Coalition pledges to weed out ‘activism’ in universities

The Coalition has pledged to wipe out ‘ideological agendas’ in universities through an unprecedented level of ministerial intervention in course content.

The Coalition is promising a ‘commonsense and knowledge-rich’ national curriculum if it wins office, something NSW argues it already has.

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The Coalition has pledged to wipe out “woke” activism and “ideological agendas” in universities through an unprecedented level of ministerial intervention in course content.

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson, spelling out the Coalition’s higher education policy for the first time during the election campaign, said she would direct the Tertiary Quality Education Quality and Standards Agency to take action against “indoctrination’’.

“I am concerned that some courses are being impacted by teachings which are designed to drive political agendas,” Senator Henderson told The Australian.

“For instance, Macquarie University should be more focused on genuine academic performance rather than penalising students if they don’t complete a ‘privilege walk’ or perform a ‘thoughtful and culturally respectful’ acknowledgment of country at the beginning of an oral law exam.

“Universities must be places of higher learning, not indoctrination.”

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Senator Henderson’s warning came as federal Education Minister Jason Clare welcomed the closure of Chinese government-sponsored Confucius Institutes in five Australian universities.

The University of Queensland, University of NSW, RMIT University, University of Melbourne and University of Western Australia have all shut down the Chinese-funded cultural centres, while the University of Adelaide is refusing to say if its institute has been shut down.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has pulled funding from researchers at eight Australian universities after sending them a questionnaire asking if they have links to China – including Confucius Institutes.

University of Queensland has closed its China-aligned Confucius Institute, which triggered students protests in 2019. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Senator Henderson said on Tuesday that, if elected, a Dutton government would use “existing mechanisms’’ to ask TEQSA to investigate the quality of teaching and content in individual university degrees.

“TEQSA, as the regulator, already has the authority to examine the quality and appropriateness of course content,’’ she said.

“The law also allows the minister to request that TEQSA advise and make recommendations regarding the quality of higher education providers.”

The Australian understands that Senator Henderson also plans to force universities to publish detailed course outlines, so students know what they are signing up for before they enrol in a degree.

Currently, most universities provide such broad-brushed course summaries that students do not discover detailed course requirements until after they start university.

The Coalition’s war on woke teaching also extends to schools, after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he would use federal funding to prevent students being “indoctrinated’’ in classrooms.

He said a Coalition government would “reflect community standards in relation to what is being taught at our schools and our universities”.

Citing a recent controversy about a law course at Macquarie University that marked students on their delivery of an acknowledgment of country, and protests attended by school teachers, Mr Dutton said on Tuesday that this was being “translated into the classroom”.

“That’s not something I support,’’ he said.

“I support young Australians being able to think freely, being able to assess what’s before them, and not being told and indoctrinated with something that is the agenda of others, and that’s the approach that we would take.’’

In an interview on Monday night, Mr Dutton said “we should be saying to states … who receive that (federal) funding that we want our kids to be taught the curriculum, and what our kids need to take on as they face the challenges of the world”.

“That’s the way the federal government can try to influence the NSW government or the Victorian government, whatever it might be,” he told Sky News.

NSW Labor Education Minister Prue Car fired back, accusing Mr Dutton of politicising children’s education.

“Given the significant reform NSW has undertaken in delivering its own, nation-leading, clear, cohesive and explicit curriculum, I’m reluctant to impose more unnecessary workload on to our hardworking and dedicated teachers for the sake of Peter Dutton’s attempt to politicise our kids’ education,” Ms Car told The Australian.

“It is concerning that Peter Dutton, potentially the next prime minister, is criticising a national curriculum that was signed off by the Liberals and Nationals when he was sitting around the cabinet table.

“We would be happy to brief Peter Dutton on the nation-leading work we are doing here in NSW, given he is clearly not across these issues.”

Mr Dutton also flagged cuts to the federal Education Department, telling Sky News “people ask why we’ve got a department of thousands and thousands of people in Canberra called the Education Department if we don’t have a school and don’t employ a teacher”.

Mr Clare said Mr Dutton had “opened the door to abolishing the Australian Department of Education and cutting funding to schools again’’.

“Peter Dutton’s bigger agenda is to cut funding from our schools,’’ he said.

“That’s what the Liberals always do. This time they will cut funding from our schools to pay for the $600bn of nuclear reactors.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Senator Henderson insisted the Coalition would honour Mr Clare’s funding agreements with the states and territories, and slammed the “baseless Labor scare campaign’’.

“A Dutton government will match, dollar for dollar, all school funding agreements with the states and territories,’’ she said.

“The Coalition supported legislation to facilitate increasing funding for public schools.”

Senator Henderson said that under the former Coalition government, “commonwealth school funding nearly doubled from $13bn in 2013 to $25.3bn in 2022, underpinned by a needs-based model”.

She said Mr Clare had “made a mess of school funding’’ by failing to sign bilateral agreements for 10-year funding deals with Victoria and Western Australia before the election was called.

“If elected, we will prioritise the finalisation of those agreements within the funding envelope,’’ she said.

Mr Clare is keeping secret the details of bilateral agreements signed with other states and territories, and his office on Tuesday refused to say whether they would be able to funnel 1.8 per cent of classroom funding towards school bus services.

Senator Henderson flagged changes to the national curriculum, which the previous Coalition government approved in 2022, and which is not due for review until 2027.

“Teachers and students are being let down by an overcrowded and complex national curriculum which is not aligned with international best practice,’’ she said.

“A Dutton Coalition government is determined to ensure young Australians are supported by a knowledge-rich, commonsense curriculum and we will have more to say about our plan to raise academic standards in the coming weeks.”

The Greens’ schools spokeswoman, Penny Allman-Payne, a former high school teacher, said Senator Henderson was “fixated on moulding the curriculum in her own image rather than supporting disadvantaged kids’’.

Greens schools spokeswoman Senator Penny Allman-Payne. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“Peter Dutton has said he will hold public school kids to ransom, withholding funds unless he gets to decide the curriculum,’’ Senator Allman-Payne said.

“He’s seen what Trump is doing to public education in America and would love nothing more than to import that ideology into Australia.

“Dutton and Sarah Henderson need to be upfront here: Are they talking about banning science or First Nations history as a condition of funding? Or forbidding queer teachers from discussing their lives?’’