I confess that I find the implications of the following article extremely alarming - in terms of the Howard Government's increasing efforts to gag political debate Kerrie Christian http://www.theaustralian.com.au/index.asp?URL=/national/4312696.htm Unis battle new threat to funding By GUY HEALY 24feb99 THE Federal Government has enmeshed its campaign against compulsory unionism into a battle for university independence by preparing to cut off funds to universities that support student unions. The plans are detailed in draft legislation on voluntary student unionism leaked yesterday. It includes provisions to cut operating grants to universities that continue to collect fees on behalf of student unions. Federal Education Minister David Kemp was forced to deny Opposition claims yesterday that universities that failed to comply with the Bill would be closed. But he confirmed his intention. "Students should not be forced to join a union to go to university. This legislation will protect their rights," he said yesterday. Universities immediately attacked the Bill's proposals as "direct political interference". The Bill will unite universities and student unions against what both see as an ideological intrusion into university affairs. Student protests against the Bill will hit campuses already preparing for widespread industrial strife as academics seek pay rises that the Government has refused to help fund. "This is an unnecessary diversion from what the Government should be doing to improve the quality of university education," Australian Vice Chancellors Committee executive director Stuart Hamilton said last night. "It's a worrying intrusion into university affairs. "It's one thing to link operating grants to outcomes in performance and accountability, it's quite another to link grants to services. It's direct political interference in universities." Calling on parliamentarians to reject the Bill when introduced in March, Mr Hamilton warned it would cost universities "tens of millions of dollars" to make up the shortfall in essential services without the student fees. The National Union of Students represents more than 600,000 students, who pay fees of between $100 and $300 a year. The union said Dr Kemp's Bill would risk the provision of higher education in Australia. The funding threat in the Bill echoes a warning by former education minister Amanda Vanstone in 1997 � which effectively silenced university vice-chancellors � that already severe cuts would increase if they continued their public outcry. The voluntary student unionism move is part of a long-standing ideological war between the Left and Right backed by senior Liberals, such as the Treasurer and former student politician Peter Costello, opposed to what are seen to be unaccountable and Left-dominated student unions. Opposition education spokesman Michael Lee, the National Tertiary Education Union and the National Union of Students � which will probably be destroyed as a result � yesterday accused the Government of trying to stifle dissent over government reforms. Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
