Australian universities

The Western Australian Division of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) released this statement on December 9.

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In a move unprecedented in the Higher Education sector Murdoch University management have applied to the Fair Work Commission to terminate the enterprise agreement covering academic and general staff at the University.

At a packed meeting on November 25, National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members at Murdoch University in Perth expressed no confidence in the university bargaining team and called on the Vice Chancellor to intervene in the negotiations.

They voted unanimously to begin industrial action with a stop work between 8.30am and 12.30pm on December 7.聽

They will be聽the first university workers in this round of collective bargaining to take industrial action.

Monash University plans to remove one-third of its counsellors and replace them with contractor or private practice psychologists.

It says this will improve access to counselling services.

But Monash Student Association spokesperson Kim Stern said: 鈥淪tudents are extremely angry. It鈥檚 a known thing at Monash that the services are minimal, to put it nicely.

"It鈥檚 very hard at the moment to get a counsellor and it鈥檚 a slap in the face that there鈥檚 now moves to cut counsellors and limit their role on campus.鈥

Western Sydney University (WSU) student elections are just around the corner and Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance members Philip Craig, Omar Ismaeel, and Ian Escandor have put their hands up as Bankstown campus student representatives and student editors for the student newspaper 奥鈥橲鲍笔.

After a two-year campaign by students and staff, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Vice Chancellor Peter Coaldrake has committed to divest the university鈥檚 $300 million endowment fund of its shares in coal, oil and gas companies.

The move, announced on September 2, means QUT has joined three other Australian universities 鈥 Australian National University, La Trobe University and the University of Sydney 鈥 in a global divestment movement to withdraw support from industries fueling climate change.

Sydney's Oxford Street was shut down on August 24 by hundreds of people protesting moves to absorb the National Art School into the University of New South Wales. The push to merge the nation's oldest art school is being promoted by the state government and is part of a broader plan involving three different Sydney art schools, including Sydney College of the Arts. For many, the plan to shift these art schools off prime real estate is motivated by the NSW government's desire to sell the sites to developers.
Now that the University of Tasmania (UTas) is implementing a carbon neutral policy, it is time to focus efforts on full divestment from fossil fuels. Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance activist Emma Field asked Carly Rusden from Fossil Free UTas about their latest action. * * * I put a few banners up to represent our group Fossil Free UTas today. This is mainly to raise awareness of the fact that the university has some investments, directly and indirectly, in coal, oil and other fossil fuel industries.
The Victorian branch of the National Tertiary Education Union released this statement on June 1. It condemned La Trobe University's decision to suspend Roz Ward for a post on her personal Facebook page that said the Australian flag is racist. Ward has been a key activist in the Safe Schools anti-bullying campaign for school students. Murdoch's The Australian has run a witch hunt against her with the aim of destroying Safe Schools, which teaches respect and understanding for LGBTIQ students. * * *
Disengagement from mainstream politics is so widespread that when the marginalised and poor start getting engaged the establishment, and its media, hits back. This explains the corporate media's sexist-tinged blitzkrieg against Sue Bolton and Roz Ward, both Melbourne-based activists. Both women have come to prominence recently for their determination to stand up for the most marginalised and dispossessed sectors of society and involve others in the process.
La Trobe University has become the first university in Australia to commit to full divestment from fossil fuel companies. Vice-chancellor John Dewar said that over the next five years, La Trobe will 鈥渄ivest from the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies ranked by the carbon content of their fossil fuel reserves.鈥 He said the University was also committed to transparency and 鈥淎ccordingly, we will also disclose the carbon exposure of our investments and provide annual reports of our divestment progress over the next five years鈥.
The gender pay gap is a serious issue in Australia, and there has been much talk about the 17.9% pay differential. One such effort to educate and open debate, however, was met with alarming backlash. The University of Queensland's annual Feminist Week, hosted jointly by the UQ Union (UQU) and the UQU Women's Collective, held events from April 4 to 8, aiming to educate and broaden the student population's perspective on feminism.
Monash University's draft Environmental, Social and Governance statement has ruled out directly investing in fossil fuel production 鈥 currently about 10% of their investments 鈥 and commits to phase out indirect investments in coal production over the next 12 months. While this is a great first step, the bad news is there is no mention of gas or oil. The statement comes after more than a year of sustained pressure from staff and students for the university to divest from all fossil fuel investments and commit to completely ending their ties to the fossil fuel industry.