Students demonstrate against Baldwin
By Alex Aitkin
SYDNEY — A vocal group of 50 angry university students demonstrated outside the office of federal education minister Peter Baldwin on January 31.
The protest was organised by the Cross Campus Education Network.
One speaker, Lucy Blamey, chairperson of the Macquarie University Students Council, said that the demonstration was principally about the 48,000 students who missed out on places in universities this year, as a result of funding cuts to education.
But the broader focus, she said, was on the education policy of the ALP federal government, which included the graduate tax, fees and taxes on students. These measures hit hardest those already disadvantaged in education: women, the working class and migrants.