WA students start education campaign

WA students start education campaign

By Mark Lockett

PERTH — Following a successful rally on March 22, students in WA are continuing a campaign against the Court government's voluntary student unionism (VSU) legislation.

In the march for education, 500 students from all five universities (Murdoch, UWA, Curtin, Edith Cowan and Notre Dame) in the state marched from Forest Place to Parliament House.

The main demand of the rally was that state education minister Norman Moore drop the government's proposed VSU legislation. Also on the agenda was opposition to any further attacks by the federal Labor government on students.

The Thursday after the march, an article appeared in the West Australian in which Moore was quoted as saying that he would review the bill to try to remove the more draconian aspects of it. Particularly, he mentioned the section which would impose on student guilds a $50,000 fine for offering any inducement for students to join the guild.

Plans are already afoot to hold another rally. This time it looks as if the main demand will be a call for an increase in Austudy, in response to the rumours that the federal government will be reviewing Austudy in the budget.

From GLW issue 139