News

Last week’s university staff strikes across Victoria were in response to decades of attacks on higher education.

Members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) from five Victorian universities took strike action on May 21.

Chants of “Hardest working, lowest paid: Bligh and Wilson, be ashamed!” rang out from 4000 teachers at the gates of state parliament on May 19.

After rugby league commentator and former player Matthew Johns gave an insincere and misdirected apology on The Footy Show on May 7 — preempting the ABC Four Corners program that named Johns as part of an alleged sexual assault in 2002 — Paul “Fatty” Vautin slapped him on the back and declared: “Well said, now let’s get on with the show.”

The NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) has criticised RailCorp plans to decimate station staff numbers.

Rallies across Australia are planned for May 23 to call for an end to the Sri Lankan government’s genocide against the Tamil people.

Vision Australia announced on May 6 that it will slash more than 130 jobs. This includes cutting 90 jobs in Victoria and the closing of three regional offices.

The federal government announced in its budget that $1.3 billion will be spent over six years “aimed at tackling people-smuggling and securing Australia’s borders”, the Australian reported on May 13.

Protesters will again travel to Rockhampton to oppose the Talisman Sabre war games between the US and Australian military machines over July 10-13 — estimated to cost well over $100 million.

As students across Australia sat the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests last week, the media reported NSW government plans to introduce league tables, comparing student performance across schools.

Labor delivered its budget on May 12 in the context of Australia’s slide into recession. With the economic crisis hitting hard, young people are one of the most vulnerable groups in society.

The statement below was read out at a May 16 rally in Melbourne, called to denounce the Sri Lankan government’s brutal war against the Tamils.