National Day of Action to bury Kemp's agenda
20 October 1999
Staff and students around the country will rally tomorrow (Thursday) to reject the recommendations in Dr Kemp’s leaked Cabinet submission in their entirety. Although the Prime Minister has made promises that he will \"never ever\" deregulate fees or introduce market rates of interest, Dr Kemp’s bribe for workplace reform remains firmly on the table.
\"The Prime Minister has been quick to distance himself from Dr Kemp’s fee proposals, but he has failed to bring him to heel on interfering in university employment relations\", Dr Carolyn Allport, NTEU National President said. \"We are cautious about the Prime Minister’s rejection of further deregulation. He has merely realised how unpopular it is and has taken it off the table- at least in the short term. Tomorrow staff and students will demand that the Government withdraws its waterfront-like bribes for imposed changes on staff conditions.\"
\"Sources close to the Government and university management have told the Union that the Government’s industrial agenda is likely to include all wage rises to be contingent on income growth (predominantly student fees), non-union agreements, Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), changes to curriculum and assessment processes, reduction in job security and stripping back other existing staff entitlements. These changes will not deliver additional funding to universities. What they will deliver are cuts to quality, a loss of equity and less diversity.\"
\"The agenda is clear: wind back funding to create a crisis and then try to make staff and students fight over the crumbs. If the Government believes this will work, they clearly underestimate our resolve.\"
\"Australia’s universities are among the most productive in the world. There is a growing acceptance that productivity improvements are now becoming poorly disguised cuts to quality and accessibility. Between 1989 and 1998 student to staff ratios increased by 40% as the increase in student numbers has outstripped the increase in staff. How much more blood does Dr Kemp expect to get from the stone?\"
\"The Government has acknowledged the crisis in our universities but has no plan to fix it. Our students already pay some of the highest fees in the world. Money must be invested in our public education system and it must come from Government.\"
\"Earlier this year the Government attempted to undermine student organisations through ‘Voluntary Student Unionism’ legislation. Now the Government has set its sights on our Union because of its effectiveness in representing staff in policy debate about higher education as well as enterprise bargaining.\"