365NEWSX
365NEWSX
Subscribe

Welcome

Students, academics battle opening of Liberal-backed institute at Melbourne Uni - The Age

Students, academics battle opening of Liberal-backed institute at Melbourne Uni - The Age

Students, academics battle opening of Liberal-backed institute at Melbourne Uni - The Age
Jul 21, 2021 2 mins, 12 secs

Students and academics at the University of Melbourne are mobilising against the opening of a Liberal-aligned research institute on campus that counts conservative commentator Peta Credlin and the chairman of right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs as board members.

The Morrison government has contributed $7 million of the $7.5 million gathered for the Robert Menzies Institute, set to open in September at the university’s Parkville campus, where it will host a library dedicated to the former Liberal prime minister, organise public lectures and be “a centre for research into Australian liberal democracy”.

This month the university student union began distributing an open letter signed by about 350 students and academics demanding the university sever its contract with the Menzies Research Centre.

The new institute, announced in April without widespread university consultation, is a joint initiative of the university and the research centre, a self-described “independent think tank associated with the Liberal Party of Australia”.

The Menzies Research Centre nominated two people to sit on the organisation’s board: Credlin, who was chief of staff to then prime minister Tony Abbott and is now a News Corp commentator including for Sky News; and Geoffrey Hone, chairman of the Institute of Public Affairs.

Salvatore Babones, an associate professor in sociology at the University of Sydney, said concerns about the Robert Menzies Institute were unfounded and university campuses should be open to many perspectives.

The federal government under Labor’s Julia Gillard made an identical investment in 2012 to open the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University in honour of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam.

While the Whitlam Institute board includes former Labor senator John Faulkner and Liberal minister Peter Collins, QC, Professor Gelber said students’ concerns over the Robert Menzies Institute’s Liberal-dominated executive were legitimate.

A University of Melbourne spokesman said the institute would recognise the work and legacy of Menzies, who was a university chancellor and student, while becoming a “hub for scholarly collaboration and public engagement”.

University of Melbourne academic Adrienne Stone, who co-wrote Open Minds, a book released in March on academic freedom and freedom of speech in Australia, said it was important the Robert Menzies Institute was not enmeshed in the day-to-day politics of the Liberal Party.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge, an outspoken proponent of academic freedom on university campuses, said he “can’t think of a more worthy Australian” to honour at the University of Melbourne than Menzies, a former student and the country’s longest-serving prime minister.

“However, no other prime ministerial library is linked to an external and partisan think-tank like the Robert Menzies Institute is linked to the big brother that is Menzies Research Centre

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED