Students march to save public education

BY EMMA CLANCY

Protest actions were held in a number of capital cities last week to oppose the Howard government's drive to deregulate and privatise higher education.

On June 4, 50 people attended a rally at the University of Wollongong. A highlight of the rally was an open-air debate between students and staff on the one hand, and UOW vice-chancellor Gerard Sutton on the other. All the speakers except Sutton demanded a universally funded, free public education system as a right not a privilege.

A similar number of students, including activists from Youth and Students Against War and a contingent from the Arts Union of the University of Western Australia, marched through the streets of Perth on June 4. They were addressed by Zaneta Mascarenhas, president of the WA branch of the National Union of Students (NUS), and Kylie Moon from Books Not Bombs.

The same day, 20 students attended an education rally in Hobart.

A rally on June 5 at the Northern Territory University in Darwin attracted mainly Socialist Alliance members, as well as Mark Wheeler, NT industrial officer for the National Tertiary Education Industry Union and in Sydney. The Darwin Books Not Bombs group organised a speak-out outside the education department later on the same day.

From Green Left Weekly, June 11, 2003.

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From GLW issue 541