BY BRONWEN BEECHEY
ADELAIDE — Activists from the National Union of Students, the Australian Education Union, M1 Adelaide and the socialist youth organisation Resistance travelled from to Glenelg in a chartered tram on March 23 to protest outside a community education conference sponsored by the Department of Education, Employment and Training.
Federal education minister David Kemp was scheduled to give the keynote address at the conference, but failed to appear due to a last-minute change of itinerary. Undeterred, the protesters gathered outside the up-market beachfront hotel where the conference was being held and heard AEU state president John Gregory, NUS South Australian secretary Joel Northcott and NUS national president David Henderson condemn the government's attacks on public education.
The federal ALP also came under criticism for its "online university" proposal, with Henderson calling on Labor to instead commit itself to restoring all education funding cut by the Coalition, and providing additional funding to improve the quality of education. A mock funeral for public education ended the rally.
M1 Adelaide activists distributed a leaflet outlining the links between education funding cuts and the increasing corporatisation of education. The leaflet called for a national student strike to coincide with the blockade of stock exchanges on May 1. M1 activists will also support the April 5 national day of action called by NUS to protest against education cuts.