University sector industrial action
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:13): (268) My question today is to the Minister for Higher Education. This week, as I am sure you are aware, university staff around Victoria are on strike. For years our university staff have been overworked and underpaid, stuck on casual contracts and unable to plan for their future. Our universities are slowly being transformed into corporate degree factories which are more focused on lavish new buildings and bloated salaries for vice-chancellors rather than returning to their roots as institutions for education, research and academia. University staff like those at Melbourne Uni are striking for secure work, safe workloads and fair pay. Minister, what will you do to support university staff to fight for their rights as workers and push back against the corporatisation of our university system?
The PRESIDENT: I am struggling in terms of whether this falls inside the minister’s responsibilities under the executive orders. I am happy for the minister to answer as she sees fit.
Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (12:15): I thank the member for the question. The member might not be aware, but the fact of the matter is that the higher education system in this country is funded primarily by the federal government. We did as a state have $350 million of funds that were set aside during the COVID years so that we could align what we needed to do as a government and our priorities with the capabilities of the university sector. Having said that, though, the fact of the matter is that they are self-governing organisations. We take a keen interest in what happens in universities. That is why I have regular contact with the vice-chancellors and that is why we have quarterly meetings with the vice-chancellors as well, and we go through a whole range of things, including student safety, which obviously has been front of mind for some time and again more recently.
In terms of university staff matters and the industrial relations that happen on campus and the negotiations with the enterprise bargaining agreements, they are a matter for each and every university and the union, primarily the NTEU, on all occasions. What we do as a state government is legislate for a range of things – we have had wage theft, and obviously that applies to the university sector – and also of course we deal with a whole range of referrals at certain points in time and we ensure that the appropriate information is provided to those seeking advice. But by and large the funding arrangements for the university sector are dealt with by the federal government and the industrial relations primarily, again, by the Fair Work Commission. But, having said that, we also have some specific laws in this state that do pertain to university staff.
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:17): I thank the minister for the response, and I too acknowledge the intersecting levels of government that play a part in the university sector being what it is. This week at Melbourne University they are holding the longest strike in around 167 years – since stonemasons downed tools to call for the 8-hour workday, which I am sure some on the government benches will have heard about. Minister, in solidarity with these striking workers at Melbourne Uni, will you join me on the picket line tomorrow?
The PRESIDENT: I do not think I will pass that question on.