Good afternoon

There has been full-throttle news coverage of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Australian campuses and many have questioned universities’ handling of the contentious free speech issues which arise.

Mainly overlooked is the fact that universities have a model code for dealing with freedom of speech issues. The code was controversially introduced by the former Coalition government which, now in opposition, is a trenchant critic of vice-chancellors’ handling of the protests.

Nevertheless it is the principles of the model code, proposed by former chief justice Robert French, which underpin how universities are dealing with the protests and, I argue, it’s holding up so far . An added benefit is that we haven’t seen the disruption and violence that has occurred on US campuses. Universities, because of the way they have handled the protests, can take some credit for that.

Next Tuesday, in the federal budget, we will learn more about the government’s plans for implementing its Universities Accord higher education review. Some things we know will be announced, such as more help for disadvantaged students, a modicum of interest rate relief for students and graduates who have HELP loans, and a living allowance for students with mandatory work placements.

We also expect to see a long term plan for introducing major reforms, starting with the new body to oversee higher education – the Australian Tertiary Education Commission – and followed up with a new university fee structure and funding system. There may also be another review of research funding announced which would put off, yet again, any move to fix the currently broken research funding system

Go to theaustralian.com.au/higher-education next Tuesday evening to see the details.