Australia¡¯s opposition has accused the government of launching a ¡°comprehensive assault¡± on universities following a string of funding cuts, regulatory interventions and research grant vetoes.

Shadow science minister Kim Carr said that the government was waging ¡°cultural wars¡± against a university system that it regarded as ¡°essentially hostile to their interests¡±.

¡°Hardly a day goes by when this government does not bring forth yet another attack upon universities,¡± Mr Carr told the Senate. ¡°The idea of autonomous self-accrediting institutions devoted to free independent inquiry is something they can¡¯t accept.¡±

Mr Carr¡¯s attack follows last month¡¯s revelations that former education minister Simon Birmingham had secretly vetoed 11 humanities research grants, and the government¡¯s subsequent imposition of a ¡°national interest test¡± for future research funding.

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In recent days the government has also revealed a cut to research funding to pay for increased higher education provision at a handful of regional and outer suburb locations, and launched a review into freedom of expression on Australian campuses.

And in comments??by Fairfax Media on 15 November, education minister Dan Tehan accused universities ¨C particularly the prestigious Group of Eight institutions ¨C of neglecting the regions by failing to research their educational needs.

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Mr Tehan said that a keyword search of the Australian Research Council¡¯s database had failed to find any reference to studies aimed at bridging the tertiary education attainment gap between the capital cities and the regions.

¡°It beggars belief ¨C given some of the research that has been put forward ¨C that so little work has been done by the universities themselves to try and address this gross inequality,¡± he was reported as saying.

¡°I would call on all universities, but particularly the Go8, to look seriously at this issue and put some of their collective research weight into addressing it.¡±

Mr Carr said that the government had closed down the Office of Teaching and Learning, which had undertaken the bulk of education research in Australia. ¡°It is profoundly ironic that they should assert that it¡¯s the universities that are at fault for government policies,¡± he said.

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University of Sydney deputy vice-chancellor Duncan Ivison said that government cuts to the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme had also affected research on regional educational access.

Mr Carr¡¯s parliamentary outburst followed the government¡¯s refusal of a Senate order to hand over the incoming minister¡¯s brief that the ARC had prepared for Mr Tehan. The government declined the order on ¡°public interest immunity grounds¡±, claiming that release of the information would ¡°prejudice commercial decisions¡± involving the federal government and the states.

Mr Carr said that this was ¡°simply not credible¡±. He said that the incoming minister¡¯s briefs had previously been released by many governments.

Meanwhile, the Australian Greens have introduced legislation to remove the education minister¡¯s power to veto ARC grants. Education spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi, a former University of New South Wales academic, said that such a move would bring the ARC in line with other research funding bodies.

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¡°Simply publishing the reasons for veto isn¡¯t enough,¡± Dr Faruqi said. ¡°We need to take concrete action to protect academic independence and that means taking politics out and leaving it to the experts.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com