17th February 2016 The National Union of Students announced today that it will launch a new campaign to ‘Fight For A Fair Price’ on textbooks at O-Week events taking place in Hobart, Launceston, and Burnie next week.
The Campaign will centre around the fight for the removal of Parallel Import Restrictions (PIR) on textbooks. Current restrictions place a high cost on retailers who are forced to buy textbooks from Australian publishers, in turn, these costs are passed onto students and the wider community.
“As a new academic year starts, students are once again faced with the high cost of purchasing new textbooks. These represent a major upfront and unavoidable cost” Clark Cooley, President of the National Union of Students Tasmania said. Mr. Cooley continued
“Restrictions on the purchase of textbooks from overseas for retailers increases the cost for students to attain higher education. It is important, in this an election year, for the voices of students to be herd. Politicians, and political candidates simply can’t ignore such a significant and vocal part of the Tasmanian population”
“We’ve seen the impact of the removal of PIR in New Zealand where textbook prices fell. If Australia is going to be a country of science and innovation, like Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull continues to champion, we need to make higher education is attainable by all. Current textbook prices are a significant burden for those who want to undertake a university education.
“We’ll be at all university campuses in Tasmania during the O-Week celebrations next week, gathering signatures on our petition, and raising awareness and support for the campaign.”
The National Union of Students (NUS) is the peak representative body for Australian university students. The NUS seek to advance the rights and protect the interests of students by working with campus-based student organisations, running campaigns, and making sure the voices of students are heard by parliamentarians, policy makers, university leadership and the wider community.
Clark Cooley
President – Tasmania
