Higher Education Bill 2008 Passed by Senate. (September 4, 2008)

The legislation in the Higher Education Bill 2008 is designed to allow Australian universities to decide the governance structures that best suit their circumstances, and to remove the Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements.

The Federal Opposition moved amendments in the Senate this morning that would have required all Australian universities to continue to comply with National Governance Protocols and failure to comply would have seen universities incur a financial penalty of 7.5% of block funds for teaching.

In the view expressed by the chair of the Group of Eight, University of Western Australia Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson prior to the vote: "The protocols impose a one size fits all approach to university governance. They represent an out-dated and ideologically driven intrusion into the governance of Australia's universities. "The debate over the protocols... is about whether it is appropriate for the Government of the day to dictate how universities manage their governance, or whether universities should be trusted to manage their own affairs."

Following debate on amendments proposed by the Federal Opposition, the Greens and Independent Senators voted to remove Government controls over how Australian universities manage their governance and workplace relations arrangements.

The vote is also a reminder of the previous government's antagonism to the university sector, and at this juncture there is no reason to believe that were it to regain office it would not rejoin battle.