Mary Merkenich

Victorian teachers' union votes to support Climate Strike

The Australian Education Union鈥檚 (AEU) Victorian branch voted to support a student-initiated call for a Climate Strike on September 20. The internationally coordinated strike, which will be held just days out from a United Nations Emergency Climate Summit, is seeking to pressure governments to take serious action to address the聽climate crisis.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽

NAPLAN treats students like machines

A small but determined group of teachers, parents and students gathered in the rain on May 3 on the steps of the Victorian Parliament to demonstrate their opposition to the NAPLAN tests.

Vegan Rising: 'Our target is the system, not farmers'

The nationwide civil disobedience actions by animal rights activists on April 8 caused a media furore. 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Mary Merkenich spoke to Vegan Rising campaign director Kristin Leigh, who helped organised the action in Melbourne, about their protest tactics and aims.

Woman at War: a refreshing, inspiring film

Director Benedikt Erlingsson鈥檚 latest film, Woman at War is delightful, offbeat and uplifting. The main character is Halla, a choir director in her early 50s, who lives a secret double-life as a lone saboteur of heavy industry threatening her Icelandic environment.

Are Baby Boomers really selfish sociopaths?

It is not unusual to hear someone blame the crisis in affordable housing and healthcare or the very expensive tertiary education system on Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946-64. Gayle Burmeister and Mary Merkenich take aim at this mistaken argument.

Capitalism鈥檚 abuse of animals degrades us all

Humans experience the brutality of capitalism in wars, harsh working conditions and widespread poverty caused by a class-based society. Every minute a child dies a preventable death.

Capitalism has also been waging a war on animals.

Mary Merkenich together with colleagues from Highvale Secondary College at the Teachers for Refugees protest in Melbourne on November 20.

Hundreds of teachers walk off for refugees

Teachers, education support staff and even some principals walked off government and private schools across Victoria and assembled at the State Library on November 20, in support of refugees currently being detained on Manus Island and Nauru. A similar protest was held in Brisbane that same day.

Vic Liberals can鈥檛 hide from lack of climate policy

Faced with a handful of climate activists marching on his Bulleen electorate office on November 7, state Liberal opposition leader Matthew Guy decided to lock the door and pull the shutters down.

Principals told to stop teachers walking off for refugees

The Department of Education and Training Victoria today advised school principals聽to oppose leave for teachers who wish to participate in the Walk Off for Refugees on November 20. Teachers For Refugees (TFR) has called on teachers and education support staff to walk off the job on Universal Children鈥檚 Day and demand that the federal government remove all children and adults from offshore camps and resettle them in the community.

Teachers set to walk off for refugees

The Australian Education Union (AEU) Victorian Branch Council has endorsed a planned Walk Off by teachers and education support staff in support of refugees on November 20, Universal Children鈥檚 Day.

170,000 workers shut down Melbourne to demand 鈥榗hange the rules鈥

Under the slogan 鈥淎ustralia needs a pay rise鈥, an estimated 170,000 trade union members and their supporters filled Melbourne鈥檚 CBD on October 23 for the Australian Council of Trade Unions-initiated Change the Rules rally.

Why public funding for private schools is unfair

In September, the federal Coalition government announced it would provide an extra $4.5 billion directly to fee-charging Catholic and independent schools, to be spent any way they choose.

NSW Minister for Education Rob Stokes commented that his government will not sign up to a needs-based, sector-blind funding scheme, but it is neither of those things.