Fee cuts see some ejected at Bishop's office protest
Student protestors continue to harangue the Foreign Minister over cuts and changes to higher education.
A crowd of more than 100 university students, had to be ejected this week from the foyer of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's electorate office in Perth.
Police had significant discontent on their hands, with around a dozen police officers called to the fracas.
Students have gathered in Perth from across country for the National Union of Students National Education Conference at the University of Western Australia this week, and it is understood that the show of dissatisfaction was whipped-up at the students’ union meetings.
A key part of the students’ displeasure comes from the move to deregulate university fees, which will drive up the costs of many degrees significantly coupled with a reduction in government subsidies.
Monash University education public affairs officer and National Union of Students spokesperson Declan Murphy told Fairfax Media reporters on Thursday that students would continue to protest until the Government backed down on the changes.
“The fact that students have led the way and built this protest movement over the past few months has contributed to the overwhelming unpopularity of the budget and the unpopularity of the Government,” he said.
“So I think we're having a real effect. And for us in the future that means we're going to keep doing it.
“The Government is trying to bring in a two-tiered university system with well-resourced elite universities for the few, and mass degree factories for the many.
“The sky is the limit without caps on university fees - some are saying a degree could cost as much as $200,000.
“This is similar to the cost of a four-year degree at Harvard, under the US system [Federal Education] Minister [Christopher] Pyne is so fond of.”
The anger was prompted by the belief that the Federal Government cut $80 billion worth of Commonwealth funding from schools and hospitals over the next decade, spending which had been pledged but not actually legislated by the former Labor government.