Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

With all due respect, Minister, that is not good enough. To say 'I do not believe so' is no good. You need to a stronger statement than that. Your belief is not an adequate assurance to this chamber that compulsorily collected funds from all students across Australia will not be used and abused to fund political campaigns irrespective of whether the people who are forced to pay the tax support the cause being prosecuted. The point that Senator Mason has raised is very important because the qualification around not being able to use these funds to support the election of a candidate to the Commonwealth parliament or various other is very narrow. The way we read it on this side of the chamber is that it will not prevent the abuse of those funds collected from students across Australia being used and abused to fund political campaigns including those campaigns not support by a great majority of students across Australia.

Why should students across Australia be forced by this government to fund political campaigns and political causes whether it be a cause in favour of Labor's bad carbon tax or a cause against any number of campaigns that may come up on campus from time to time? Of course, all students are free to join those causes; all students are free to contribute their own personal funds to those causes, as long as it is of their own free will and accord. The more general question I have for the government is this: what have you got against freedom? What have you got against freedom of association? Why do you want to force students across Australia to sign up to causes they do not support? Why should students across Australia not be free to make their own choices as to whether or not they want to contribute their own funds to a particular cause? These are very important issues and, quite frankly, the protections in this legislation against the abuse of student funds by having them used towards political campaigns are completely inadequate and they should be strengthened.