Opinion
In 2021 then-Monash U VC Margaret Gardner made clear she was over ministers and their mates sticking their bibs into the way universities managed themselves.
In particular, she was irritated with the Coalition and its cronies creating a free-speech crisis on campus that did not exist. “Threat aspects are culturally raised and that seems to be the basis on which people read the relationship and that seems to be a very unfortunate and limited way of talking about the way universities are embedded in the future of our society and economy,” she said.
What she wanted was, a “buffer body that would stop a lot of this tetchy debate.” The pragmatists still agree. Universities Australia chief Luke Sheehy told the Senate inquiry into the ATEC bill, “the freedom and the long-term vision outside of the political cycle is why we are supportive … if we do not do that free of the political cycle, we end up having universities at the centre of political football.”
Spot the optimism – ATEC will protect them from politics, at least any they disagree with, and otherwise leave them alone.
Except it won’t. While critics focus on what the Department of Education can still do to interfere in university managements, they ignore how ATEC will be governed by a “statement of strategic priorities,” which “will ensure national priorities and outcomes are met, while enabling each provider to pursue its distinct mission.” And if that does not make everything clear, the Minister can also set out “short and long-term strategic priorities for the tertiary education system,” in a statement of expectations for ATEC.
These both can mean whatever a Minister wants them to mean and they can be all about politics. Acting Coalition Minister Stuart Robert made this clear in the Summer of 2021-2022, when he issued a statement on what he wanted from the Australian Research Council and vetoed a few humanities research grants. Academic lobbies ignored the neon sign flashing “Trap! Fall in here” by complaining about Mr Robert’s “disregard,” which played to his base.
It was precisely the politics that the HE establishment expects ATEC to stop and it is based on the article of academic faith since Gough Whitlam was in power, that Labor ministers will always be friends of universities.
Certainly Education Minister Jason Clare presents as a friend of staff and students, but as to managements, it is not a case of not so much, just not.
Mr Clare has imposed new requirements on university councils, established oversight of VC pay, created a national student ombudsman, regulated teacher education content and is about to increase TEQSA’s powers. And that it is all before ATEC starts arriving on campuses with long lists of questions.
Mr Clare has got away with it, because he does not make culture-war threats. But he has got away with it. Universities are about to become political footballs and whoever is the Minister, it is they who will be doing the kicking.