Nelson comes to town

BY RUTH RATCLIFFE

DARWIN — On June 13, education minister Brendan Nelson came to Darwin for the Australian National Training Authority Ministerial Council's launch of the National Training Complaints Hotline. The council was greeted by protesters from Resistance, Books Not Bombs and the Northern Territory University (NTU) Student Union.

The small, but vocal, group of protesters was allowed an audience with Nelson. They bombarded him with questions about his proposed changes to tertiary education. The minister was handed a petition opposing the Nelson Review, signed by 300 NTU students. It demanded the government increase government funding for higher education.

Resistance member Brianna Pike was one of those protesting. She told Green Left Weekly that "it is obvious that Nelson does not care the plight of students. He is part of a government which would rather give financial support to the slaughter of innocent people than allocate appropriate funding to universities."

Students and staff are planning to continue fighting the proposed changes to tertiary education under the Nelson Review. For more information, phone Brianna on (08) 8981 4714 or Ipei on (08) 8946 6214.

From Green Left Weekly, June 18, 2003.

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From GLW issue 542