students occupy labor party headquarters over vsu : Melbourne Indymedia

STUDENTS TARGET ALP OVER VSU BACKFLIP

On Thursday 25th August, following a strong national student protest against
Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU), students occupied the Victorian ALP headquarters
in King street, Melbourne.

Students had hostile interactions with some party heavy-weights, and had useful discussions with other staff members while enjoyed the fruits of the ALP fridge.

Earlier in the week Labour revealed their 'compromise' position on VSU, which if passed, will enable University administrators to collect fees from students, without student unions having control over the services provided. The whole idea that VSU will provide students with a choice of whether or not to pay fees for services and representation provided by the union, has now been rendered null and void. Students will still be required to pay these fees, and they will no longer have any say over what services are run or how they are run.

This compromise raises serious concerns about how the Labor Party will engage with industrial relations reform legislation when it when push comes to shove in parliament. Many would argue that it is unthinkable that the Labor Party would crumble on the issue of industrial relations, but up until a week ago it was unthinkable to some that they would be capable of such a treacherous policy reversal
on VSU.

Far from being a surprise, the ALP’s newly revealed position on VSU is consistent with historical practice of selling out students with the introduction of HECS in
1987, the introduction of up-front fees for international students in the late 1980s, and decreased funding to Universities under Dawkins. This is the same party
who introduced mandatory detention for refugees under Keating, re-opened Australia’s uranium mines, de-listed the pilots union and the BLF and ultimately agreed with Thatcherite neoliberalism on industrial relations issues when last in government.

The crowd of about a thousand students that gathered at the Melbourne rally boo-ed Jenny Maklin off the stage and were clearly fired up while passing Treasurer Peter Costello’s office. The next Melbourne protests against VSU will happen on Thursday 15th September.
If the legislation is passed by the Federal Government the campaign does not end: it is important to maintain action against anti-student union policies, and the
question of the implementation of the legislation would also arise. At that point it becomes the responsibility of university administrations to enforce the legislation or face penalties. It is clear that the campaign to oppose this legislation and to prevent the crippling or destruction of student unions will be going on for some time. This campaign needs all students to be involved – in a very real sense this will determine the future of our student unions.

CULTURAL HEGEMONY IN THE ACADEMY
The protest came the day after Education Minister, Brendan Nelson sent a clear message to Islamic people in Australia that they need to either accept and teach Australian values or "clear off". Just a few days beforehand, Sydney radio shock-jock John Laws attacked a forum at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Bankstown Campus at which former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib spoke about the War on Terror and Human Rights. Laws said it was outrageous that student fees were used to organise such a forum. Parroting the same statements of condemnation he used against La Trobe student newspaper Rabelias in 1995 - statements that led to a four year court case against student editors –Laws criticised the UWS student newspaper for 'leftist
extremism' for promoting the forum.