The Morrison government's announcement that it will double fees for a series of humanities degrees is one of the worst attacks on students in recent times. Law, economics, management and commerce subjects will face fee hikes that means students could be charged up to $72,500 for a 5 year degree such as Law. The cost of a humanities or communication degree will be more than doubled - increasing by 113% to $14,500 a year. A three year arts degree will now cost approx. $45,000. This is essentially an attempt to abolish the humanities as a serious discipline, and instead restrict its accessibility to only wealthy students. This fee increase deliberately prioritises economically profitable degrees, while decreasing the accessibility of degrees designed to encourage critical thinking about society. Our education should not be subordinate to the needs of industry. The government wants to divide us by granting fee reductions to other students. We reject a two-tiered fee system that attempts to force students into studying what the government deems more important. Students should have the right to study what they want. Cost should never be a barrier when deciding what to study at university, or even if you want to study at all. We need free, fully funded public education, not a user pay model that prioritises particular disciplines or degrees. We are demanding that the government to scrap the proposed fee increases for university degrees. Written by Jazz Breen & Jack Mansell, Sydney University SRC Education Officers

DUSA - Deakin University Student Association is supporting the NTEU - National Tertiary Education Union in a day of action to protest the job cuts at Deakin and to support its workers. Join DUSA in ensuring that students AND workers get the fair and equitable treatment from the university they deserve. #DeakinStudentsFightBack #SaveDeakinJobs

COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on ASU members who work for airlines or in ground handling. It is clear that it will take airlines longer to bounce back than other parts of the economy, and it is unlikely that people will resume interstate and international travel at the pre-COVID-19 rates for some time. The Government is planning its next steps for the economic recovery right now, and we need to take urgent action to ensure that they back Australian aviation workers.

On Monday 25 May, our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Iain Martin, advised Deakin staff that you, our University Council, had endorsed a Restructure/Reshaping Process due to the financial impact of COVID-19. We were advised that Phase 1 of this process would commence within the week. Staff were advised of a proposed immediate reduction of around 400 positions. Professor Martin noted that the Restructure/Reshaping process was in fact endorsed by Council twice – on 7 May, and again on 21 May. We are writing to demand that the Council call a halt to the Phase 1 process and consult with Deakin staff - with full financial disclosure - on how they believe the University can best respond to the current financial crisis. Deakin is a public university so we call on all members of the Deakin community - staff, students, alumni, members of the communities in which Deakin resides and serves, to support staff in calling on University Council to halt to the Phase 1 process.

This puts the childcare of thousands of families at threat. Our Early Childhood Educators worked hard through the pandemic to keep our children safe, at significant personal risk.   But now Scott Morrison and the Federal Government have made them the first sector to have JobKeeper cut. That’s not fair. As parents we need to stand up to the reckless approach of the Morrison Government to our children’s education.   SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Authorised Tim Kennedy, United Workers Union, Melbourne

The petition of certain citizens of the City of Kingston draws to the attention of the Kingston Council that: 1. Don Tatnell Leisure Centre was closed on the 30th of January 2020 due to serious structural issues that made the centre unsafe for use. 2. This facility was used by many of members in the Parkdale, Mordialloc and Mentone community -offering pool, spa and sauna facilities, as well as a gym with local classes and other support services. 3. Don Tatnell is walking distance from Parkdale Secondary College and St John Vianney's Primary School, and accessible to many other local primary and secondary schools in the Mordialloc-Parkdale area. 4. The centre is readily available to our local community via bus from Mordialloc Station. 5. Since its closure, Kingston Council has not committed funding to a redevelopment on its current site and has instead flagged a possible relocation. This would be a huge loss to our local community. 6. The Mayor of Kingston has stated that costs to return the ageing building to a “useable state, without any improvements in service” would incur $9 million in costs and a 10-month closure. Instead, the Mayor says the Council “will focus on developing a new, modern centre that meets the current and future needs of our community.”

Did you know that changes are being made to the Exit 200 Chevallum Forest Glen turnoff from the Bruce Highway? Did you know that a roundabout is being built at Chevallum Road/Rainforest Road and that this new exit will be the fastest and most direct way to travel to Palmwoods? Traffic along Chevallum Road and past Chevallum State School will increase as a result. The community needs to feel safe when they travel on or are near Chevallum Road. An upgrade is needed near Chevallum State School to reduce the risk of traffic incidents and personal injury around the school. We all know that this section of the road is already unsafe and congested at certain times of the day and we need to join together to sign this petition to let Local, State and Federal government members that our children's safety should come first and that money should be spent to upgrade Chevallum Road, in coordination with the building of the roundabout and new highway exit.

Young, casual workers are too often exploited. These are company wide issues impacting 100's of casuals workers, many of whom are young. This is a common story, in the last few weeks we have heard similar stories from workers at Cotton On, David Jones and General Pants Co. Sadly young workers are missing out on the JobKeeper payment that is designed to help workers like us through this health crisis. We need this money to pay our bills. Young workers are hanging on by a thread. I'm calling on Decjuba to opt us into the JobKeeper wage subsidy. Please send a message to Decjuba that this is not on, and that no worker should be left behind.

Young, casual workers are too often exploited. This is a company wide issue impacting 100's of casuals workers, many of whom are young. This is a common story, a few weeks ago we heard a similar story from Cotton On workers and now I'm telling you about my experience at General Pants Co. Sadly young workers are missing out on the JobKeeper payment that is designed to help workers like us through this health crisis. We need this money to pay our bills. Young workers are hanging on by a thread. I'm calling on General Pants Co. to opt us into the JobKeeper wage subsidy. Please send a message to that this is not on.

Grades received in the second and third years of an Undergraduate degree are normally given double weighting meaning that students currently completing third year subjects are denied the opportunity make improvements to their WAM. Honours degrees must be completed by Semester One to be included in WAM calculations when applying for Medicine, while an ongoing Honours degree counted towards Optometry or Dentistry. As a result of the changes to WAM calculation, Honours at any stage of completion will not be included, for any of the three degrees. Additionally, changes to Honours projects mean that they do not attract sufficient credit points to be included in the University’s broader approach to WAM. Overall, these changes are manifestly unfair and disadvantage students who are able to improve their competitiveness for MDHS applications this month. The University made this decision in the absence of student representatives and has not provided a rationale for how this change benefits students, or why this decision was necessary. It is astonishing that the University of Melbourne has decided to adopt this model given that the same outcomes could have been achieved for students whose results have suffered this semester, by applying the WAM changes announced only a short time ago. Other Australian medical schools have allowed students to receive the benefits of good results in 2020, or have changed their approach since this announcement was made. We call on the University of Melbourne to rescind its decision to ensure WAMs that improve in 2020 can be used.

PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION to tell Prime Minister Scott Morrison to support local manufacturing, local jobs and a future for our kids.

Adelaide University has introduced a blanket hiring freeze. Prioritising financial interests over student and staff concerns, this freeze means no new staff recruitment except in ill-defined “exceptional cases”. Casual academics who would usually continue work in Semester Two will not be given new contracts. Adelaide University’s slash-and-burn approach means increased workloads for existing staff and amounts to a dramatic cut in staff numbers. We demand that Adelaide University overturn the staff hiring freeze!