16 novembre 2016

By Ian Dobson. Today’s universities are defined by their commitment to neoliberal logics (an oxymoron, I know), with CEOs at the helm on salaries of $1 million or more, and military, pharmaceutical, biotech and fossil fuel industries driving commercial research agendas. At the privatised university – or ‘edu-factory’, as I sometimes think of it – degrees and research are products for sale; students are consumers, and academics are entrepreneurs and service providers. More...

By Celeste Liddle. Over the past few months, the discussion regarding the Government’s push to hold a plebiscite on same sex marriage has been raging. While it looks like common sense will prevail with the Labor Party deciding to block the bill, watching the conversation unfold has been somewhat reminiscent of the Government’s campaign for Constitutional Recognition, despite the two being incredibly different causes. More...

By Celeste Liddle. NTEU National Council 2016 voted unanimously to condemn the Federal Government’s regional and remote ‘work for the dole’ scheme – the Community Development Program (CDP) – on the basis that it is an exploitative and racially discriminatory program. More...

By Celeste Liddle. In a recent NTEU survey, well over half of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander higher education staff reported that they are concerned about job security. Consequently, they are worried about financial security, the capacity to undertake further study, and attend to community/cultural business. More...

By Andrew MacDonald. The Turnbull Government proved desperate to avoid talking about its funding cut and fee hike plans for higher education during the 2016 election campaign. That reluctance to discuss the sector, however, did not extend to attempted smears on one of its high profile figures. More...

By Andrew MacDonald. To many, Simon Hunt is probably better known as Pauline Pantsdown. The NTEU member, lecturer, performer and activist stepped into the mainstream media spotlight in the late 90s, when his parody character and pop song I Don’t Like It, featuring cut-up sound bites of Pauline Hanson’s not-so-dulcet tones, struck a chord in the national psyche. More...

By Paul Clifton. We have read with interest the recent history of our amalgamated unions, National Tertiary Education Union: A Most Unlikely Union by John O’Brien but we are dismayed by the number of errors we have found in his description of events leading up to the amalgamation, particularly those relating to New South Wales. More...

By Paul Clifton. The Centre for Future Work is a new research institute, based in Sydney, set up to undertake progressive economic research into work and employment in Australia. More...

By Paul Clifton. My usual Advocate column writing strategy is: 1) Work myself into a froth of rage about something. 2) Release the words. More...