The recently published final report of the People’s Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine provides extensive evidence for what Palestine solidarity activists have argued for more than two years: Australian universities have systematically suppressed criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and sought to silence opposition to their own complicity in the genocide.
The report documents a pattern of repression across the higher education sector. Universities have used disciplinary procedures that lack procedural fairness, introduced or revised policies that expand management’s ability to police speech and protest, deployed intimidating surveillance measures that foster self-censorship, and weaponised accusations of antisemitism against students and staff advocating for justice in Palestine. All of this has occurred while universities maintain financial, research and institutional relationships with weapons manufacturers and defence companies linked to Israel’s war machine.
The People’s Inquiry was launched in February 2025 by Students for Palestine, with the support of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), the Jewish Council of Australia, the National Union of Students and Greens federal Senator Mehreen Faruqi. The inquiry was established in response to growing concerns that students and staff were facing an increasingly hostile and repressive environment on campus as popular opposition grew to Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Inspired by the tradition of people’s tribunals and inquiries, it sought to investigate whether universities were upholding their obligations to free speech, academic freedom and the right to protest. The inquiry invited submissions from students and staff across the country and held public hearings in Sydney, Melbourne and online.
The final report draws on 156 written submissions and testimony from students, academics and representatives from 21 universities. Many of the examples of repression would not come as a surprise to those who have been involved in the Palestine solidarity movement. What the final report reveals, however, is the breadth and severity of the attempts by universities to silence pro-Palestine activity:
“Universities have policed speech, obstructed events, censored classroom content, intervened in teaching, changed policies to restrict and police protest, surveilled staff and students, disciplined individuals engaged in peaceful protest, applied grossly unfair double standards, and weaponised antisemitism to shut down legitimate criticism and protest of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Across the sector, we’ve seen these tactics used to threaten and intimidate anyone who dares speak up for Palestinian rights and against the atrocities Israel is committing in Gaza.”
Across the country, students described universities using practical measures to undermine Gaza solidarity encampments, including closing public areas, cutting access to facilities and sending security staff to pressure protesters. Many reported being threatened with disciplinary action for using common slogans. Universities including Queensland University, the University of Wollongong, Monash, Curtin and the Australian National University were reported to have restricted terms and phrases such as “intifada” (uprising) and “from the river to the sea” (the call for Palestinian liberation and equality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea).
Several submissions alleged that universities attempted to suppress even the use of the word “genocide” on posters, leaflets and in political campaigning. Queensland University of Technology students reported being warned that using the word “genocide” could lead to disciplinary action, and University of Technology, Sydney students said security guards instructed them to stop distributing material because it referred to genocide in Gaza. Activists repeatedly encountered bureaucratic obstacles, from cancelled room bookings and blocked film screenings to restrictions on public meetings and fundraising activities.
Taken together, the testimonies point to a sector-wide effort to marginalise support for Palestine. As the report’s executive summary notes, university administrators “have gone to extraordinary lengths” to suppress activism after “buckling under a concerted campaign from politicians, the media and pro-Israel lobby groups”.
The political logic, however, runs deeper than external pressure alone. Many universities have extensive partnerships with defence companies, weapons manufacturers and institutions connected to the Israeli state. They are guided by both the profitability of these connections and by Australia’s “national interest” in maintaining close ties with Israel, as part of the broader US-led imperialist bloc of countries.
Students have consistently demanded disclosure, divestment and the severing of these relationships. Rather than ending their complicity, university managers have largely chosen to protect their ties. The repression documented by the inquiry is therefore not simply about controlling protest. It’s an attempt to shield universities’ political and financial ties to Israel from scrutiny and preserve relationships that a growing number of students and staff want brought to an end.
