Tricky TEQSA ignores direction from Education Minister
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Bettina Arndt
 August 24 2020
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    News for those of you following my campaign to close down Australia's campus kangaroo courts. Our university regulator, TEQSA, has proved once again that they are a toothless tiger, more interested in pandering to feminist lobby groups than addressing critical governance issues vital to the welfare of much of the student body.

     

    Last year I exposed the fact that TEQSA was responsible for the kangaroo courts, having issued a “guidance note” in 2018 which encouraged the universities to introduce regulations to investigate and adjudicate sexual assault. They were responding to pressure from feminist lobby groups keen to ensure more rape convictions by using a lower standard of proof to determine the guilt of accused male students. In my May newsletter I pointed out Joe Biden was a key player in forcing American universities in this direction – and our universities, under the guidance of TEQSA, have simply followed suit.

     

    Many of you will have seen the video of Senator Amanda Stoker grilling TEQSA bureaucrats about the appallingly unfair system that followed their careless advice. The regulations introduced by the universities contained barely a word about ensuring proper legal rights for accused young men who faced secretive, unsupervised committees determined guilt on the balance of probabilities with power to impose serious penalties including expulsion from the university.

     

    But then came the Queensland Supreme Court case which determined these kangaroo courts were illegal followed by Dan Tehan’s advice at the TEQSA conference last November that universities should  leave sexual assault to the criminal courts. See a summary of these developments here.

     

    TEQSA shows itself to be captured - again

     

     A few weeks ago, TEQSA produced a new 76-page document –  a “Good Practice Note” on this issue. This document, written by a group of authors who included two End Rape on Campus activists, mentions neither the Queensland Supreme Court case nor the Education Minister’s advice to TEQSA.

     

    Instead, the TEQSA good practice note advises the universities that whilst they can’t conduct “criminal investigations” for sexual assault they can “deal with the matter under their own misconduct procedures,” providing advice about handling these investigations which neatly sidestep all the key contentious issues.

     

    The university-imposed penalties for sexual assault are mentioned without any explanation of what laws permit universities to withhold degrees or suspend students from their studies. As Senator Stoker pointed out to TEQSA, sexual assault legislation does not include penalties which include robbing young men of degrees worth many thousands of dollars and many years of study. It’s notable that TESQA fails once again to address the legality of these penalties.

     

    The latest TEQSA document makes a token effort to address the lack of due process rights for the accused suggesting that the  nameless university administrators tasked with deciding the fate of accused students are now expected to receive appropriate training, provide evidence to the accused regarding the accusations, keep proper records and ensure their reports are procedurally fair.

     

    But there’s no mention of the most glaring failure to provide basic rights for the accused – access to lawyers. Only three Australian universities definitively allow accused students to be advised by lawyers during their investigations.

     

    Slap in the face for the Education Minister

     

     This deliberately deceptive document shows the arrogance of the university bureaucrats who feel no need to explain why they are encouraging universities to proceed with investigations deemed illegal and ignore the advice of their Minister. To proudly include End Rape on Campus activists amongst their predominantly female list of authors speaks to their sense of entitlement, their assurance that no one will question their right to prosecute these cases any way they damned like. 

     

    As one tiny example of the subtle anti-male bias which permeates the entire document, I loved the advice on p.35 regarding assistance to alleged perpetrators which suggests these young men should be referred to a Behaviour Change Counselling at the Rape and Domestic Violence Service. Hmm, the allegations have yet to be investigated and he’s sent off for behaviour change. Straight from the feminist copybook.

     

    Time for action

     

    It’s a very good time to draw public attention to what’s going on here, with the universities facing a huge financial crisis and having muddied their copybooks with all manner of free speech scandals.

     

     The Coalition has just announced legislation for their Job-ready Graduates package, which rightly focuses on improved transparency as well as sustainability in higher education. 

     

    I've enlisted my volunteers to send out a  letter to Coalition Senators and MPs, proposing  an amendment to the legislation instructing universities to focus on their core business rather than running illegal kangaroo courts involving expensive administrative processes but also exposing these institutions to potential lawsuits over failure to protect basic legal rights of the accused.

     

    And given that TEQSA’s latest effort provides further evidence of the failure of the university regulator to properly advise the tertiary sector on this important issue, we are also suggesting the Education Minister institute a proper review into TEQSA’s operation, in keeping with the Coalitions’ call for greater transparency in higher education. 

     

    If you would like to help with this campaign please contact Irene so she can send you the draft letter and keep track of correspondence. 

     

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