Students, politicians attack education cuts

BY LUCAS BAIRD

Greens and Labor politicians have spoken out against university funding cuts and fee deregulation at a student protest in Sydney.

Students from UTS, University of Sydney and UNSW participated in a march opposing measures in the budget which would see partial deregulation of university fees and cuts to education on March 11.

The march started at the Fisher Library in the University of Sydney, before proceeding down City Rd towards UTS.

Labor Senator, Doug Cameron, used the event to attack the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the budget.

“I just think it is totally unacceptable that we could have a Prime Minister that is just so out of touch,” Mr Cameron said.

“$100 thousand university degrees. Now what does that mean for young people coming out of university?”

“You are behind the eight ball right away and it doesn’t matter how well educated you are,” he said.

Greens candidate for Sydney, Sylvie Ellsmore, also spoke at the event.

The former Marrickville councillor said that the Greens believed that higher education should be free in Australia.

Ms Ellsmore commented on the budget. She believed that while it was not as bad as it could’ve been it still had some worrying signs.

“There have been a series of cuts and moves towards privatising universities and it is the Greens’ position that it is not good enough just to reinvest money back into universities we need to genuinely aim for free education,” Ms Ellsmore told City Hub.

The protesters also had a minor confrontation with police during the demonstration

According to Ms Ellsmore, the protesters and police clashed on City Rd. She accused the police of acting in a “heavy handed,” manner.

The police didn’t believe that the protestors had obtained the proper permits to march on the streets, according to Ms Ellsmore.

“When we got to City Rd… they [the Police] got very assertive very quickly,” Ms Ellsmore said.

However, The students agreed to move back on to the pavement and no arrests were made by police.

Ms Ellsmore said that the confrontation otherwise sullied an important protest for the students.