Bill Shorten: ‘We will ensure our campus is safe for everybody’

In his first speech as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, long-serving Labor government minister Bill Shorten says ‘intolerance is not inevitable’.

Bill Shorten at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

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Former government minister Bill Shorten says “there is no place for anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, misogyny” at a university he leads, as he was conferred as the University of Canberra’s new vice-chancellor.

In a speech in front of 200 guests at the Bruce campus, Mr Shorten positioned his achievements with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as evidence he has “form” to make a difference at UC, calling repeatedly for “rejuvenation”.

Mr Shorten, who has doubled his ministerial salary in the $860,000-a-year job, acknowledged “the entire university sector, not just UC, is in a state of change – mirroring the state of our world”.

It had not been an “easy” time for the university sector but that “adversity does not define us”.

“Our response to difficult times defines us. Rejuvenation will define us.”

He said the world was “witnessing divisions and bigotries that we had hoped had been consigned, forever, to the chronicles of history”.

“With the fire hose of news on our screens 24 hours a day, it feels that intolerance is the order (of) the day; extremists yelling; authoritarians dictating. It feels as if the centre cannot hold,” Mr Shorten said.

“But this is not inevitable. We can make a difference. We start by ensuring our campus is safe. It must be safe for everybody.

“There are natural freedoms, but there must be respect.

“You can debate and have any idea you like, but there is no place for anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, misogyny.

“We have to nourish our democracy and safeguard our pluralist society. And the critical thinking and embrace of diversity, the exposure to different cultural perspectives our students experience here is a key factor in this goal.”

Mr Shorten said he hoped to “leave UC as a sustainable and stable institution, confident of its place in the world”.

“I don’t come with preordained conclusions but, to use a sporting term, I do come here with ‘form’,” he said.

“I do have values and beliefs. I believe, as I have believed in all the institutions for which I have worked, that if we have a chance to join those who seek to make a difference in this world, then we should grab that opportunity and not let go.”

He said that “form” extended to his work on the NDIS.

“When we were creating the NDIS, it was not a class issue. People with disabilities come from rich families, middle level income families, poor families. The question was not the wealth of their families, but their disability.

“It was their right to be treated with respect. Nobody should be forced to beg to get disability support, a decent wage, sick pay, superannuation, health care.

“And so it is with education,” he said.

Mr Shorten called this job the “fourth major work stanza in my life” after leading the Australian Workers’ Union, serving the Australian Parliament for 17 years, and leading the Australian Labor Party for six years.

“Each I have given my absolute loyalty, dedication, integrity and energy – I will do nothing less now for UC – the fourth great institution I will serve.”

Mr Shorten said he came to UC “as the enquirer seeking information and asking questions”.

Some of those questions included “How do we maximise knowledge and creativity ... attract and retain the best teachers ... and best meet the demands of our market; our essential purpose – our students? ... How do we make the university a place for friendship and fun?”