SENTRY Fund Uni Fairly No cuts. No hikes.
Research & Innovation
Gutting puts post-COVID recovery at risk The ABC and universities
A&TSI staff & students
Democracy in a time of plague Published by National Tertiary Education Union
Building a recovery •
AUGUST 2020
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CONTENTS
Fund Uni Fairly
Research and recovery
The Government's fake culture wars are a distraction from their fee hikes, cuts & chaos.
The gutting of innovation and research could cripple Australia's post-COVID recovery.
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06 Cover: Anastasiia Chepinska/ Unsplash
Sentry is a free online news magazine for NTEU members and Australian higher education staff. Sentry will be published during the COVID-19 shutdown in between publication of the Union's regular member magazine, Advocate.
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Conspiracy theories
Democracy in a plague
Dr David Coady discusses how we should view conspiracy theories in the midst of a pandemic.
The COVID-19 crisis seems to be wreaking havoc on public institutions like our unis and the ABC.
Sentry will be published in May, June, August, September, October and December (if required). Advocate will be published as usual in July and November.
SENTRY ISSN 2652-5992
Editorial 01 In case you missed it... 02 Current disputes 05 At the Library, the show must go on 08 Building recovery for A&TSI staff & students 10 2020: The year we hit rock bottom, and it hit us back 16 Sentry
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Published by National Tertiary Education Union PO Box 1323, South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia ABN 38 579 396 344 All text & images ŠNTEU 2020 unless stated Publisher
Matthew McGowan
Editor
Alison Barnes
Production Manager
Paul Clifton
Editorial Assistance
Anastasia Kotaidis
Sentry is available online free as a PDF and e-book at www.nteu.org.au/sentry
EDITORIAL
Tehan's plans exacerbate the crisis facing our sector The Federal Government’s shake up of university funding will make the crisis engulfing higher education worse. Yet as everyone looks to the Government for a plan to stop Australian universities from sinking beneath the waves, the relevant Minister seems intent on playing a diverting game of deckchair shuffle. Dan Tehan has instead tried to manufacture a false battle between arts and science.
The other noxious element of the Minister’s package is the notion that arts and social science students are not productive or employable and should therefore leave university with double the debt.
Unfortunately, the Minister won’t even achieve his own stated aim of producing more science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates with his budget neutral plan. In science and engineering, for example, student fees will decline by $2000 per year to $7700, but the Commonwealth contribution will fall by even more, at $2760 per student. This is a combined reduction of per-student revenue received by universities of 16 per cent in these disciplines. Reducing the ticket price for students and simply asserting this will lead to more enrolments is poor policy. A more likely consequence is that universities will limit the now lower-revenue enrolments in STEM.
Alison Barnes, National President
The other noxious element of the Minister’s package is the notion that arts and social science students are not productive or employable and should therefore leave university with double the debt. Mr Tehan should visit a women’s shelter to consider the value of the service it
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provides because his changes will more than double the cost of a social work degree. Amid the social upheaval of the worst economic crisis since the Second World War will make social and community services more important than ever. Despite being designated as 'very highly skilled' and in 'very strong' demand by the Commonwealth the cost to become a qualified social worker will increase 113% to $43,500. Countless studies indicate the employability of arts and humanities graduates will increase as employers seek out students who can critically engage with dynamic problems. It prompted Business Council Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott to note that '21st century leaders need this humanities mindset. They need to understand the human condition. They need the qualities of critical thinking, synthesis, judgement and an understanding of ethical constructs....' Yet it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Mr Tehan is more interested in trolling university employees and students than fostering an economically and socially important sector. Fortunately the Australian parliament can still scotch his ill considered plan. You can play your part by sending an email to crossbench senators.
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CATCH UP
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
In case you missed it.... Email your Vice-Chancellor: Dan Tehan's cuts will hurt our uni! The Federal Government wants to push the cost of the COVID-19 crisis onto students, doubling fees for some courses and cutting funding across the board. Vice-Chancellors are being put under pressure to back the plan, which will hurt your university. Tell your VC to fight for fair funding – not to be complicit in Tehan's funding cuts and fee hikes. Sign the open letter calling on your VC to stand with us.
Sign the Letter File-Signature
Send a message to the Senate Crossbench We've got a chance to stop Tehan’s fee hikes and funding cuts – but only if we can get our messages to the crucial crossbench Senators who will be deciding whether or not to support these unfair fee hikes and funding cuts.
Sign the Petition File-Signature
#StrikeForBlackLives On 21 July, NTEU members stood with thousands of workers in the USA taking part in the #StrikeForBlackLives. And they stood with our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community here who are fighting for an end to black deaths in custody and for justice in the workplace. From Minneapolis to Alice Springs our movement for racial and economic justice is global.
View the Facebook post E
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Inquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence NTEU's Submission to the House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs 'Inquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence'.
Read the Submission a
Fake culture wars a distraction from fee hikes, cuts & chaos
FUNDING
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
As Dan Tehan took to the podium at the National Press Club on June 19, our sector was in crisis: a $16 billion revenue black-hole predicted for 2023-2024; a workforce locked-out of JobKeeper three times; 30,000 people projected to lose their jobs. In a pandemic-recession wreaking havoc, Australia's higher education sector was looking for leadership from the Minister. Instead of announcing what was desperately needed – a real support package to save jobs and an injection of new money to 'build a bridge' to the other side – what we heard was a recipe for fee hikes, funding cuts and chaos for university courses. Rather than bridge building, the Government is more interested in blowing up bridges in a fake culture war pitting the humanities against STEM, and socalled 'pro-job' vs 'no-job' degrees against one another. As NTEU Monash Branch President Ben Eltham observed in The Guardian, these false dichotomies are a distraction. The reality is that the Tehan scheme is a threat to the idea of accessible, quality education in Australia – and it must
Jake Wishart Communications Organiser (Digital)
be defeated by our union in the workplace and in the Senate. Behind the spin and the reheated culture wars, Tehan’s scheme amounts to a 15% cut in funding per student, with many degrees more than doubling in price. The scheme would see a significant reduction in the proportion of government funding going to higher education as a whole, with a fall in total CGS funding of between $800–$900m per year at current enrolment levels. For those degrees fortunate enough to see a fee reduction, the resources available to teach those courses will be similarly slashed. As usual, staff are being asked to do more with less.
continued overpage...
Image: Melissa Walker-Horn/Unsplash
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FUNDING
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS The impact on students isn’t much better. For many it will mean deeper debt and harder choices – particularly for those who might be more sensitive to a huge HECS price tag. We know who those students are: women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, mature age students, students from low SES backgrounds. The very people who tweeted up a storm when we asked about being the 'first in family' to attend university.
In Senate hearings the Government’s own education department officials revealed, shockingly, that they had conducted zero modelling on the effect the fee hikes will actually have on student course choices.
For a Government that is fond of banging on about the national debt, it’s apparently relaxed and comfortable about saddling the next generation of students with even deeper debt for the benefit of a decent education. Encouragingly, Tehan’s scheme has been met with widespread alarm and concern – and not just from the usual suspects. In Senate hearings the Government’s own education department officials revealed, shockingly, that they had conducted zero modelling on the effect the fee hikes will actually have on student course choices. This revelation only serves to underline the concerns expressed by Former Liberal Deputy Leader and ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop when she said the scheme would have the opposite effect to the Minister’s stated policy objectives. Crucial crossbench Senators have also flagged reservations about cost being used as a blunt instrument, and the unfair treatment of degrees
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like social work which are being whacked with huge hikes, despite giving back to some of the most disadvantaged in our community. Most remarks were diplomatic versions of Guy Rundle’s more direct observations in Crikey: 'The Government's university fee hike is a sloppy, rushed proposal which will achieve the opposite of what it proposes.' So far, the NTEU's #FundUniFairly campaign has seen thousands of community members sending messages to key crossbench senators. We will continue to work with members and supporters to communicate our concerns to decision makers. In addition to the air war, we need to organise in our workplaces. All too quiet in this whole mess have been the Vice-Chancellors, who thus far have failed to cut through the noise on behalf of their institutions and the sector. God knows they are paid enough to be better advocates than that. We understand the Minister has telegraphed his desire to keep a select few VCs 'in the tent' as he seeks to ram these changes through. Part of the Union's job will be to ensure VCs are not sitting around enjoying tea and biccies while the sector gets shredded. If you haven’t done it already, we encourage you to sign an open letter to your VC calling on them to oppose the changes. Stay safe and see you on the campaign trail.
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NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
Current disputes As members may know, NTEU has remained busy enforcing Enterprise Agreements around the country.
UTS V ZHOU In a huge win for academics, NTEU successfully defended an appeal against a finding that an academic member was unfairly dismissed by UTS for failing to get published in A or A* journals. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) found that she had been unfairly dismissed and ordered her reinstatement. The decision was later upheld on appeal.
DEAKIN CONSULTATION DISPUTE In May, Deakin announced that it was not going to participate in the NTEU's Jobs Protection Framework, was cutting 400 jobs, and proceeded to consult with staff on 15 separate workplace change proposals. The Union notified a dispute on the basis that the University was not consulting on the decision to reduce the size of it’s workforce, and only consulting on where those cuts would come from. NTEU successfully applied to the FWC for an interim order stopping Deakin from proceeding while the dispute was resolved.
A hearing was held in the FWC on 22 and 23 July, and we are hoping that we get a decision that will force Deakin to consult properly about its proposed changes. Watch this space!
NEWCASTLE ANNUAL LEAVE DISPUTE With very short notice, the University of Newcastle directed its staff to take five forced days of annual leave over Easter. NTEU notified a dispute, which has been referred to the FWC. The Union believes that this direction was not lawful, and that staff need to have their leave recredited. Negotiations continue in the FWC.
UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST In response to COVID-19, USC unilaterally altered a number of members’ workloads, substantially increasing their hours. NTEU has referred the matter to the FWC for resolution.
FIXED-TERM CONTRACT TERMINATION NTEU is assisting a number of members who have had their fixedterm contracts terminated before their expiry. The ability to do this is restricted to very limited circumstances, none of which are present in these cases.
NTEU member at a rally in Brisbane (back in the days before physical distancing).
If you or one of your colleagues is on a fixed-term contract and the University says it is bringing it to an end early, it is probably illegal. Get in touch with your local NTEU Branch for advice and assistance!
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Campbell Smith, National Industrial Officer
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RESEARCH
POLICY & LOBBYING
Gutting of innovation & research could cripple Australia's post-COVID recovery Universities perform approximately 43% of all applied research in Australia, making them the largest single research sector. However, with higher education in crisis due to COVID-19, this research sector has been hit particularly hard, in both losses of research jobs and research capacity. The Morrison Government’s actions to date have not only failed to assist the sector as it faces a multi-billion dollar deficit, mass job losses, the discontinuation of courses, campus closures and research shut-downs; it has actually made the situation far worse.
Terri MacDonald Policy & Research Officer
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Despite early warnings that 21,000 full time equivalent (FTE) higher education positions could be lost as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the Government – on three separate occasions – shifted the goalposts to keep public universities out of JobKeeper. Unfortunately, the Union’s predictions of mass loss jobs across higher education look to be on target, and will continue over the next 6–12 months, at least.
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While all sector job losses are distressing, the loss of research positions will directly impact our capacity for a post-COVID recovery that is led by innovation and research. It will also result in a ‘brain drain’ through the loss of research talent to overseas, or as people leave the research sector. This talent cannot be easily replaced, particularly in our STEM and health/medical research areas. The Rapid Research Information Forum report to the Federal Government (May 2020) stated that at least 7,000 research jobs are at risk in the sector because of COVID-19. It also noted that some 9,000 international research students were at risk of not being able to return to their studies. Also impacted are the thousands of domestic research students whose studies have been interrupted or threatened by campus lockdowns and disruption to lab access, collaborative networks and supervision, not to mention the withdrawal of research funding by cash strapped universities. While all our researchers are vital for our current research capacity, we rely also on new research students to come through and build on that capacity in the future. These
POLICY & LOBBYING research students are also often employed as sessional or casual academics – and were first in line for COVID-19 staff cuts. Reinforcing this is modelling by the Group of Eight that forecasts the loss of 6,700 jobs across its members. While all universities perform research, the Go8 are research intensive institutions and represent a large part of our research workforce. Their projections include around 4,400 short term and non-permanent positions that are unlikely to be renewed. Indeed, our research-only staff are some of our most vulnerable, with NTEU finding that eight-out-of-ten research-only (FTE) positions are insecure contract roles, making these staff particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 cuts. While institutions are shedding staff now, they will need to replace these positions down the track. Unfortunately, experience has shown that once a permanent position is lost it’s often replaced by an insecure position. In the case of academic roles, teaching-only casual positions are frequently the replacements; indeed, this is where the sector growth is. More teaching only roles would suit the new focus by Government under its poorly designed Job-ready Graduate package, which requires universities to teach more students with less funding overall; however, the loss of these teaching-research positions will have a detrimental impact on our research capacity, seeing the loss of researchers to both undertake
research and to supervise research students. Another threat to research is that the Job-ready graduate package would also prohibit universities from using Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) funding to support research that is linked to teaching. This, combined with the loss of international student income (which subsidises domestic teaching and research) creates even more stress on the sector, with devastating consequences for our national research capacity.
While institutions are shedding staff now, they will need to replace these positions down the track. Unfortunately, experience has shown that once a permanent position is lost it’s often replaced by an insecure position.
Australia’s higher education research and innovation sector is an essential driver for our post-COVID-19 recovery. Yet, in all the stimulus measures offered by Government to date, there has been almost no targeted funding for research. The NTEU believes that there must be a targeted recovery program by Government to support our research sectors, which could also encourage industry support and investment. However, it should not be limited to commercial research only, as some of Australia’s most innovative discoveries have come from blue sky/ pure research, which can lead to important discoveries, such as vaccines that safeguard against diseases such as COVID-19. Most importantly, we need to protect, and make permanent, as many jobs as possible – including in research.
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LIBRARIANS
MEMBER STORIES
Despite the pandemic roller-coaster, at the Library the show must go on It’s the third week of March. I am on my way to work in the library at Melbourne Polytechnic’s Prahran campus. The tram is empty, the city is empty, the train is empty. There are almost no teachers or students to be seen. TAFEs are an essential service and will remain open, including the campus libraries, in line with the latest advice from Australia’s Chief Medical Officer and Victoria’s Chief Health Officer. During the day we take away half the chairs and put up health department posters about COVID-19 as well as our own, more urgent ones. A week or two later I am working at Fairfield, one of the three campus libraries that now remain open, for students who are homeless, or have no computer, or no internet, to continue with their studies; and for students whose courses cannot be taught remotely. I ask to work from home: it is approved. My last act on campus is to go around with a black texta and cross out the sentence ‘Shaking hands is optional’ on all the posters that were only put up a week ago.
Peter Kenneally Librarian Melbourne Polytechnic
I work from home for eight weeks or so, and then I am back on campus. There is plenty of hand sanitiser and many gloves. Physical distancing is in place. Everyone who comes on to campus has to affirm that they haven’t got any symptoms, don’t think they have been in contact with anyone who does, haven’t returned from overseas within the last 14 days, and promise to
To tell your COVID-19 story to the NTEU member community, please contact Helena Spyrou
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MEMBER STORIES observe social distancing. Then they get a wristband to affirm that they have affirmed. We spend a lot of time discussing things like: how many screens do you need to feel protected at the service desk? Three is the answer. We field many enquiries about how to use Moodle, how to use Zoom, whether we are open. Do we have this or that book as an eBook? A constant stream of people want to use our library because their public or university library is closed. They wouldn’t be able to borrow, or use the wifi, or the computers. They just want to be somewhere that isn’t their house. Sadly, the answer always has to be no. A music lecturer returns a huge pile of books and we chat about online teaching. ‘They are often more pres-
ent than they were in person: but it’s like being at the top of a mountain and shouting down at the students in the valley below,’ he says. It’s a delightful interchange. A group of apprentices come in, full of unconcern. They stand too close together, and one of them thinks it will be funny to say 'Yeah I’ve got it, I’m gunna sneeze on ya!’ This is less delightful.
They stand too close together, and one of them thinks it will be funny to say 'Yeah I’ve got it, I’m gunna sneeze on ya!’
On Thursday 16 July, the approach to masks on campus follows the Victorian Chief Health Officer’s direction: if physical distancing can be maintained, masks are not required. But on Sunday 19 July, everything changes. Again. For the next few weeks I’ll be wearing a mask for eight hours. I am a librarian.
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Image: Jessica Ruscello/Unsplash
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A&TSI STAFF
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
Building recovery for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander staff & students The impacts of COVID-19 on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (A&TSI) staff and students has been an ongoing question. In an environment where universities are cutting staff at a dramatic rate, through Enterprise Agreements with percentage-based A&TSI employment targets it may suddenly begin to look like progress is being made.
Celeste Liddle National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Organiser
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Initially it was felt that perhaps both would receive a certain amount of buffering due to dual facts that Indigenous Student Success Program (ISSP) funding was direct from the government and provided some funding surety in uncertain times, but also, that considering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students are still vastly underrepresented in the sector, the need to retain and grow these numbers remains apparent. Yet, unfortunately, this has not been the case across the board. When the A&TSI staff and student data for 2019 was finally released by the Government in early July, it showed that there had been a 10% full time equivalent (FTE) increase of academic staff and a 7% FTE increase of general/professional staff between 2018 and 2019. These numbers, however, did not tell the full story. The gap between the actual number of staff and FTE holds steady and therefore the assumption
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can be made that as the numbers of A&TSI staff in secure employment grows, so too do the numbers of A&TSI staff in insecure employment. In total, according to the Governmental data, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff now make up 1.3% of the total staffing complement at universities. Whilst this is a welcome increase that mirrors the student data, it remains a long way off both population parity rates of employment and also the NTEU-negotiated employment targets contained within Enterprise Agreements. As has been noted numerous times during the COVID-19 pandemic and the unique circumstances we find ourselves in right now, universities still have a responsibility to ensure they are striving to achieve these employment targets and your union has a responsibility to ensure we are enforcing these clauses. However, there are further considerations. In an environment where universities are cutting staff at a dramatic rate, through Enterprise Agreements with percentage-based A&TSI employment targets it may suddenly begin to look like progress is being made. By this we mean that
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS increasing A&TSI employment percentages without actually employing anyone and indeed, just shedding mainstream staff is something we need to continue to keep an eye on as a union. All this, however, supposes that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are buffered both by the existence of ISSP funding and universities needing to reach employment targets. Unfortunately, the anecdotal evidence has suggested otherwise. Since the beginning of April, the NTEU’s National A&TSI Unit, together with the A&TSI Policy Committee representatives, have been holding member forums via zoom in lieu of the usual annual Division Forum schedule. It is via this process that we have heard of members taking packages or witnessing colleagues being pushed towards accepting redundancies despite any assumed safeguards. Unfortunately, a lot of universities still have a long way to go before they do truly become environments which not only support A&TSI staff, but also value the contributions that A&TSI staff make to the academy – as academics but also as general/ professional staff. Where an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander staff member is in a situation where they have felt greatly unsupported or undervalued in their research or contribution, or are continually on the outer as white wealthy elitist cultures persist in
dominance, they become more likely to seek redundancies in order to find employment situations where they are valued. It is noted that a number of universities have made strides to grow these capacities but for most, there is still a lot to be done. Finally, with regard to A&TSI student loading, there has been both positive and negative news. Some positives have been that thanks to experience learning, remotely or in block release styles, some A&TSI students have managed quite well in a pandemic environment with online learning.Indeed, some A&TSI staff have become sought after in the sector due to their skills in these flexible delivery modes. Some negatives, however, are that there have been a number of deferrals and discontinuations, and these learning modes can be isolating whereas so much of the A&TSI student support model is supported by community-building on campus. It is expected that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will be in high demand next year as universities seek to grow numbers in light of what is likely to be a decrease in international student loads. NTEU hopes that universities will also give thought to how important staff and support centres are when it comes to ensuring these students have what they need to succeed.
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SOCIETY
MEMBER EXPERTS
Conspiracy theories during COVID-19 When Professor Clive Hamilton recently suggested that COVID-19 emerged from a Chinese laboratory he was careful to insist that he was putting forward an ‘accident hypothesis’, rather than a ‘conspiracy theory’. This is rather disingenuous of him, since if his hypothesis of an accidental laboratory leak is correct, then there has certainly been a conspiracy by Chinese authorities to cover up the accident. Why does Hamilton deny that he is putting forward a conspiracy theory, despite the fact that he appears to be doing just that? The answer of course is that conspiracy theories have had a bad reputation, ever since the philosopher Sir Karl Popper first popularised the expression. To characterise a theory as a conspiracy theory is to imply that it is false and that anyone who believes it, or wants to investigate whether it’s true, is irrational. On the face of it, this is hard to understand. After all, people do conspire. That is, they engage in secretive or deceitful behaviour that is illegal or morally questionable. Conspiracy is common in all cultures throughout history, and it has always been particularly prevalent in politics. Most people conspire some of the time, and some people (e.g. spies) conspire almost all the time. Since people conspire, there can’t be anything wrong with believing they conspire, thus there can’t be anything wrong with believing conspiracy theories. Thinking of conspiracy theories as characteristically false and irrational is like thinking of scientific theories in this way. It is as if we thought of phrenology as a paradigmatic scientific theory.
Example of a COVID-19 conspiracy meme
Conspiracy theories, like scientific theories, and virtually any other category of theory, are sometimes true,
Dr David Coady Senior Lecturer in Philosophy & Gender Studies University of Tasmania
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MEMBER EXPERTS sometimes false, sometimes rational, sometimes not. The literature on conspiracy theories contains a wide array of mutually contradictory definitions. Although the term ‘conspiracy theory’ lacks any fixed meaning, it does serve a fixed function. It serves the same function the word ‘heresy’ served in medieval Europe; that of stigmatising people with beliefs that conflict with officially sanctioned orthodoxies of the time and place in question. Whenever we use the term ‘conspiracy theory’ (or related terms such as ‘conspiracism’, and ‘conspiracist ideation’) pejoratively we’re implying, perhaps unintentionally, that there is something wrong with believing in conspiracies or wanting to investigate whether they’re occurring. This rhetoric silences the victims of conspiracy, and those who (rightly or wrongly) suspect that conspiracies are occurring, and it herds respectable opinion in ways that make it more likely that powerful interests will be able to get away with conspiracies. So one bad effect of the current use of these terms is that they make it is easier for conspiracy to thrive at the expense of openness. Another bad effect is that it is an injustice to people whose beliefs are characterised as conspiracy theories. This is what philosopher Miranda Fricker calls ‘testimonial injustice’. When someone asserts that a conspiracy has occurred (especially when powerful
people or institutions are involved) that person’s word is inevitably given less credence because of an irrational prejudice produced by the pejorative connotations of these terms. There are of course conspiracy theories about COVID-19 which should be given no credence. The belief that governments are covering up a link between COVID-19 and 5G mobile phone networks is false, irrational, and probably harmful and it happens to be a conspiracy theory. But it is not false, irrational or harmful because it’s a conspiracy theory. To dismiss it as a conspiracy theory is to dismiss it for the wrong reason, and it gives proponents of the theory an easy reply. After all many well-established truths were once derided as conspiracy theories. Furthermore it is not as if there have never been conspiracies to spread deadly diseases.
Conspiracy theories, like scientific theories, and virtually any other category of theory, are sometimes true, sometimes false, sometimes rational, sometimes not.
An anti-lockdown protester holds placards on the steps of Victoria's state parliament in Melbourne in May.
Is Professor Hamilton’s COVID-19 conspiracy theory true? I have no idea. But there is one thing I’m sure of. The fact that it’s a conspiracy theory doesn’t make it less likely to be true.
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DEMOCRACY
MEMBER EXPERTS
Democracy in a time of plague The ABC and universities The COVID-19 crisis seems to be wreaking havoc on public institutions like our universities and the ABC.
The savage cuts to both the ABC and universities are no coincidence. The ABC and universities produce valuable public goods which governments tend to dislike.
Professor Judith Bessant Global, Urban & Social Studies RMIT University Professor Rob Watts Global, Urban & Social Studies RMIT University
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Our 37 public universities have taken a huge hit to their revenues leading to talk about the need for severe job losses. As for the ABC, it announced recently that 250 jobs will go along with the 7.45AM radio news bulletin. This, however, is not the full story. What we face now is not just an effect of pandemic. For decades Australian governments have systematically cut funding to public universities, forcing them to chase additional revenue by selling degrees to international students. COVID-19 dried up much of that supply in February with a hit to the Budget of between $3 billion to $4 billion for 2020 alone. Curiously, when most other industries were getting billions of dollars of government support, public universities were denied access to the JobKeeper allowance just when vice-chancellors began talking of redundancies. While Prime Minister Morrison claims there have been no funding cuts to the ABC, a few inconvenient
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facts suggest otherwise. Morrison’s predecessor Tony Abbott cut $254 million from the ABC in 2014, while Malcolm Turnbull imposed a funding freeze worth $84 million taking effect in 2018–20. All told, $783 million has been cut since 2014. As with all crime stories, there is no such thing as a coincidence. The savage cuts to both the ABC and universities are no coincidence. The ABC and universities produce valuable public goods which governments tend to dislike. The Morrison Government prefers the market idea that everything should have a price rather than the idea that public goods such as knowledge, clean air, news and information should be freely available to all. In an age when governments rely on spin, universities and the ABC produce public goods like information, critical commentary, and ‘inconvenient’ facts. Apart from providing feebased professional education, our universities create public goods such as knowledge, critical thought, and scientific research. The ABC produces free-to-air reliable, trustworthy news, critical public affairs commentary and cultural resources like drama, entertainment, and music.
MEMBER EXPERTS The ABC (and the SBS) and universities have long been essential to the public sphere, something fundamental to any democratic culture. Our universities and the ABC are doing what they are meant to do: inform, critique and encourage debate. Subjecting the ABC and public universities to death by a thousand cuts is like ‘burning the books’, a tactic often adopted by invading armies or authoritarian governments.
Commonwealth Bank announced it would slash 10,000 jobs and close 300 branches as it moved online. In March, ANZ got rid of 230 jobs, while HSBC is pressing on with plans to slash 35,000 jobs.
At a time when many governments are declaring a state of emergency and suspending basic rights, we need to ensure that democratic practices that involve speaking truth are not disappeared. It is important we remain ‘alert’ to what is actually happening.
This had nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic and much to do with artificial intelligence-based algorithmic processing. Meanwhile, some university leaders dream of the day when ‘expensive’ teachers are replaced with ‘online delivery’.
Recent moves by ANZ, Australia Post, KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, regional newspapers, the ABC, QANTAS and so on to cut jobs, may well be blamed on COVID-19. For decades we have been undertaking a social-economic transformation and digital disruption that is reshaping what it means to be human. We face the prospect not only of needing to ask whether work has a future, but of what purpose is education, culture or life itself. And while these questions need urgent address so too does the climate change which will make recent bushfires look like small beer. In these ways COVID-19 is bringing forward much of what would have happened anyway. A year ago, the
The current attacks on the ABC and public universities are taking place in the midst of an unprecedented political-health crisis that is being used to rationalise what has been on the horizon for some time. What is missing amid all the talk of urgency and emergency is well-informed public discussion.
Subjecting the ABC and public universities to death by a thousand cuts is like ‘burning the books’, a tactic often adopted by invading armies or authoritarian governments.
Now is the time more than ever that we need universities and the ABC, whose business it is to generate well-informed public discussion. At stake is the health of our democracy, and of our capacity to navigate what may prove to be one of the more challenging times humans have ever confronted.
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YEAR 12 STUDENTS
MEMBER STORIES
2020: The year we hit rock bottom, and it hit us back When I pictured my final year of high school I didn’t really picture this, I don’t think many of us did. And when they told us 'these are the best years of your lives', and when they said 'make the most of it', I don’t think they imagined this. I don’t know many people that would have; it's a twisted sort of premonition if you did. Instead of dances and sports games, debating and discussions, instead of chatting in class, and getting takeaway after events, instead of all that, I sat at home. I made the most of Zoom calls, daily emails and group chats. I think I’ve seen more of my video camera than I have my own school. I have to say, when I pictured my last year of high school, I did not picture it at my desk, in my bedroom, alone. Call me crazy but I was a bit more optimistic than that. We are missing too much already. Things I thought were guarantees, things I took for granted. My formal dress, bought in great anticipation, hung up in the hope that we would eventually be able to have that promised gala evening, is starting to look a little limp.
Megan Grove Year 12 student MacRobertson Girls High School Melbourne
Then, this. Apparently the Government will pay less per student and I will pay more. And because I am a humanities student, a lot more. And if I hadn’t pictured quarantine, I don’t know how I would have even comprehended this. I didn’t have time to duck this one.
To tell your COVID-19 story to the NTEU member community, please contact Helena Spyrou
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AUGUST 2020
MEMBER STORIES We are missing too much already and now we are to choose $45,000 or our dreams? As if this time wasn’t confusing, alienating, frustrating enough, let’s just make it that little bit more heartbreaking. Actually, 113% more heartbreaking to be exact. A 113% increase, that is what they have decided caring for others will cost us; what communications, history, behavioural science, philosophy will cost us. And it’s not that there’s a price on my dreams – I’ve always known that, resigned myself to it a long time ago – it’s that it’s been ranked side by side with others, and has failed to measure up; I have come up short, drawn the short straw. They have looked at our passions, our potential for progress, and they have looked the other way. It’s that my sister completed an arts degree and she will walk away with half of the student debt I will. It’s that my friend told me she used to regret enduring her Maths and Chemistry classes, but, after this, she is grateful. It’s that I had to listen to her tell me how hard it was to convince her parents to allow her to pursue her interests in the humanities; convincing them it’s what she wants, what she loves. It’s that, now, she is going to change her whole life. She is the youngest of three sisters. Her parents can’t afford her interests anymore – another punch to the gut. It’s that my whole life I have loved the humanities, they’ve given me everything. When I moved to a new
We are missing too much already and now we are to choose $45,000 or our dreams? As if this time wasn’t confusing, alienating, frustrating enough, let’s just make it that little bit more heartbreaking.
state, a new system, I chose them above everything else. Where maths was difficult and exhausting, history was my safe haven. Where science was memorisation and confusion, philosophy was escape; literature contemplation; politics an avenue through which I thought there could be change – I could make change – for the better. Now, I’m not so sure, that little bit less steadfast. I am secure – with a family who has saved for me, going to a good school, getting good enough grades – and I will go on, but others will turn away. Others will be hit harder and it will do exactly what it was intended to do. They will turn away, discouraged by a tax on what I previously (apparently naively) thought of as priceless subjects and invaluable lessons. We are missing too much already and now they’re doing everything they can to make us turn away, make us miss this too. It sure packs a punch.
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On the day Meg submitted this article, a positive case was detected at her school. The Year 12s, after being sent back to school for two weeks in Term 3, are once again studying in isolation.
Image: Meg's un-worn formal dress.
vol. 1 no. 3
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Sentry
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AUGUST 2020
