Universities told to sign up to free speech code by Dan Tehan

Education Minister Dan Tehan says he is prepared to force universities to sign up to a model code on free speech and tie their funding to their progress defending academic freedom.

Education Minister Dan Tehan. Picture: Getty Images

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan says he is prepared to force universities to sign up to a model code on free speech and tie their funding to their progress defending academic freedom.

A government report into free speech revealed on Wednesday that only nine out of the nation’s 42 universities had fully embraced the academic freedom charter devised by former chief justice and University of Western Australia chancellor Robert French.

Mr Tehan is pushing universities to adopt the code voluntarily by the end of the year and publish an annual statement on what they have done to progress academic freedom. He said on Wednesday the government would go further if vice-chancellors continued to drag their heels.

“Our hope is that universities will own this. They want to own it. They will put the policies in place. Now, we have other steps which we might take and might consider if that doesn’t happen,” he said in Canberra.

“The government has a range of options available to it. It can legislate, it could legislate and then tie funding, but that’s not where we need to go. And we shouldn’t have to go there.”

Elite Group of Eight univer­sities Monash University, the Australian National University and the University of NSW were among 12 institutions shamed for failing to adopt the code or not completing plans to align with the academic freedom charter.

On Wednesday, Monash University said it would reassess its free speech policies and how they lined up with Mr French’s model code.

“Since the release of the voluntary code, Monash has been working towards alignment to its principles,” a Monash spokeswoman said.

“We will re-examine our review and alignment with the model code in light of the advice and recommendations of the Walker review.”

ANU has said it will fully align with the code and complete its policy work by the end of the year.

UNSW has questioned its inclusion in a list of universities not adopting the charter.

A spokesman said on Tuesday that Sydney’s second Go8 institution had a more liberal and comprehensive free speech policy than the government-backed code.

Universities Australia chairwoman Deborah Terry said on Wednesday that all universities were committed to academic freedom and work to align themselves with the French code.

“Universities have been working carefully through their processes with university governing bodies and broader university communities. As autonomous institutions, with diverse missions, each university’s process will be different,” she said in a statement.

“Some universities have completed that complex process. Some have not. Every university will now be looking closely at the Walker report and assessing if further action is required.”