Chinese students at Australian universities could soon be protected from Beijing spying under new cyber security laws. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security said university leaders were not doing enough to protect students who fear for their families while under pressure from China. At the hearing on Friday, committee chair Sen. James Paterson said universities had a legal duty to care for the welfare of students and a moral responsibility to uphold academic freedoms. “If they’re being spied upon by their fellow students or others, and you’re not taking steps to protect them from it, then you’re letting them down,” he said. Incidents in the University of Technology Sydney were recounted, where students were threatened into silence by other students on social media. Luke Sheehy, the executive director of Australian Technology Network of Universities, said their group valued freedom of speech, student safety, and open institutions. “It’s deeply …