COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.
SPEECH BY
The Rt. Hon. SIR ROBERT MENZIES,
M. P.,
ON
UNIERSITIES ( Financial Assistance) BIUl 1964.
Second Reading.
[ From the " Parliamentary Debates," 11Ith November, 1964.]
Sir ROBERT MENZIES ( Kooyong-
Prime Minister) [ 12.25].-I move-
That the Bill be now read a second time.
* This Bill, and the States Grants ( Universities)
Bill, which I will introduce shortly,
relate to the same subject-academic salaries-
and I propose Sir, with your per-
. msissipon, teo deeal wicth bhoth . Bi lls in this
Last October I announced the
intention of the Government to establish
an inquiry to recommend the level of
university salaries which we should support
for grant purposes from the beginning of
the current triennium, namely 1st January
1964. 1 said then that, as an interim
measure, the Commonwealth would offer
to the States for recurrent expenditure by
the universities grants calculated on the
' basis of a professorial rate of œ 4,600 per
annum. This rate would be payable from
1st July 1963. As it was higher than the
rate upon which the 1963 legislation was
based, I undertook also to introduce amending
legislation to provide the -supplementary
funds required on the Commonwealth's part
to support the new salary levels.
14786/ 64. The Government asked Mr. Justice
Eggleston to inquire into university salaries.
His report has been received and was tabled
yesterday. All honorable members will
agree, I feel sure, that we are much indebted
to Mr. Justice Eggleston, and to those who
assisted him, for the thorough and lucid
report which has been -furnished to the
Government. Mr. Justice Eggleston has recommended
a standard salary of œ 5,200 for professors
and a standard salary of œ 4,300 for
associate professors and readers. The Government
has decided to accept these recommendations.
In addition, however, in the
process of arriving at his recommendations
Mr. Justice Eggleston assumed that a reasonable
minimum of the salary range to be
paid to a lecturer would -be œ 2,400 -per
annum, and a reasonable maximum of the
salary range to be paid to a senior lecturer
would be œ 3,800 per annum. Having noted
that Mr. Justice Eggleston recommended a
single salary for an associate professor or
a reader, and not a salary range, we accept
his suggestions for the salary ranges of
lecturers and senior lecturers.
It is now necessary to do two things. The
first is to amend the States Grants ( Universities)
Act 1960-1963 to provide Commonwealth
support appropriate to a basic
professorial salary of œ 4,600 per annum for
the period 1st July 1963 to 31st December
1963. This is to cover the original provision.
The second Bill does this by providing
an additional œ 175,000 of Commonwealth
money on condition that œ 318,000
is provided in additional fees and State
grants. This is the usual formula.
The second need is to amend the Universities
( Financial Assistance) Act to provide
for our acceptance of Mr. Justice
Eggleston's proposals. That is the purpose
of the first Bill, but I emphasise that this is
an interim measure only. We received the
report on 30th October. Therefore there
has ; been insufficient time to obtain from
the States the detailed information necessary
to enable accurate figures to be inserted in
the First Schedule for recurrent expenditure
in each of the years 1964, 1965 and
1966. This Bill provides provisional figures
for 1964 only. These indicate an increase
of œ 1.3 million in the Commonwealth
offer to a new total of œ 12.3 million. The
corresponding figures for fees and State contributions
are a œ 2.4 million increase to a
new total of œ 22.8 million. As soon as
practicable the Universities Commission
will recommend final figures for 1964 as
well as new figures for 1965 and 1966.
It will do this on the basis of information
received from the universities and the States,
including information -about the levels of
salaries adopted. I think it is appropriate
that I emphasise once more that the salaries
actually paid in a State university are
ultimately a matter for each university and
the State Government under whose authority
it has been established.
A State university may, in fact, pay
salaries either higher or lower than those
approved for grant purposes by the Commonwealth.
If higher salaries are paid, no
assistance will be forthcoming from the
Commonwealth toward the cost of the
excess. It would by my understanding that
if salaries lower than the levels approved
by the Commonwealth are paid, the amounts
payable by the Commonwealth in respect
of academic salaries would be limited to
our share, according to the established formula, of the salaries actually paid. I think
that all will agree that it would not -be
reasonable for Commonwealth money,
specifically offered as our share of the cost
of higher salaries, to be used for other purposes,
should salaries ' be adopted below the
level on which our offer was made.
I should add at this point that the Government
views sympathetically the suggestion
made in chapter 6 of the report that
limited provision should be made for additional
funds from which loadings to professorial
salaries should be paid in certain
individual cases where there is a desire to
recognise particular merit. This is distin*
from the established practice of paying'
differential salaries to holders of certain
Chairs. The Act to which we are now
giving our attention applies only to
State universities, but I take this
opportunity of saying that, so f
as academic salaries at the Australian'
National University are concerned, the Government
will adopt a similar policy to that
which I have just described. In broad terms
this means that in the School of General
Studies in that University we shall recognise
for grant purposes the four salary points
already mentioned. In the ' Institute of
Advanced Studies we would envisage a continuation
of a loading broadly similar to
that now paid, giving a basic professorial
salary of œ 5,700 a year. The details of
salaries at the Australian National University&
will , be settled in consultation with the W
Council of the University and with the
advice of the Universities Commission.
There is another matter not related to the
Bills now before us, but arising from the
report, on which I take the present oppor-O
tunity to indicate Government policy. Our
experience with the recent inquiry has convinced
us that this kind of machinery is
perhaps the most satisfactory means we can
devise for arriving at a measure of academic
salaries for the purpose of fixing the level
of Commonwealth grants for university
purposes. Therefore, as suggested by Mr.
Justice Eggleston, we stand ready to employ
this kind of machinery again; we are not,
however, prepared to adopt any specific
period between reviews. That must depend
on circumstances. I commend this Bill to
the House.
BY AUTHORITY: A. J. ARTHUR, COMMONWEALTH UOVERNMENT PRINTER, CANBERRA.