Former union leader Joe De Bruyn has delivered a speech that reportedly prompted as mass walk out of the Australian Catholic University’s graduation ceremony.
The educational institution invited De Bruyn, who previously ran the Shop and Allied Employee’s Union and was a heavy-weight in Labor politics, to speak to graduating students in Melbourne.
De Bruyn has long been an opponent to same sex marriage and abortion rights, and he took the opportunity to share his views with graduates. Many of them got up and walked out
In his speech De Bruyn reportedly compared abortion to the “human toll of World War II” and alleged same-sex marriage went against “every society on Earth”.
The university was awarding him with an honourary doctorate for his year’s of “dedication to the rights of workers, educational advancement and improving social welfare”. Speaking to The Guardian De Bruyn said he’d run his speech past university officials a week ahead of the event.
“They knew what I was going to say, as to their attitude you’d have to ask them,” he said. “I don’t want to offend anybody but you can’t say ‘I’m sensitive’ and therefore you are not allowed to talk about some issue – it shuts down public debate.”
De Bruyn said the topics in his speech were completely logical given that he was speaking at a Catholic institution.
A spokesperson for the university said the university understood that not everyone agreed with De Bruyn’s views but educational institutions are places for the exchange of ideas.
“Mr De Bruyn’s remarks at the ceremony were delivered in a personal capacity. While his views may not be shared by many of our staff and students, as a university we encourage the respectful exchange of ideas that represent the wide spectrum of our diverse community.” a spokesperson said.
The university has written to graduates and offered to refund the cost of their graduation if they were offended by the speech.
OUTinPerth’s co-editors Graeme Watson and Leigh Andrew Hill both work in the university sector.
