1. Chinese and Japanese are "nationally strategic languages" --- Australia needs graduates who are culturally and linguistically competent. 2. As language students at Swinburne, we will be disadvantaged by not being able to complete our language studies at Swinburne.

The proposed cuts of all foreign language studies (Chinese, Italian, and Japanese) at Swinburne Uni will be detrimental to students, denying them the possibility of learning critical languages skills. Current language students will be disastrously impacted as the proposed changes do not offer a teach out of language units leaving the more than 100 students enrolled in languages with nowhere to go to finish their studies. It will also impact the University’s reputation as a University that puts the needs of its students first. We the undersigned ask the VC Professor Pascale Quester to reconsider this decision, and ensure Swinburne University’s reputation as a University that cares about its students.

So far this year Swinburne Council have; 1. embarked on a mass voluntary redundancy round that was not needed while taking on millions of dollars in debt to fund the redundancies – debt the union says the university will be continuing to pay off well after the Covid-19 crisis has passed. 2. Started another University wide sacking, sorry as Pascale says 'optimisation opportunity', while trying to tell NTEU they don't have to consult with anyone about that (yes we have put Swinburne in formal dispute) 3. Make big cuts to STEM while publicly announcing they want to be STEM focused. This includes cutting the only public health program in Victoria that teaches research and responses to pandemics. We urge all NTEU members and university staff to sign this petition in solidarity with Swinburne colleagues and to #defendhighered

La Trobe Uni has a moral obligation to provide good-paying jobs and a quality education to all regions. The proposed cuts will have a disproportionate impact on regional Victoria. Regional students will be missing out on an important on-campus experience compared to their metro counterparts. It is vital for a functional society that the University ensures a diverse range of education and humanities subjects are offered.

As an apprentice, I spend one day a week at TAFE and the other four days learning on the job. I can't imagine what an apprenticeship would be like without on the job training. Stripping away on the job training would be disastrous for our skilled tradespeople. We are calling on the Government to commit to keeping on the job training for all apprenticeships.

In the VCs financial update forum on the 16th of September on the university's financial position Brian Schmidt was asked Why ANU is cutting nearly as many staff as UNSW when ANU has a smaller workforce and is in a better financial situation. In response, Schmidt said that this is to "reshape ANU in response" to the pandemic and not just to purely cut numbers. Vice-Chancellors always tell us that job losses are necessary though it is always jobs and wages that are the first to be cut, without looking for other means to maintain staff such as borrowing against their assets. The ANU has the financial capital to cover the pandemic-related losses, but they are making the choice not to do this as it will increase financial risk. Students should have a say over what their education looks like. We reject the way that universities are run like businesses, and we think that education should not be for profit. The ANU should not cut staff numbers and erode working conditions to maintain a budget surplus. Education should be for all, not just for the rich.

MAJOR CUTS PLANNED: Macquarie University's Vice Chancellor and Executive are drawing up plans to restructure the University. The result will be major cuts to course offerings, cuts to casual staff and a large number of redundancies. We are deeply concerned that such major job losses in the middle of a global recession will not only cause significant hardship, but also compromise Macquarie University's ability to provide quality education for students and world-class research for the Australian community. WORST STUDENT-STAFF RATIOS ALREADY: Macquarie University is already one of the most poorly staffed universities in the world: Macquarie's staff to student ratio is the worst in Australia, and ninth worst (of 1,400) in the entire world [1]. WE ARE WORTH PROTECTING: Despite these workloads, Macquarie is remarkable: in recent weeks we just broke through the top 200 on Times Higher Education rankings [2]. WHY NOT SHOW US THE EVIDENCE? While the university declares a financial emergency, they have also refused independent scrutiny of the university's financial position. DON'T RUSH WHEN SO MUCH COULD CHANGE: Moving into 2021, so much could change. Now is not the time to make major, hasty cuts. Slow down! Open the books! Don't put our great institution at risk! [1] The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2020/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/stats_student_staff_ratio/sort_order/desc/cols/stats [2] Macquarie gains highest ever world ranking, 23 Sept 2020. https://www.mq.edu.au/newsroom/2020/09/03/macquarie-gains-highest-ever-world-ranking/

In the music industry there is very little hope that any form of normal operations will be possible for a long time and even teaching a musical instrument especially a woodwind instrument will only be possible on line, which is not satisfactory for advanced students. Soloists, Ensembles, Chamber Music Groups and Orchestras will have no way to provide any work for the many outstanding freelance instrumentalists probably for years rather than months even after a vaccine has been rolled out especially the impossibility of overseas touring which many artists rely on.

Re-employing, recognising, and providing Deakin casuals ongoing access to University systems is essential for ensuring that Deakin is strongly positioned in 2021 and beyond, to educate the new influx of domestic students, carry out research, and build community connections in a post-Covid environment. Before Covid, around 6000 sessional academics, casual professional, casual research and fixed term staff were employed by Deakin, carrying out the bulk of teaching, student support and research assistance. Following Covid, the jobs of approximately 2500 insecure workers were cut. The mass job losses sustained by Deakin casualised staff haven’t, however, been mentioned in the University’s official figures of job cuts, and the way in which the employment of casuals and sessional staff was terminated at the Faculty-level, as part of Deakin’s response to Covid-19, has for the most part been demeaning and disrespectful. In some Faculties, casual professional staff were informed in a proforma email by their line manager that they had been laid off, while in other Faculties casualised staff members only found out they had lost their job when they received an email from E-solutions advising that their email account would be closed down in seven days. This brutal treatment of Deakin casualised staff is incredibly short-sighted because casuals will play an important part in supporting the University’s vital role of rebuilding Australian society and the economy post-Covid-19. Vice Chancellor Professor Iain Martin himself has acknowledged the important role of Deakin casuals in a letter to staff on 18 June: “Deakin recognises the important contribution of our sessional academic staff … I am sure that when student demand increases, Faculties will be keen to re-employ those sessional staff who have previously been employed by Deakin and know the way our systems and processes operate.” Professor Martin indicated on 28 April that the University can give preference to any non-ongoing staff who were cut during the COVID-19 pandemic, when engaging staff for these roles in the future, in a meeting with NTEU Deakin Branch representatives. Please join with us by signing this petition calling on Professor Martin to take the ‘Deakin Casuals Pledge’ to ensure casuals are re-employed, casual staff’s contributions are recognised, and casuals are provided ongoing access to Deakin systems!

The Petition of citizens and residents in the City of Kingston draws to the attention of the Kingston City Council that: 1. The Parkdale community between Como Pde East and Nepean Hwy do not have a local playground and our young families must travel via car to go to the nearest playground. 2. That the land adjoining Parkdale Library would be suitable, due to its proximity to local families, the library, train station and local shopping strips. 3. We acknowledge that the City of Kingston already owns the land next to the Library and currently has no plans for this space to benefit our local community.

Teachers, students and parents across Victoria are facing stress, anxiety and inequality as the VCE exams approach. We call on the Ministers of Education to take these urgent measures to alleviate the stress, reduce the impossible pressure on teachers, and create pathways to tertiary education for Year 12 students. These measures are urgent given; *ongoing disruption to learning caused by the pandemic and the likely continuation of this into the new year; *inequality of educational opportunity that the COVID pandemic has only compounded; *increasingly short-time frame for any kind of alternative assessment; *anxiety and uncertainty for school leavers as they face extremely competitive youth labour market and drastic cuts in the higher education sector; *uncertain workload implications for teachers of individual special consideration applications.

provides care for my child is a very important issue as are the standards that my child is center provides.