Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

Senator, given the extraordinarily narrow view of politics that has been expressed by coalition senators, I would have thought that you would regard just about any matter as non-political; therefore, it could be said that there is no question that student newspapers would cover political questions in that manner. The fact remains that students are entitled to publish newspapers and they are entitled to express views; it is, in fact, an important part of the education process to debate matters. I really think whether you regard them as politically acceptable or not is a question for your party to resolve amongst yourselves. As far as the government is concerned, we are not in the business of censoring student newspapers when it comes to the expression of student opinions which are expressed lawfully and which obviously meet the normal requirements that one would expect in terms of publishing.