and when the ones that do go have to struggle with their day-to-day finances, we dumb down freedom of speech.

We support this bill. It's important. Freedom of speech should always be raised to the highest level. But we know that this is being done just to appease those in the Senate, the One Nation Party, because they supported the legislation to increase university fees.

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