Just When You Thought Nobody Cared, Comes the Babbitt in Hobnailed Boots Back to the Garden. (November 2, 2004)

    It's not unlikely that the re-elected Prime Minister, John Howard, had a word into the ear of reinstalled Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, regarding what he should do with and about Australia's Universities now that the Australian Senate will behave more like a board of directors rather than a supermarket trolley, or some such observation.

Over the past eight years while the higher education sector was being subjected to a systematic regime of inanition by the Coalition Government, the media have shown mild interest. Coverage has been pretty well relegated to the higher education sections and the middle pages.

But today Dr Nelson has made the front pages in a couple of the broadsheets and an ABC news bulletin at least.

Nelson bid to seize unis from states -- The Australian

 

University reforms are 'arrogant': Labor -- The Age

According to Dorothy Illing Dr Nelson told The Australian, "he would approach the states to discuss having all legislative acts governing universities -- presently enacted by each state -- transferred to the commonwealth, a move that would finish what former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam started when the federal government took over university funding and policy in the 1970s." This seems to have germinated from a seed planted by New South Wales Premier, Bob Carr late last month.

While getting the approval of the states for such a revision would require negotiation and perhaps gentle persuasion,  Dr Nelson becomes John Howard's man when discussing University reforms to "pursue some of the most contentious parts of his higher education package watered down in the Senate last year." And he emphasised that he intends to extend the use of Australian Workplace Agreements with the intention of breaking the staff unions negotiating powers.  He has also signalled that he wants legislation introduced  to ban strike action that damages "innocent third parties" as well as introducing greater freedom on the employment mix within their institutions, using full-time, part-time and casual staff.

Just how such bullyboy tactics are a recipe for significantly improving an improvised university sector beggars understanding; well it does if you perceive universities as being a nation's foundation of learning and research.

To be fair Dr Nelson has made the point that "he wants a higher education sector where some universities focus only on teaching and others pursue research," which strongly suggests the minister thinks only in blacks and whites. That's certainly not how the best of US liberal arts colleges function. No they're not research universities, but they certainly have faculty who do pursue research as well as teaching and are the better teachers for it.

For her part Labor's deputy leader and education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin told The Age, "Universities must get on with their job of excellent teaching and research, not end up bogged down dealing with the ideological obsessions of the Howard government." Just exactly what Ms Macklin intends to do about the matter is a moot point. Just making speeches in parliament isn't exactly a power play.

And a parting bromide from Dr Nelson, quoted in The Australian, "We strongly want to drive this performance culture and financial rewards for performance culture."

An expression of thought of which even Donald Rumsfeld might be proud.