The Greens propose capping vice chancellor salaries at $500 000, in a discussion paper from the office of NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi

The paper also proposes limiting “corporate appointments” to university governing bodies and boosting numbers of elected staff and students to, “refocus our public universities on facilitating quality education and research.”

Most of the many props in the paper call for more public funding, to “make our universities more democratic and accessible institutions, run by and for the community.”

But some address immediate IR issues, notably a call to abolish piece-work payments for casual staff and reduce teaching-specific academic positions, which “jeopardise the prospects of early-career researchers and threaten the foundations of a strong research base.”