Emeritus and adjunct UTAS staff urge Tasmania’s upper house to reject Sandy Bay campus bill

Thirty emeritus and adjunct University of Tasmania staff have implored members of the state’s Legislative Council to torpedo a bill that would enable the rezoning of land at the Sandy Bay campus for residential development.

UTAS Sandy Bay campus. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Thirty emeritus and adjunct staff at the University of Tasmania have urged members of the state’s Legislative Council to torpedo an “inconsistent” bill that would enable the rezoning of land at the Sandy Bay campus for residential development.

The Liberals pledged at the 2024 state election to introduce legislation that would require any disposal of land at the Sandy Bay site to first receive approval from both houses of parliament.

However, the government was accused of breaking its promise late last year when it amended the bill to include the rezoning of parts of the land to inner residential, which would pave the way for it to be sold off to property developers for housing.

University of Tasmania building and signage, Sandy Bay Campus. Picture: Richard Jupe

The proceeds of any potential land sale would go towards a proposed new $500m Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) centre planned for the Sandy Bay campus.

The bill passed the House of Assembly in November and its fate is now in the hands of the Legislative Council.

In a letter sent to Tasmanian MLCs on Thursday, 30 emeritus and adjunct UTAS staff, including the former director of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, Adjunct Associate Professor Terese Henning, and former long-serving Professor of History Michael Bennett, the bill is described as being “inconsistent” and is said to contradict the government’s “own previous commitment on the matter”.

“The entirety of the Sandy Bay campus is public land gifted for the purposes of higher education. The disposal of that land, in part or whole, is of great consequence, and once done, will not be undone,” the letter reads.

“There has been no clear, publicly argued case provided in support of the amended legislation nor is the amended legislation the outcome of appropriate consultation.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Madeleine Ogilvie. Picture: Linda Higginson

“We support legislation to re-establish parliamentary approval of disposal of gifted land, but we do not support legislation that also enables such disposal.”

The academics said the amended bill would do “nothing” to protect the Sandy Bay campus nor ease UTAS’s financial burden.

“The combination of relocation costs and the development difficulties of the site mean that the land above Churchill Ave will not provide any significant increase to the University’s revenue,” they said.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy, Madeleine Ogilvie, has rejected accusations that the government had failed to honour its election promise.

“Our bill gets the balance right,” she said.

“It keeps UTAS in Sandy Bay, just like we promised, returns public oversight to university lands, and enables the university to advance its plans for a new STEM precinct.”

UTAS Pro-Vice Chancellor Campus Life, Professor Nicholas Farrelly, said if the legislation was passed in its current form, it would mean the university “can make a significant and critical contribution to STEM at Sandy Bay”.

“This is a vital investment in education, science, skills and jobs for Tasmanians and we will

need support to realise it,” he said.

“With no national research infrastructure fund for higher education and a constrained

budget environment in Tasmania, we must be able to find ways to invest in the facilities our

state needs.”

Originally published as Emeritus and adjunct UTAS staff urge Tasmania’s upper house to reject Sandy Bay campus bill