FORMER Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis has called the government a “threat” to academic freedoms over its insistence on freedom of speech on campus. In a heated exchange with former education minister Dan Tehan, Prof Davis wrote “there is an irony in governments deciding to investigate academic freedoms as government frequently emerges as the largest threat to such freedoms”.
UNIVERSITY graduates fail to reflect mainstream Australian values with disproportionately high numbers leaning heavily towards socialism, according to a recent Newspoll survey. Although the poll reveals a Coalition government would cruise to victory in a general election – this result, however, would easily reverse to Labor if voting was limited to university graduates only.
UNIVERSITY leaders should be hiding their faces in shame having diverted stretched national intelligence resources to deal with subversive threats on campus. The chairman of Australia’s Federal Intelligence & Security Committee Andrew Hastie said ASIO’s job was to deal with the most pressing threats to the nation – not securitising universities.
PANDERING universities that have shut down freedom of speech and academic inquiry face tough new legislation if they continue to reject the basics of Western educational standards.
Under pressure to appease the Chinese Communist Party and high-value corporate sponsors, a number of Australian universities have systematically suspended students, removed staff and deleted social media posts over comments that they’ve judged to be offensive.
