FUND UNI FAIRLY
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
Fund Uni Fairly campaign at pointy end The August issue of Sentry detailed the Morrison Government’s attack on the higher education sector through the Job-Ready Graduates legislation announced by Education Minister Dan Tehan on 19 June.
NTEU ad in the Burnie Advocate in August
NTEU quickly launched the Fund Uni Fairly campaign, to mobilise members and university staff, students, the wider community and politicians to oppose the Government’s attempts to cut overall funding to the sector and make some courses, especially humanities, more than twice as expensive.
So what have we been doing? • Over 16,000 people have signed our Fund Uni Fairly petition to Education Minister Dan Tehan. The petition was tabled in the Senate by ALP Senator Louise Pratt on 2 September. • Nearly 6,000 people from around the country sent emails to the crossbench Senators urging them to block the Government’s legislation. • Over 100 members from three NSW Branches sent emails to National Party MPs and Senators urging them to block the Bill because of the potential effects on regional universities.
Michael Evans National Organiser (Media & Engagement)
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• Nearly 600 members and supporters sent submissions to the Senate inquiry on the Government’s proposed legislation. Over
Sentry
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OCTOBER 2020
80% of the submissions received were negative about the proposed changes to funding. • Many NTEU members have contacted their local MP urging them to not support the Bill. • We have prepared briefing papers to assist members and supporters to lobby their MPs. • ALP education spokespeople Tanya Plibersek and Louise Pratt spoke to a gathering of Tasmanian members online to announce that the ALP would not support the proposed Bill. • We developed a Fund Uni Fairly pledge that has been signed by ALP and Greens MPs, an independents Senator Rex Patrick (SA) and Andrew Wilkie MP (Tasmania). • We have regularly targeted social media ads at the crossbench Senators urging them to block the Bill. • We ran a full page advertisement in the Burnie Advocate on 21 August, urging the crossbench Senators (and Jacqui Lambie in particular, as Burnie is her home town) to block the Bill. • NTEU prepared three different submissions in relation to the
