Australian Politics

Where are the university vice chancellors?

"Vice Chancellor" is the Australian term for a university CEO. They appear to have no principles other than their own survival in their jobs. They are utter cowards. JANET ALBRECHTSEN below outlines what men of principle would be saying

Australian vice-chancellors have been speaking in platitudes, desperate not to upset anyone. Here is a speech they should give.

We, vice-chancellors who are now trying to manage the pro-Palestinian protests on our university campuses, had this coming. For many years, when it mattered, we squibbed the importance of free speech.

Now, when students side with Hamas, when little children are encouraged and orchestrated to shout “intifada” and “From the river to sea”– both phrases used by terrorists to signal the destruction of the state of Israel – when Jewish students no longer feel safe on campus, we talk a lot about free speech. The chickens are coming home to roost. Chickens is the operative word.

We haven’t taken free speech seriously in the past. We’ve shut down events for apparently controversial speakers for “safety” reasons. Peter Ridd, a celebrated marine biologist, was famously sacked for breaching a code of conduct after he publicly challenged the work of colleagues. Free speech, academic freedom? They didn’t get a look-in then.

Even Malcolm Turnbull couldn’t get through a speech at a university without it being shut down by shouty protesters. We ramble under our breath about free speech when it suits, instead of giving this foundational principle of democracy the full-throttled defence it deserves.

Students who want to be educated, not to mention parents who pay for their kids to get educated at our universities, and taxpayers who fund us, expect us to take free speech seriously always – not just now when we university leaders find ourselves in a bind.

As a vice-chancellor at an Australian university, I am inspired to speak out after reading the weekend address by University of Florida president Ben Sasse. I make no apologies for quoting from his address. When a university leader stands out, it emboldens others to do the same. We need now to speak up for the sake of students who come to university to learn, not to use campus lawns as a platform for performance art.

The more violent American experience is not yet here. Before things get worse, I want our students to understand a few salient points about university life.

But first, I say to other university vice-chancellors, the reason Australians can and do lump Australia’s biggest universities together is that together we have turned our great sandstone universities into homogenous, anti-intellectual blobs. When things have gone wrong, and they have, it’s treated, rightly, as failure across the board.

The University of Sydney is no different to the University of Melbourne. The Australian National University is indistinguishable from the University of NSW. The University of Western Australia is a carbon copy of the University of Adelaide. No university leader of the so-called Group of Eight has had the courage to speak up about the ignorance that has flourished on our campuses, right under our noses.

We won’t fall into the trap of using slogans for either side. We won’t tar all student protesters with the same brush by describing these as encampments of hatred.

To be sure, there is extremism and hatred, in pockets, but the deeper problem is the ignorance that we, as CEOs charged with running these once great institutions, have allowed to flourish.

We have stood silent for years while our lecture rooms became breeding grounds for teaching kids – and they are just kids, with minds not yet fully formed – that the whole world must be divided into two camps: Oppressors and The Oppressed. I have used capital letters deliberately.These categories are now fully formed political projects. No nuance is welcome when considering who are the oppressed and who are oppressors. Whether you call this postmodernism, critical race theory, Marxist class struggle or some variant, our universities have become infested, and infected, by academics and students who view the world through prisms of power relationships.

For some the world is a giant mass of racist power structures. Others say the world can be understood only as organised male oppression. Others point to colonialism as the root of all evil.

There is much overlap. And adherents of this share the common belief that shutting down their opponents is an end that justifies more or less any means. They also believe that once you have identified your oppressed group of choice, you can ignore logic and reason in pursuit of their liberation.

You want evidence? Pro-Palestinian protesters on campus have every right to protest against a brutal war in Gaza. But if facts matter, they should also be the biggest critics of Hamas. This terrorist organisation understood, indeed intended, that invading Israel, killing innocent civilians, raping women at a music festival and beheading babies, would lead to a war in Gaza where innocent Palestinians would die, as innocent civilians have done in every war. Hamas uses its own people as human shields. Hamas steals foreign aid intended for Palestinians to enrich its leaders. Hamas keeps its people in a state of poverty as part of its project to call for the destruction of Israel. If students can’t identify Hamas as terrorists, then something has gone terribly wrong with their education – under our watch.

And ask yourself how those who believe in the equality of women, or the rights of LGBTQ people, can demonstrate in support of Hamas? Living in a tent on the university lawn may address the rental crisis temporarily, but what will it do for the poor Palestinians, let alone the Israelis who live with terrorists on their doorstep?

Instead, too many of our students have been trained in ignorance. Those copying Gaza Solidarity encampments on US campuses should be reading what we are reading: students are being manipulated by extremists who are sharing instruction manuals encouraging militancy and violence. At New York universities last week, almost half of those arrested by the NYPD were not university students.

I want our students to think for themselves, to test what they have heard, what they have read, what they think they believe, to read widely and to listen to people they think they disagree with. If academics at our university don’t encourage students to do that, these teachers need to find another job.

Living in a democracy means rights come with responsibilities. The American student, draped in a keffiyeh for cameras, who demanded food and water for protesters who had taken over a building at Columbia University clearly has not studied history. If you are going to be a revolutionary, remember to pack your lunch. We will not facilitate criminal behaviour by sending in Uber Eats.

Members of the Australian Palestinian community shout slogans at the Palestinian Protest Campsite at University of Sydney.
Members of the Australian Palestinian community shout slogans at the Palestinian Protest Campsite at University of Sydney.
While curing the disease of illiberalism infecting our universities will take time, we will start by treating the symptoms. We have spent too much time worrying about gendered language and other slight offences, and lost sight of what really matters.

As Sasse said, “We’re a university, not a daycare. We don’t coddle emotions, we wrestle with ideas.” As adults, you shouldn’t need written codes of conduct to govern your behaviour on campus. You must now weigh the costs of your decisions and own the consequences. We will defend your rights to free speech and free assembly – but if you cross the line, damage property, hijack buildings or take part in any other prohibited activities, you will be suspended. Those who incite violence will be reported to the police, immediately. We will not tolerate mob rule.

We say this to be clear with you. We mean it. We will hold you responsible for your actions.

We shouldn’t need a written code to explain that a university is committed to free speech and to academic freedom. Yet we do because that’s how far we have lost our way. Students of all backgrounds, cultures and religions should expect to hear things at university that may make them uncomfortable. We must equip students for the real world, where slogans and tent protests won’t get you very far. We need to teach students how to listen, reason, challenge and persuade. These skills will enrich them and the society they step into with their degrees and doctorates. Otherwise, what is the purpose of university?

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/where-are-the-uni-vice-chancellors/news-story/1ba7093bb359c393a40cec672fef1cc0

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Jason Clare's river to the sea comments 'dangerous'

Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Jason Clare needs to apologise immediately for his refusal to condemn the pro-Palestine protest slogan "from the river to the sea" likening it to rhetoric used by Hitler during the course of the Holocaust.

He said the comments by the education minister were "completely unacceptable", "ill-informed" and "dangerous", and should not be tolerated by the Prime Minister.
"River to the sea means one thing – that is the annihilation of the Jewish people, of 8 million people, driving them into the sea is about how they can be exterminated," Mr Dutton said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"Now this is the sort of rhetoric or language we heard from Adolf Hitler and the extermination of 6 million Jews when they lost their lives during the course of the Holocaust and somehow the education minister in Australia is trying to justify or explain away these words being used and try to conjure up some different context where that form of words is acceptable.

"It's not acceptable. And it's not acceptable on university campuses to see people of Jewish faith being discriminated against and the level of anti-Semitism we're seeing. We wouldn't tolerate it against any other segment of our society. Not against people of any religious faith, not of people of any different heritage, not Indigenous Australians, not of anybody."

He said the Prime Minister needs to "haul him into line" and make sure he apologises and ensures it will never happen again, calling it "unconscionable".

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/construction-focus-to-save-a-million-new-homes-promise/live-coverage/d1d37e285f7118aacd2909f3a9565407#144909

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A "fossil fuel" comes in from the cold

New gas projects will gain stronger federal support in a Labor pledge to deliver affordable gas to customers for decades to come, as it warns of shortages within four years unless the nation boosts supply.

The federal government will back the case for new gas fields and import terminals to secure the supplies despite calls to phase out the use of fossil fuels, setting up a clash with the Greens and environmental groups over the new plan.

The future gas strategy, to be released by Resources Minister Madeleine King on Thursday, says the new supplies are fundamental to the economic transition to net zero emissions and the industries in the government’s “made in Australia” agenda for next week’s federal budget.

An official report to support the strategy says Australia could fill the future shortfalls by opening new gas fields such as Scarborough, being developed by Woodside off the Western Australian coast, and Narrabri, being developed by Santos in northern NSW.

“Ensuring Australia continues to have adequate access to reasonably priced gas will be key to delivering an 82 per cent renewable energy grid by 2030, and to achieve our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050,” King said.

While Labor often rubbished the Coalition’s support for fossil fuels with its talk of a “gas-fired recovery” three years ago, the new plan names gas supply as crucial to the nation’s economic fortunes.

“New sources of gas supply are needed to meet demand during the economy-wide transition,” the strategy says.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison outlined a “gas-fired recovery” policy during the pandemic with a vow to open up new gas fields, including the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory, but no new gas field has been developed in recent years.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese questioned the Coalition claims when he was opposition leader but broadly endorsed the use of gas, saying in November 2020: “The truth is that gas will play a role and should play a role in terms of firming up renewables and in other areas.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen dismissed the Coalition gas plan as a “fraud” at the time.

Australia relies on gas for 27 per cent of its existing energy needs, as well as 14 per cent of its export income, but some Labor supporters as well as the Greens want the fossil fuel to be phased out by 2030.

The strategy mirrors the gas industry’s calls for new projects and endorses warnings from the energy market operator that new supplies are needed to avert supply shortfalls.

The government documents say NSW and Victoria will face shortages by 2028, along with other east coast states, while the shortage on the west coast will begin from 2030.

While the new plan does not force any change on state governments, it clashes with Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio because of her criticism of east coast gas producers, whom she has argued continue to export large volumes to international buyers.

“Gas companies in Queensland are putting their export profits ahead of domestic supplies. That has been the case now for a number of years,” D’Ambrosio said.

Victoria lifted its moratorium on conventional gas projects in 2021 but at the same time banned the practice of onshore fracking for gas.

The federal plan matches calls from NSW Premier Chris Minns and others in the Labor government for more domestic gas supplies, such as from the Narrabri field being developed by Santos.

The Future Gas Strategy will contain analysis of the future gas supply balance, which it is understood will reflect the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) current forecasts.

ExxonMobil and Woodside’s 50-year-old Gippsland Basin gas fields in Bass Strait have historically provided up to two-thirds of southern states’ gas demand, but are rapidly drying up. AEMO forecasts gas production in NSW and Victoria will drop from 363 petajoules in 2023 to 236 petajoules in 2028.

AEMO said in March that the entire east coast gas market would be in annual deficit by 2028 unless new supplies are tapped, forecasting an annual shortfall of around 50 petajoules until 2032. The supply gap is expected to increase to between 100 petajoules and 200 petajoules from 2033.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-steps-on-the-gas-to-fuel-its-climate-targets-20240508-p5gobt.html

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Tax on unrealised capital gains on unindexed super balances over $3m will have a big impact

ROBERT GOTTLIEBSEN

A week or two after the upcoming 2024 Budget, the Albanese government will provide the details of a tax far more damaging to the nation than anything likely to be announced in the Budget.

The tax on unrealised capital gains on unindexed superannuation balances over $3m starts on July 1, 2025. It is going to have implications far beyond anything envisaged when it was announced.

Ironically it was introduced because of a “mistake”, and correcting the mistake will make it theoretically possible for the Coalition to reverse the tax before implementation, should they win the next election by a clear margin.

Without indexation, this is a tax which will really hit middle Australia – especially those already struggling to enter the housing market

But, today I will focus on just one of the unintended consequences of the tax, plus detail the “mistake”.

The Albanese government is pressing to follow the US and have more goods made in Australia. As the US has shown, a healthy venture capital market is essential for any country seeking to make innovative products on home soil.

Indeed, the government is linking with two US venture capital funds in its Australian quantum computing venture.

Australia’s venture capital market is nowhere near as strong as the US, but it is able to fund a large number of enterprises.

After July 1 2025 it will be virtually shut down because a major source of local funds — large self-managed funds — will withdraw.

(I have already documented how a threatened re-classification of wholesaling investor criteria, not just super funds, threatened about 60 per cent of ASX stocks plus Australian venture capital.)

To his great credit, Assistant Treasurer Stephan Jones responded to the threat and directed the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations & Financial Services to conduct an inquiry and examine the issue more closely.

Thanks to Jones, at this stage, the government is not planning any changes to the wholesale investing category, so venture capital funding is intact on this front.

The current participants in the venture capital market raise high risk money from a variety of sources, but one of the largest is big self-managed superannuation funds.

But, if the government is returned at the 2025 election, the proposed taxing of unrealised capital gains on superannuation balances above $3m will begin on July 1 2025

That tax is clearly unfair and goes against all principles of Australian and global taxation. But, when applied to unlisted venture capital investments it is a disaster.

Many large self-managed superannuation funds run a low risk base portfolio but attach a limited number of high risk investments, which add extra interest for people in or close to retirement.

In a venture capital investment the initial subscribers (who take the most risk) might take up units at, say, 10 cents per share. Then, if the venture is looking good the next issue may be at 20 cents — lifting the valuation.

This would automatically cause a tax to be levied on an illiquid security with no open market. Worse still, if a venture continues to progress it might make a limited issue to a US company at 50 cents per share, meaning the value of the base investment is again increased and tax is payable. But, there is not necessarily a market for those units at 50 cents, so cash has to be raised by selling other securities.

And there is always the possibility of a reverse causing the stock to be eventually worthless.

This is high risk, high reward country. No one in their right mind will invest at high risk where your arbitrary paper profits are taxed along the way.

If you invest in venture capital, you will need to have a cash pool alongside you — which is crazy.

The withdrawal of large self-managed superannuation funds from the market will destroy a huge slab of venture capital support in Australia. Those who need VC support must instead go to the US.

I emphasise the issue of taxing superannuation funds’ realised income on superannuation investments above $3m at 30 per cent is quite separate. Providing the $3m is indexed I think it’s fair.

The taxing of unrealized capital gains is separate and came about by accident.

Originally, the government sought to tax funds in superannuation above $3m at 30 per cent instead of 15 per cent and it was supported by industry and many retail superannuation funds.

In a self managed fund it is an easy calculation. But, after the decision was made, the big industry funds suddenly realised they did not have accounting systems which would enable them to make the calculations.

Using their current antiquated accounting systems, the only figures reliably available to make a 30 per cent tax calculation was the market value of a person’s superannuation holdings compared to the previous year. Naturally, this figure included unrealised gains which suddenly became taxed.

I have no idea what a Coalition government will do if it is ever returned. But, before the election they will need to consider forcing both industry and retail funds to get their accounting systems up to 21st century standards in the interests of the nation.

We are talking about Australia in 2025, where we can use artificial intelligence and conceivably even quantum computing to work out how to calculate unrealised capital gains and make sure they are not taxed.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/tax-on-unrealised-capital-gains-on-unindexed-super-balances-over-3m-will-have-a-big-impact/news-story/a10f8e43bd1200d6faf1ef9ac04fa7a8