 |
Transcript
TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON DR BRENDAN NELSON MP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
15 October 2003 MIN 485/03
Question:
Dr Nelson, you're working on the next five year plan for Backing Australia’s Ability, when can we expect to see some details on that? What’s the timeframe?
Dr Nelson:
Obviously in the Budget this year, recognising that the Australian Research Council would need to continue to be funded in the fourth out year of the Government’s forward estimates in budgeting, we announced $275 million which would ensure, of course, that the ARC’s budget would continue to have been doubled. The timeframe, of course, this is obviously a major initiative and it will require it to be considered in the Budget process. Naturally, at the moment, we are putting together the policy which is being informed by a number of reviews, which I’ve initiated and got under way at the moment, and so the Government’s intentions for Backing Australia’s Ability would obviously become clear after the announcement of the Budget next year.
Question:
Right, so is it still the plan though, to announce some outcomes from those research reviews at the end of this year?
Dr Nelson:
Of course. Of course. The Reviews that we’ve got under way look at the relationship between our universities and our publicly funded research agencies. Professor Chris Fell is leading the Review of Knowledge and Innovation, the way in which we deliver research resources into Australian universities. We’ve also had the mapping exercise of Science and Innovation, an early draft of which, of course, Senator Carr has released. That will obviously be released as soon as it’s finalised. We’ve also got Mike Sergeant currently undertaking a review of Australia’s major research infrastructure. We’ve got to make sure we have rational ways of making decisions about our major research infrastructure, and most importantly that we’ve got good access to international research infrastructure. So all of these reviews, and other activities we’re undertaking, are informing our design for Backing Australia’s Ability Mark II.
Question:
On the Higher Education front, there’s a massive strike planned for tomorrow, as I’m sure you’re aware, with expected 40,000 academic and non academic staff planning to strike. What’s your response to that and how do you think that will affect universities?
Dr Nelson:
Firstly I think the academic staff in Australia’s universities need to think long and hard about the impact that their strike will have on students, who quite stressfully are facing up to exams, who need to submit their assignments. And this would arguably be the most difficult part of the year for Australian students. The everyday Australian worker, the everyday Australian who has a very high regard for universities, but may not have ever seen the inside of one, would wonder what on earth the strike is all about. What the Government is doing is saying that before the Government commits extra public money into universities, in this case a minimum $404 million, we are asking universities to make sure that every employee knows that he or she does have the right to be represented by their union, to have a union negotiated enterprise agreement, but they should be free, if they choose, to be offered an Australian Workplace Agreement and to negotiate it if they want to. If not a single employee of the university chooses to be negotiating an individual workplace agreement with the university, and instead wants to go with the union, that’s fine. As long as they have the choice offered to them.
Question:
But if they’re that concerned that 40,000 of them are heading out on strike and they are probably relatively intelligent people, being our top academics, does that not send a message to the Government that this package is not quite right yet?
Dr Nelson:
The message that needs to be sent to the academics who do choose to strike, is that if we want to have high quality universities in Australia for the 21st Century, if we want to make sure we’ve got good universities that we can be confident about getting our kids into, it’s very important that we be able to pay the best teachers in our universities, the best amount of money that they deserve. As Rupert Murdoch himself said, “unless we can attract and retain the very best academics in Australian universities we will become an educational and economic backwater”. It is important to understand that at the moment there are academics in universities who work their tail off for kids, who go in early in the morning, go home late at night, they’re in at weekends, they’re communicating with their students, they’re doing everything they possibly can to deliver a good education, and then they get the same pay as the person a couple of doors down who’s disinterested, disengaged, disillusioned and doesn’t care too much about what they’re doing. What we want to make sure is that the universities make sure that every person who works within the university knows that they have a choice. They have every right to be represented by their union, for the union to negotiate an agreement with the university, but equally they should be free, if they choose to, to negotiate an individual workplace agreement with the university. Australians in workplaces the length and breadth of Australia, for 10 or 15 years now, have been working under these sort of conditions and they’d wonder why on earth the academics should be treated any differently.
Question:
The Vice Chancellors had similar concerns on the issue and you met with them last night. Were you able to allay their concerns in terms of IR conditions?
Dr Nelson:
Well I think you need to ask the Vice Chancellors themselves Orietta, what they’re point of view might be. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to state their position. I think the Vice Chancellors themselves, of course, who are the Chief Executives of the universities, they would prefer of course that there be as least amount of turmoil on campus as is possible, as would most employers. But on behalf of the Australian taxpayer, what we’re saying to them is, we want to make sure that there is choice available to people who work in universities, and essentially what we’re doing is we’re formalising what already occurs in universities. Staff today are negotiating common law contracts and workplace agreements with their employers in universities. What the Government is doing is saying well we want this formalised, we want to make sure that universities don’t discriminate against unions, nor to discriminate in favour of unions. And we also want to make sure that there aren’t conditions applying in universities which are far in excess of what the average Australian faces in their own workplace.
Question:
If academics have negotiated those entitlements with their employers, why is it the Government’s right to tell universities to pare those back, things like maternity leave and redundancy pay?
Dr Nelson:
Well importantly we’re saying that the universities and the academics who work within them, should be free, as I say, to have a union negotiated agreement or to negotiate one themselves and to be offered that opportunity to do so. Equally we think it is important that some of the conditions which apply in universities are not out of step with community standards and expectations. The job of the Government, my job as the Minister, is to do everything I possibly can to see that we serve Australia’s interests first and secondly, that we look after the interests of the everyday taxpayer and the everyday hardworking Australian would want to make sure that there are good working conditions in universities, but they’re not way out of step with the way the rest of the community works.
Question:
You mentioned reducing industrial turmoil. As part of that would you welcome this plan that we’ve seen today, to ban teachers from striking, and lecturers?
Dr Nelson:
Firstly the story in the Sydney Morning Herald misrepresents the situation in that teachers in New South Wales of course are not covered by Federal Awards at all. What the Government is doing, is a part of its reforms for universities. What we’re trying to do overall is to improve quality and improve access in Australian higher education. We’re investing $1.5 billion in the first four years of public money. Increasing the number of places that are available in universities and we’re also wanting to lift standards. What we’re trying to do, as a part of it, is to bring reasonable working conditions into universities, in line with community standards and one of the initiatives of the Government is to expand the powers of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to allow, if it chooses to, to ban any industrial action after the expiration of an enterprise agreement where innocent third parties are being held hostage. One of the things that happens in universities, which is one of the reasons why the union has such tight control over what happens inside them, is that students are held hostage. Students should not have their marks withheld. I mean imagine completing the end of your law degree, or your science degree, or your teaching degree, and then not be able to get your marks because the union has decided to call a strike. And what the Government is saying, “well the Australian Industrial Relations Commission should be able to take into account the impact on innocent third parties of any industrial action”. And I think the average Australian would think well that’s probably reasonable.
Question:
This story about who the legislation affects in terms of nurses and teachers has been around for quite a while. I mean it’s been around since the Budget. Can you just clarify who you think the application of the legislation does apply for? Is it just nurses and educators working within the university system under those Awards, or is there some wider application in the legislation as the unions are trying to suggest?
Dr Nelson:
Well Sam, that’s a question that’s probably best directed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Kevin Andrews. From the university perspective, our intention is that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission should have the power to determine whether a strike is doing unfair and unreasonable damage to innocent people; in this case, of course, students who are desperately waiting for their examination results. It applies of course to those who are represented or employed through Federal Awards, and in some case that would include nurses. But more specific details should quite rightly be asked of Kevin Andrews.
Thank you.
|
