Motions

Establishment of Adelaide University

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:33): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes that:

(a) according to a survey commissioned by the Australia Institute, six in seven (or 86 per cent) of South Australians agree that the details of the business case for the proposed university merger should be made public;

(b) support for releasing the business case is strongest in the regions, supported by 88 per cent of respondents; and

(c) there is a high level of support for releasing the business case among the voters of all political parties represented in the parliament.

2. Calls on the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide to publicly release the full business case to inform the community’s consideration of this proposal.

This motion notes that, according to a survey commissioned by the Australia Institute, six in seven (or 86 per cent) of South Australians agree that the details of the business case for the proposed university merger should be made public. It notes that support for releasing the business case is strongest in the regions, supported by 88 per cent of respondents, and it notes that there is a high level of support for releasing the business case among the voters of all political parties that are represented in the parliament. It calls on the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide to publicly release the full business case to inform the community's consideration of this proposal.

I saw this research come out from the Australia Institute last week, and it is really interesting. The motion draws attention to some of the key aspects of the polling. What it finds is that there is an almost universal view across all sectors of the South Australian community that the business case underpinning this university merger should be made public. In particular, I note the high level of agreement across supporters of all political parties: 84 per cent of Labor voters, 86 per cent of Coalition voters, 87 per cent of One Nation voters, 87 per cent of voters of other political parties and 90 per cent of Greens voters. They all want to see the business case.

The support for releasing the business case is actually strongest among people living in regional areas. The Hon. Ms Game from the One Nation political party in this chamber talks a lot about listening to regional voices. The Hon. Clare Scriven talks a lot about listening to the voices of people in the regions. The Hon. Ben Hood and many others do as well. I hope that they heed the call of people in the regions and their desire to actually see this critical information.

When we are talking about investing public money into a proposal, then I think the community has a right to the information. As I said earlier, universities are public institutions. They are not secret societies. They are not these secret organisations that operate behind closed doors and beyond public scrutiny. The community has a right to know what is going on, and this is a simple proposition.

I want to flag with members that I will be bringing this motion to a vote during the next sitting of parliament, and it will be a test for members of parliament in terms of whether or not they are committed to transparency and whether or not they are committed to providing the people of South Australia with the information that they require.

I know that the Hon. Connie Bonaros and the Hon. Sarah Game of One Nation have done a deal with the government, but I hope that they will still consider this motion on its merits and recognise the need for transparency with respect to this proposal. While I am at it, I reiterate my calls for the universities to release the names of any consultants who may have worked on this project, because the community has a right to that information as well. Let's get all of the facts out on the table to inform the debate around this important proposal.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.