AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVE~ RSITY BILL, 126.,
Second Reading Speech by the Prime Minister,
the Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Meniies WHouse
ofRepresentatives. December, 1965.
This Bill proposes several amendments to the Act under
which the Australian National University operates. Some of
these -amendments meet the desire of the University Council,
agreed to by the Government, to abolish the office of Principal
of the School of General Studies when Professor Herbert Burton
retires at the end of this year. Professor Burton has, of
course, rendered long and meritorious service bothas Principal
of the School and before that as Principal of the former C3nberra
University College. The other amendments, largely of a technical
character, have also been proposed by the Council and accepted
by the Government. The University Council, when seeking to have the position
of Principal of the School of General Studies abolished, felt it
desirable to have in its stead a part-time position of Deputy-
Chairman of the Board of the School. The Government agreed.
This position will not be occupied for a long period by any one
person. Over the years its responsibilities will be shared by
several. The new arrangement will give the School the same
relationship to the Vice-Chancellor and the Council as the
Institute of Advanced Studies now has through the existing office
of Deputy-Chairman of the Board of the Institute. We have deemed
it desirable to reco.-_ aze the status of the School of General
Studies within the University by requiring the position of Deputy-
Chairman of its Board to be chosen from among the Professors of
the School. As the office of Principal of the School is a statutory
one, it is therefore now necessary to delete from the Act all
references to it and to insert, where necessary, references to
the new office of Deputy-Cheirman of the Board of the School.
This operation accounts for many of the clauses in this Bill.
Associated -with this change is provision to relieve the
Vice-Chancellor of his present obligation to preside at meetings
of the Boards of the Institute end of the School ; vhen he is
present. It is intended that the Deputy-Chairman of each Board
should be empowered to preside aDt a meeting of that Bo~ rd at
which the Vice-Chancellor is present, if called upon the
Vice-Chancellor to do so.
A further amendment deals with provision for securing
representation of the University's undergraduzates on the Council.
At present the undergriduates elect a member, but the person
elected is required to be a student of the University being
aged at least twenty-one and a graduate " of at least two years
standing". Time has shown tiiat very few such eligible candidates
are available. In cases where they gre available they tend to
be out of touch with current undergraduate opinion. It has
therefore been decided to remove the requirement th3t candidates
have two years standing as a gradu~ te, with a consequent increase
in the field of eligible candidates for election to the Council
as the students' representative.
The opportunity has also been t! 3ken to insert a
provision which will permit the University to enter into
certain types of contracts without being obliged to use its
common seal. This obligation has proved cumbersome in the
University's more routine day to day business operations.
The terms of this Bill would permit the University to dispense
with the use of its common seal when entering into contracts
which, if entered into by private persons, would not be reqUired
to be under seal. A similar provision applies to certain other
statutory bodies, for examn-le the Australian National Airlines
Commission. A further provision is that which empowers the University
to waive fees in the case of State Forestry Scholarship holders.
N. hen the University undertook to establish a Department of
Forestry, and to take over the work of the Australian Forestry
School, which it did from the beginning of the 1965 academic
year, it faced with doubts concerning its power to remit
the tuition fees of Forestry students undertaking training on
the nomination of various St3te Governments. By long standing
Commonwealth-State agreement, no tuition fees have been paid
by the States in respect of their nominated students at the
Australian Forestry School. This amendment would permit this
arrangement to apply without doubt in the new circumstances.
It is Government policy for it to do so.
In connection with the transfer of the responsibility
for advanced forestry education from the Australian Forestry
School to the Australian National University, legislative
action is required to ensure that the provisiorp of the
Officers' Rights Declaration Act, 1928-1959, apply to permanent
Commonwealth Public Servants who were on the staff of the
Australian Forestry School and have now acce,-ted ap-,., ointment
with the Australian National University. Provision has
accordingly been made in this Bill for the purpose, as a result
of which those officers transferred will have to opt :% ithin a
period of three months for employment under either Australian
National University or Commonwealth Service conditions.
Finally the opportunity is being taken in presenting
the Bill to the House to repeal cartain sections of the
Australian National Univarsity Act, 1960, the operation of which
is now exhausted. The 1960 Act incorporated transitional
provisions which wero re-! uire d as part of tae process of merging
the former Canberra University College with t he original
Australian National University. The sections for repeal are of
a technical nature only.
Mr. Speaker, I commend the Bill to the House.