In November 2018, the Australian Government commissioned Robert French, a former Chief Justice of the High Court, an active scholar and Chancellor of the University of Western Australia, to report on the state of academic freedom in Australian universities. In particular, French was also asked to assess the effectiveness of university policies and practices to address 'the requirements of the Higher Education Standards Framework to promote and protect freedom of expression and intellectual inquiry on Australian campuses.' In this article, Rob Watts addresses several questions: How did French (2019) understand 'academic freedom'? Does the impact of neoliberal policies on Australia's universities raise questions about academic freedom? and How then should academic freedom be understood?