About 100 union activists and their supporters rallied and chanted outside Macquarie Tower on April 6 to support the ASU in its campaign to ensure Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia (RDVSA) is not privatised and is given the necessary funding for its growing work load.
Natalie Lang, ASU NSW and ACT branch secretary, spoke passionately about how the union will continue to fight for funding for the specialist sexual assault and domestic violence counselling service 1800RESPECT.
The National Union of Students organised national actions for Free Education and against staff cuts and fee hikes on March 23. I was at the action and it made me reflect on Germany's free education.Â
I spent my gap year in Germany. I decided to enrol in a German course to improve my language skills. I expected to have to pay for this course as I was used to paying for my education in Australia. Imagine my surprise when I was told that the course was completely free, as long as you were planning to be an immigrant.
When the federal government needed advice on the terms of a $2 billion loan to the NSW government for its WestConnex tollway, it outsourced the advice to the private sector. With the increasing privatisation of public service, there was nothing unusual about that.
What was surprising is that the companies it chose were already heavily involved in working on WestConnex for the NSW government.
The NSW government wanted the $2 billion concessional loan for Westconnex Stage 2 and a massive interchange next to Sydney Park in St Peters.
Since March 22, refugee activists have maintained watch at Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney to stop the deportation of Saeed (not his real name), a 60-year-old Iraqi man.
Below is a photo essay by Zebedee Parkes.
Read more about the campaign here and follow the Facebook page .
Susie Elliott, a member of the speaks about why penalty rates matter at a rally in Sydney on 2 April.