Bill Shorten Stands Up for Free Speech on Campus

The current Albanese government hasn’t been shy about its willingness to endorse restrictions on speech. From the now-withdrawn Misinformation Bill to the expanded powers of the eSafety Commissioner, the Albanese government’s record on censorship has drawn the ire of free speech advocates, both in Australia and abroad.

In light of these policies, many were surprised when former Labor leader Bill Shorten spoke up in support of academic freedom and condemned the spread of identity politics on university campuses.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian , Vice-Chancellor Shorten called for universities to become “safe space[s] for disagreement” and sharply criticised the culture of censorship and conformity that plagues many institutions of higher learning.

“I want universities to be a safe place, not just for progressive ideas but for conservative and progressive ideas to be contested,” he told The Australian.

“I think the bulk of university staff vote more Left than Right, but they can’t just be bastions for the Left.

You’ve got to create places of academic debate where evidence is welcome, and that has to necessarily involve all the sectors, not just the extremists. I don’t want to start bagging everyone in the new world I’ve moved into, but it is OK to disagree.”

Shorten went even further, directly critiquing “woke” culture on campus and lamenting the current state of political discourse.

“I know it’s a woke term, but it’s got to be a safe place where well-intentioned people can genuinely disagree without the characterisation of moral turpitude—that if a person disagrees with me, that makes them a bad person,” he said.

Bill Shorten is right on the money here. Discourse on university campuses has deteriorated significantly in recent history. Universities – once held up as bastions of free inquiry – have increasingly hostile to dissenting views.

The past 15 years have produced countless examples of speakers being shut down, harassed, or even violently attacked for expressing viewpoints that some students and faculty disagree with.

One infamous case is that of political activist Drew Pavlou . In July 2019, Pavlou, then a student at the University of Queensland, organised a protest in solidarity with the Hong Kong democracy movement. During the demonstration, he was assaulted by pro-CCP counter-protesters and later suspended by the university in May 2020, after pressure was reportedly applied by Chinese government officials and other pro-CCP actors. After a lengthy appeals process, the suspension was reduced to one semester – but the incident had a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Universities should be places where ideas are tested, not policed. This culture of censorship can only lead to stagnation.

Let’s hope that Bill Shorten is able to make good on his commitment to promote freedom of thought on campus – and that other universities around Australia, and the world, find the same courage to stand up for free speech.

Without freedom of expression, universities turn into echo chambers that elevate conformity at the expense of everything they are supposed to stand for.