Trent Hawkins, Perth
Around 150 university students gathered at Curtin University between June 29 and July 1 for the National Union of Students annual education conference.
Much of the discussion focused on the federal Coalition government's attempt to undermine student control of student affairs via their "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation. More than 100 conference attendees marched together in the 25,000-strong June 30 rally in defence of workers' rights, marching behind an NUS banner.
Conference delegates also voted to hold an impromptu speak-out at Edith Cowan University, where federal education minister Brendan Nelson was unveiling the new Aboriginal Studies Centre. Students linked arms and converged on the entrance, forcing Nelson to flee out a rear door. Police broke up the protest using horses and arrested NUS queer officer Craig Comrie for "obstructing police".
A number of resolutions were passed on the final day of the conference, with specific focus on the August 10 national day of action against VSU. It was decided that an escalating campaign focusing around a "your rights at university" theme would take place in second semester.
The conference also resolved that a Victorian-style model of VSU, where funding cannot be used for political campaigns, is not a worthy compromise, and the calls for such a model by the Australian Vice Chancellor's Committee (AVCC) and members of the National Party were condemned.
The need to build staff and student solidarity was also recognised by the conference, and a motion calling for staff and trade union involvement in future VSU protests was widely supported.
The socialist youth organisation Resistance put a resolution calling on NUS to support the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students taking place in Caracas, Venezuela, in August. The resolution also endorsed those students participating in the upcoming solidarity brigade to Venezuela building links with student organisations at the progressive Bolivarian University of Venezuela (UBV). This motion was resoundingly carried, laying the framework for future solidarity work between students at the UBV and students at universities around Australia.
[Trent Hawkins is a member of Resistance and a guild councillor at UWA.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 13, 2005.
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