Brighter Future

A lifetime of debt is not the right answer

Letter from the Australian Unions Team

Dear mark,

You may have heard that the Abbott Government has bowed to community pressure and backed down on their latest changes to Medicare.

Your quick response had an impact - in just 24 hours you and nearly 10,000 others signed the petition to the Senate.

We then announced nation wide protests the day before Parliament resumes and less than two hours later Sussan Ley the Health Minister was sent out to deliver the back down.

Together we sent a clear message to the Abbott Government that we'll stand together and do what it takes to defend Medicare.

But the fight’s not over and we'll all be on standby ready to mobilise when Tony Abbott makes his next move on Medicare, remember he still wants to introduce a $5 co-payment.

We will defend the Medicare Australian unions fought to establish 40 years ago – a universal and affordable healthcare system for everyone.

Yours in union,

Ged

Australian Unions Team

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The add that the Fed's should have put on TV

Post by GetUp!

selling off our poles and wires means NSW has Nothing to gain, plenty to lose

Earlier this year, the Premier announced he’s seeking a mandate at the March 2015 state election for his plan to privatise NSW electricity. But this week, anew report was released that drives a stake through the heart of Mike Baird’s plan to sell off our — the public’s — poles and wires.

The independent McKell Institute (which Mike Baird has said has a “proud history” and whose work “we need to do more of") looked into the government’s privatisation plan and the report title sums up their conclusions nicely: selling off our poles and wires means NSW has Nothing to gain, plenty to lose. In short, if Mike Baird wins the election, NSW loses.

Add your name to the petition now and tell Mike Baird to stop the sell-off:http://stoptheselloff.org.au/sign-the-petition

The McKell Institute analysis concluded there’s “no logical case for privatisation” backed up by a number of findings:

• The state currently earns $1.7 billion each year from NSW electricity Transmission and Distribution, and selling our poles and wires is likely to hurt the state budget over the medium-to-long-term
• NSW’s public electricity assets operate more efficiently than those privatised in other states
• Selling off poles and wires doesn’t cut costs for business and would actually increase costs for us — consumers — by more than $100 per year
• Rather than reinvesting revenue from electricity into improving the system, privatisation would mean revenues would line the pockets of investors, whereas state assets focus on the citizens they serve

With so much evidence exposing the Baird government’s disinformation, the report “recommends that the NSW Government abandon its plans to privatise.” That’s exactly what those who know the industry best and look after our electricity assets — the Electrical Trades Union — have been saying for months and why they’ve launched the “Stop the Sell Off” campaign.

Add your name to more than one thousand concerned citizens who’ve signed the petition, and together, we can make sure Mike Baird has no mandate to sell off our poles and wires and instead keep jobs safe, prices low, and ensure public assets continue serving the citizens of this great state, rather than lining the pockets of big business.

In Union,

Mark Lennon

Secretary

Unions NSW

UNIVERSITY STAFF CONDEMN VICE-CHANCELLORS’ CALL FOR FEE-DEREGULATION

UNIVERSITY STAFF CONDEMN VICE-CHANCELLORS’ CALL FOR FEE-DEREGULATION

University staff are urging cross-bench senators to maintain their opposition to fee

deregulation, in the wake of a renewed call from Vice-Chancellors for an amended

version of the bill to be passed in the next fortnight.

Vice-Chancellors’ enthusiasm for deregulated university fees ignores the

overwhelming opposition not only of the public, but of university staff, says the

National Alliance for Public Universities (NAPU).

NAPU was formed in October to give university staff committed to a public university

system another voice to oppose fee deregulation.

The NAPU charter outlining the principles of a public higher education sector has

been signed by over 1300 university staff members from around the country,

including Nobel Prize Winner J.M. Coetzee, University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor

Stephen Parker and over 100 senior professors.

“There are fewer than forty Vice Chancellors in Australia. They don’t represent the

tens of thousands of university staff, who, like the rest of the public, are strongly

against deregulation,” said NAPU spokesperson Dr Nick Riemer. “Vice Chancellors

should be lobbying government to fund universities better, not advising them on

what level of cuts is acceptable.”

“We are very encouraged by Jacqui Lambie’s statement that she will never support

deregulation,” Riemer continued, “and we call on all the other cross-benchers to

give similar undertakings. There is nothing fair about deregulation. A Fairfax-Ipsos

poll at the start of November found overwhelming public opposition to the

government’s plans. Vice-Chancellors are out of step both with the public, and with

basic principles of equity and social justice.”

More information:

Dr Nick Riemer 0481 339 937; Dr George Morgan 0414 958726.

http://napuaustralia.org.

Greens bill to save TAFE defeated by Baird-Grant government

A Charter for Australia’s Universities