Australia: Teachers, students protest

Thousands of university staff and students across Australia took part in Tuesday’s National Day of Action aimed at putting higher education higher up the political agenda for the Federal elections.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), together with the National Union of Students (NUS) and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), held rallies, meetings, forums, breakfasts, barbecues and ‘meet the candidate’ gatherings to build public awareness of the $4 billion that the Government has slashed from universities and student support over the past three years.

NTEU members at 10 universities took industrial action over enterprise bargaining negotiations which have stalled since the latest $2.3 million cuts April, with university managements using the cuts as justification for knocking back claims for improved wages and conditions.

Click here to view some wonderful photos of the National Day of Action from around the nation.