John Dewar, the vice-chancellor of La Trobe University in Victoria, is one of the country’s most perceptive vice-chancellors.

As his university faces the potential loss of hundreds of jobs, at a staff meeting last week he was reported to have said: “[The federal Coalition government] thinks it is our fault we are reliant on international student revenue. They think we are naive about foreign interference, particularly from China; and think we don’t take issues of freedom of speech or academic seriously enough.”