Vice chancellor confirms university were aware of contents of former union boss’s graduation address ahead of time

The Australian Catholic University will reimburse attendees of a graduation ceremony where Joe de Bruyn sparked a walkout with a speech denouncing abortion and same-sex marriage, as the university also revealed it had urged the former union boss to reconsider his remarks before he delivered them.

De Bruyn’s address, delivered on Monday evening, prompted major backlash after he compared abortion to the “human toll of world war two” and alleged same-sex marriage went against “every society on Earth”.

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