The NSW MP who chaired the parliamentary inquiry into university governance will keep pressing for reform inside the Labor caucus, and has warned the University of Wollongong it risks its “social licence” if it ignores its own community.
Dr Sarah Kaine, who chaired the Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Social Issues inquiry into NSW universities, spoke at a public forum on Monday night at the North Wollongong Hotel, hosted by the National Tertiary Education Union’s NSW Division and UOW branch.
Dr Kaine told the room the committee’s 310-page final report was “the very beginning”, not the end: “You have provided the evidence that says things have to change,” she said. “We now have to provide the political reason for those things to change.”
She vowed to keep making the case “in the forums that I can”, noting a state election is ahead. “Politicians become uniquely sensitive in the months leading up to elections,” she said.
Dr Kaine told The Pulse she had been advocating for governance reform within her caucus and would continue “until we make appropriate progress”. That applied not only at UOW “but at every university across the state”.
“It’s something that I’m passionate about. I’m concerned about, and I will keep arguing for,” she said. “Obviously, it’s looking at the moment like the council will appoint a chancellor,” she said.
The Pulse has reported that UOW told staff in August it expected to appoint a new chancellor in December, ahead of an external review of the council due early next year.
Asked what could be done, Dr Kaine pointed to community pressure. “The university community and the wide variety of stakeholders that we’ve seen here tonight have made it very clear what they think should happen,” she told the 150-strong crowd.
“If I was the University of Wollongong executives, I would be very concerned about the damage to the social license of the university if it continues to ignore the demands of its own community.”
The forum heard more direct calls for action. South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the region has “no Plan B. There’s no other university”, and that unions would keep pushing “until such time as we have confidence restored and we reclaim our university”.
Mr Rorris called on UOW’s council to halt the chancellor selection and step aside until ICAC’s findings are known. “We’re calling on you to stop and to step aside at least until the findings,” he said.
UOW NTEU branch president Dr Susan Engel urged attendees to sign a petition started by Mr Rorris, write to their local MPs and “ask them for governance reform immediately”.
Wollongong Undergraduate Students Association president Caitlin Veigel urged students to “show the university that the council has lost our faith and our trust”.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi, and its final report has yet to be released.
