{"id":33154,"date":"2025-06-13T00:50:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=33154"},"modified":"2025-06-13T00:50:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:50:02","slug":"preliminary-report-of-peoples-inquiry-into-campus-free-speech-on-palestine-a-damning-indictment-of-uni-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/06\/13\/preliminary-report-of-peoples-inquiry-into-campus-free-speech-on-palestine-a-damning-indictment-of-uni-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Preliminary report of People\u2019s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine a damning indictment of uni management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Higher Education Spokesperson, who is a patron of the People\u2019s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine, has responded to the Inquiry\u2019s recently released Preliminary Report<\/a> (Report).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Report outlines three preliminary findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Australian universities have restricted the free speech and academic freedom of staff and students on the question of Palestine;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Australian universities have targeted students and staff who express support for Palestine for surveillance and discipline;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Universities have used existing policies and devised new policies in an opaque way to target and censor students and staff expressing support for Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The People\u2019s Inquiry will be holding public hearings in Sydney, Melbourne and over Zoom to allow university staff and students to share their experiences. Observers and media are welcome. Anyone interested in participating or observing the hearings should register here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Mehreen Faruqi:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis preliminary report confirms what many students and staff already know- universities have trampled over the values of free speech and academic freedom in their cowardly attempts to shut down support for a free Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShutting down peaceful protests while bombs fall on Gaza is an act of complicity. By silencing those who speak out against genocide, our universities are not neutral \u2014 they are choosing to side with a brutal, apartheid regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Academic freedom means nothing if it doesn\u2019t extend to the most urgent moral issues of our time. The universities that have punished students and staff for standing with Palestine are revealing themselves not as spaces of free inquiry, but as instruments of political censorship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The preliminary report makes for disturbing reading, showing that universities are turning into ideological battlegrounds where only state-sanctioned narratives are allowed to survive. This is not just about Palestine \u2014 it’s about the death of democratic space.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When institutions silence those demanding justice for Palestine, they send a chilling message: that truth is conditional, and that certain lives \u2014 Palestinian lives \u2014 are not worthy of solidarity. This is a stain on the conscience of Australian academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcross Australian universities, students are already being surveilled, censured, and punished for standing in solidarity with Palestine. Adopting the IHRA definition will only shut down criticism of Israel and intensify the crackdown- universities must resist the pressure to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

APAN President Nasser Mashni:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis harrowing report lays bare what so many of us already knew: that speaking up for Palestine comes at a cost \u2013 to reputations, educational opportunities and careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the past 20 months, universities across the country have stepped into the role of censors and surveillance organisations, distorting existing policy or arbitrarily creating new policy in order to restrict student and staff free speech and protest rights, and undermine academic independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUniversities have also weaponised antisemitism and twisted the concept of psycho-social safety to suppress Palestinian voices and learning about Palestine, deliberately creating a climate of fear on campus for those who oppose institutional complicity in Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is textbook anti-Palestinian racism: the calculated silencing, erasure and dehumanisation of Palestinians and those who act in solidarity with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe experiences documented by this report, and the hearings and recommendations to come, must mark a turning point for universities. They must defend civil liberties, sever their ties to genocidal Israel, and support Palestinian justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Max Kaiser, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of Australia:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis report reveals a chilling reality: universities are surveilling, disciplining, and censoring students and staff who speak up for Palestine. Events cancelled, lectures monitored, students tracked via Wi-Fi\u2014all justified by vague appeals to \u2018wellbeing\u2019 and false claims of antisemitism. As a Jewish organisation, we refuse to let our identity be weaponised to shut down legitimate debate. Universities must end these draconian practices and restore the right to speak freely on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James McVicar, Inquiry Panel Member and Education Officer for the National Union of Students:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“University students and staff have faced surveillance, discipline, and even expulsion for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. History will remember what side our vice-chancellors and politicians stood on during this crime against humanity.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Higher Education Spokesperson, who is a patron of the People\u2019s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine, has responded to the Inquiry\u2019s recently released Preliminary Report (Report). The Report outlines three preliminary findings: 1) Australian universities have restricted the free speech and academic freedom of staff and students on … Continue reading “Preliminary report of People\u2019s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine a damning indictment of uni management”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33155,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33154\/revisions\/33155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}