Out-of-touch politicians attack university students

The National Union of Students is appalled by comments made by Education Minister Simon Birmingham intimidating prospective University students with comments completely out-of-touch with the lives of ordinary students.

Birmingham has attributed the slight rise in non completion rates of University students to them having “no idea of what they’re signing up for”. Despite being the Minister leading the charge on funding cuts to our Higher Education system, making it harder and harder for many to access higher education at all.

This comes just weeks after revelations around Centrelink’s failed automated debt recovery system targeted countless innocent students who desperately rely on youth allowance and income support to survive.

“There’s never been a tougher time to be a student” said NUS National President, Sophie Johnston “We juggle part-time work, full-time study, relocate hours from our families, and now we’re facing hideous cuts to income support and education funding.”

“What Simon Birmingham doesn’t understand is that his Government’s constant attacks on the poor and vulnerable, including students, that is the real reason for the rise in non completion rates.”

“Students are failing to complete courses due to the paltry support they get from the government. Only receiving $30 a day from centrelink forces students to take up part time or even full time employment.

This limits student’s ability to focus only on their degrees.” Added Education Officer, Anneke Demanuele “Further to this, when students do need support they find the staff have been fired. At the University of Melbourne the redundancies of the Career Adviser team was announced late last year, and they are to be replaced with general advisors. Students are not getting what they need from either the government or the university administrations.”

The National Union of Students has called for national student protests on March 22 in major cities across the country to stand against the Government’s attacks on our education system and social services.

“There is a disconnect between the minister’s comments and the reality of student life. Students are under-supported by the government and university administrations continually cut courses, fire staff and focus entirely on shifting through students rather than the quality of education” said Anneke Demanuele “The demonstrations called around the country will respond to the constant cutting of funding to university, the undermining of Centrelink and the poverty rates we receive, and against the neoliberal restructuring of higher education”.
Sophie Johnston National President | National Union of Students