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.
Mary Merkenich
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.
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.
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.
There are very few workers in Australia today who feel confident that they have a job for life, are well paid or have the safest working conditions possible.
That鈥檚 why we all welcomed the Australian Council of Trade Union鈥檚 (ACTU) Change the Rules campaign.聽
It is definitely time to stop the attacks on workers and build a fight back that can win. We need to get rid of legislation that stops unions from organising effectively for their members.
More than 1700 delegates from 40 unions attended a mass meeting at the Melbourne Convention Centre on September 25, where they voted to hold an all-unions march and rally next month. Present at the mass delegates meeting were unions covering workers in the health, construction, education, public, transport and manufacturing sectors, among others.
BlacKkKlansman
Directed by Spike Lee
Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier & Topher Grace.
2018, in cinemas now
Heather Rogers has written a brilliant book about a very relevant topic given the current crisis in Australia over recycling.
The Victorian Labor government announced on April 15 that it would fast-track the controversial North East Link, a 26-kilometre freeway to connect the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen.
Animals Australia released a video on April 8 that showed sheep suffering horribly on board a ship bound for the Middle East.聽
The footage apparently even appalled the agriculture minister David Littleproud, who said he was horrified and shocked at what he saw. However, he said the Agriculture Department had investigated the case last year and, according to the minister, gave him a report that was nothing like the reality documented in the video.
Last month, One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson said children with a disability, and austistic students in particular, were putting extra pressure on teachers and schools and should be educated separately.
There was an immediate response from politicians, commentators and some academics. All were unanimous in their condemnation of Hanson. But was there any truth to her comments? What do teachers who work with students with a disability say?
Fifty years ago most people, including politicians, championed the idea of equal educational opportunities for all. The politicians may have only done so for their own political advantage, but even this indicates the strength of the notion.
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