Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Academic freedom is and should always be one of the cornerstones of our learning institutions as part of the bedrock upon which our universities and our society as a whole are built. Without academic freedom, we lose the magnificent contest of ideas. That contest is the catalyst that generates the research and ensures the success of future directions, and it's gone. Without academic freedom, the ability to think, to develop ideas and to expand our view of the world is lost. Without academic freedom our learning institutions across every age group, from earliest childhood to universities and beyond, become places where students are taught what to think, not how to think, and, as we see, to the detriment of us all, the cancel culture takes over: you're either right or wrong; in or out. Step outside the party line, upset the online trolls or say anything beyond what social media demands and you're out. History is obliterated because it's offensive to the fringe. It doesn't fit the agenda of the thought police. Gone is the premise that history is there to be learned from. Gone is any criticism around lack of rigour or falling standards in academia. Criticise and your career is over.

Our halls of learning are becoming dungeons of dogma. Our schools are becoming indoctrination centres. Our children aren't learning how to think, how to inquire, how to question. They're not learning how important their intellectual curiosity really is and how critical it will be for them in years to come. They're being dumbed down and taught what to think. They're being taught there's right and wrong; that's it—nothing more. And they're learning the terrible consequences of being wrong—the loss of friends, the expulsion from groups, even the loss of jobs, all because they questioned the accepted dogma—as are their teachers. Just ask the highly respected Dr Peter Ridd after his outrageous sacking by James Cook University, or read about the treatment dished out, again by James Cook University, to the late Professor Bob Carter or about Dr Howard Brady, a victim of the appalling cancel culture at the increasingly intolerant ANU right here in Canberra.

Exercising academic freedom takes more than curiosity. To push the boundaries of often long-established, well-accepted beliefs takes courage, often in bucketloads. I can speak with the benefit of personal experience when I say that speaking truths that don't fit the current, long-accepted dogma will inevitably result in criticism, personal attacks, vile abuse, ridicule and, sometimes, much worse. I'm also aware of an incident that occurred more than 20 years ago when a university lecturer was told to remove a segment of a course he was teaching that included a number of the views and policy that I'd expressed both in parliament and publicly. He was told that, even though the issue in question referred to my belief that all Australians should be treated equally, he should stop teaching his students that topic and remove my name from the course. Today young children are being indoctrinated with issues around their gender or around what and how their parents should speak to them. Express your religious views and you're guaranteed ridicule and isolation—even expulsion from many places.

It's classic socialism designed to create another generation of Alinsky's useful idiots and it's going on around us every day in every state of Australia, and I say: enough is enough. The Left set themselves up as the gatekeepers of knowledge and they proceed to shame, vilify and excommunicate anyone who dares to disagree. That's not my Australia and I know it's not the kind of Australia most of us want. To expect our academics to work in an environment that shackles their freedom and restricts where opinions, professional critiques and research can go is wrong. It dumbs us down as a nation. It guarantees we'll be non-competitive internationally. It sends our future generations into lives of guaranteed mediocrity and disadvantage.

The other requirement to be able to exercise academic freedom is, of course, freedom of speech. Contrary to popular belief, Australia doesn't have a legislated right to freedom of speech. Unlike the United States, we have no bill of rights. We have no specific mention of freedom of speech in our Constitution that even remotely resembles what is enshrined and defined so vigorously as the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Why successive governments have avoided legislating freedom of speech protections remains a mystery. Of course, with freedom of speech comes the paradox of being forced to hear things you may strongly disagree with and the reality of saying things others may disagree with. The right to free expression carries with it the risk the cancel culture mob will rage against you for anything contradictory to their agenda. Conveniently, those in the woke world believe in free speech, but only so far as it fits their world view.

I can speak from experience with regard to that. Over the years, even going back to when I was first elected to parliament, I had meetings around Australia, and the halls were packed out, because people saw me and thought: 'Who is this woman? Who is this elected member of parliament? We don't hear people who speak with this truth, with this honesty.' Most people have said to me, 'You're only saying what we're thinking, but you've got the guts to get up there and say it.' The people of Australia are screaming out for that honesty, for that truth, instead of beating around the bush and not being upfront and honest with people. They saw in me something that was different.

It happens here in this chamber as well—that I get up and say something and I get ridiculed for it because I dare speak beyond the boundaries of what is accepted. By whom? Who sets the debate? We're allowing people out in the academic world to set the agenda of what we should say and how we should say it. That's why our kids are so confused, and the people of Australia are becoming like sheep: 'You can't say that. You've got to live in your own little world, in your own little box. You can't go beyond that.' Yet other countries, other people around the world, would dearly love to have the freedom we have, and we are so quick to give it away, and we're going to let others control what we say and think. I don't need someone to tell me what to or to control how I think. As a member of parliament, I will be judged by the people at the ballot box, and if they don't like what I say they will throw me out. But I won't have any other Australian, with their own opinion or their own culture, turn around and tell me what I should be saying or what I should be thinking, because I have too much respect for the people who have fought for our freedoms. And with those freedoms came freedom of speech.

I rue the day when I had lecturers come into my office, 25 years ago, saying: 'We have been told how we should teach in the university. If we don't teach that way, we are going to lose our jobs.' I had a friend who was learning to become a teacher—and I hear it all the time—saying, 'We actually have to agree with their way of teaching and we have to agree with this thought process, otherwise we will have our grades put down.' This has been happening for decades, yet no-one intervenes or does anything about it. That is why we have these generations coming through who are being conditioned, and it's a real shame because that's not the Australia that I want and it's not the Australia I want to hand on to my grandchildren and to future generations.

For academic freedom to be genuine, we must recognise that it carries with it the need for a hand-in-glove relationship with freedom of speech. Academics who are speaking about their research or the research of others must not be limited in their comments by the notion that freedom of speech as a right is not available to them. A reference to textbooks or the views of others' research or opinions must be allowed the freedom of open and unfettered discussion. We cannot ever have another case like that of Peter Ridd or a cancellation like that suffered by Professor Bob Carter. Academic freedom is something to be celebrated by every Australian, especially when it carries with it the right of free speech.

I'm pleased that our discussions with the minister have resulted in positive outcomes in relation to this sector. I particularly welcome the minister's commitment to work with us on constructive amendments designed to reduce the ever-increasing overall HECS-HELP debt, which currently stands at over $50 billion. Simultaneously, any reduction in the overall debt must be done in a way that does not unnecessarily disadvantage users of the scheme. We are very fortunate in this country to have universities and colleges for our youth to go to. A lot of other countries don't have that. That's where it's very important that I do support this bill. And, working with the government, it was very important to One Nation—to me and to Senator Roberts—that changes be made to this, and Mark Latham talks about it constantly in the upper house in New South Wales. He's very much about education, about freedom of speech. It is the cornerstone of who we are as a nation.

As I've said, many lives have been lost and sacrifices made for our freedom, and with that is freedom of speech. If we do not want to live in a society that is socialist, communist, then we are going to have to stand up for what we believe in, and it starts in this chamber with each and every one of us, who have been given the opportunity that very few Australians have. There are only 76 senators here, out of the whole population of 25 million Australians. The importance of that in itself is that we must be true to ourselves and have freedom of speech here to express what we truly believe in, because that's how the people judge us. We are supposed to be leaders of this nation. Never let anyone shut you down for your true thoughts on what you want to achieve for the Australian people, because they rely on us to make those right decisions. That's why I will continue to speak, whether it's in this chamber or outside this chamber, my true thoughts, what I want to see. I won't be shut down with the call that I'm a racist. My racism, as it appears, is because I dare call for equality for all Australians. And I will continue to do that. It's about standing up for our rights. That's why I support Peter Ridd and Bob Carter for what they've done, and even Craig Kelly. Craig Kelly has the right as a member of parliament to stand up and have his say. He has the right to question it. Let the people judge him. And that's why it's so important that we do that in a fair and just manner. That's where One Nation supports this bill.