Australia—Nikolic, Powell, and Price
In March 2015, Michael Powell, a lecturer at the University of Tasmania, wrote an opinion piece published in the Launceston Examiner pointing out that the budget reductions being proposed by the Liberal government would have a devastating impact on higher education across Australia. The Liberal Whip happened to be Alexander Nikolic, an ex-military officer who now represents a district in Tasmania. Known as a party “enforcer,” Nikolic attacked Powell for being a Labour party hack—largely because Powell had once run for office as a Labour candidate. But Powell’s one unsuccessful run for political office occurred when he was 30, and that was 35 years before he wrote the op-ed piece.
In any case, Nikolic’s attack on Powell’s credibility was so heavy-handed that it prompted Jenna Price, a faculty member at the University of Technology Sydney to pen a scathing rebuke. Titled “No-Clue Nikolic Lunges at Academic…
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