Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

This compulsory amenities fee is student unionism by stealth. We like people to be upfront in this place, and this bill attempts to impose a compulsory fee which may in turn fund the activities of student unions. We should be under no misapprehension about this. This will fund the political activism of the Left on university campuses. In the past, student unions have proven themselves to be very adept at using the profits from the permissible or allowable activities to effectively cross-subsidise activities for which direct funding was disallowed.

We have freedom of association in this country, notwithstanding the recent outcries about these sorts of things. But the freedom not to join an association, not to join a union, not to join an organisation remains one of the core beliefs of the coalition. It is something we are committed to. We believe that someone opting into a system is always far preferable to forcing people into system. This comes back to the key principles with which I started my contribution to this debate. Unless you enter this place with a framework, with a set of principles with which you can critically analyse and assess bills, the policy issues and the substantive matters that we are all asked to make decisions on, you will be unable to level with the Australian people. You will inevitably be forced, compelled or tempted to deceive the Australian people, just like our Prime Minister did at the last election with her statement that 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,' just like the former Minister for Youth, Ms Ellis, who said that there were no plans for a compulsory amenities fee and just like the former shadow minister, Mr Smith, just before the 2007 election. If we cannot take at face value the words of our politicians, those entrusted with running the country, what can we have confidence in? It is a genuine question, and it comes back to principle. This bill suggests that the Labor Party is devoid of principle. It has no policy passion— (Time expired)