Student Unions

In 1995, La Trobe University student publication Rabelais ran a feature entitled The Art of Shoplifting, which highlighted student poverty a decade before it became an election platform. Now it and student media publications around Australia are facing relative poverty themselves.

Students protesting against the VSU proposal before it was introduced. There were fears then on the effect it would have on student media.

Since Voluntary Student Unionism was introduced by the then Liberal Australian Government in mid-2006, Australian student media have been starved of funds.

VSU was introduced with the aim of removing the obligation for tertiary students to pay for and be members of student unions. The Punch interviewed representatives from three student publications and the response was the same: VSU has curtailed the potential of student media to add to a vibrant university culture.

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  • MFS says:

    05:12pm | 09/10/09

    The media often refer to VSU as some kind of Howard imposed evil.  The fact is, VSU is the right to decide whether or not you join a union.  Workers enjoy this right and so should students.  I was heavily involved in student politics in WA during VSU under the… Read more »

  • Ziggy says:

    07:32am | 28/09/09

    In my youth I was national President of The Students Union. I can attest, with some authority, that these bodies are a collection of wankers who use the funds for their own petty, irrelevant causes that are far removed from the best interests of all students. Student newspapers only meaningful… Read more »

 

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