Students' Day of Action

In a Day of Action on March 31, thousands of university 
students across Australia protested against the fee hikes that 
are part of the Federal Government's program for user-pays 
tertiary education. In Melbourne students occupied the 
chancellery at RMIT. In Sydney, at the University of Technology, 
police attacked protestors with pepper spray.

Students took to the streets in all capital cities and in 
regional university centres. The National Union of Students 
(NUS), which co-ordinated the actions, warned that student anger 
would soon be "crashing at the Government's door". "We will not 
back down until each university commits to rejecting the fee 
increase", said NUS National Education Officer Paul Coats.

Under legislation the Government introduced last year, 
universities can — and have — increased fees by up to 25 
percent. NUS National President Jodie Jansen said students had 
come together to show their disgust at the Government's policy.

"We are also expressing anger at those university administrations 
who have chosen to chuck equality out the window and jump on the 
fees bandwagon", said Ms Jansen. "Australian students at public 
universities are already paying higher fees than many of their 
fellow students in the USA. Enough is enough."

Paul Coates praised the commitment and determination of the 
students in the protests. "It's inspiring that students are 
prepared to put their bodies on the line when necessary to make 
their protest heard."

Following the police capsicum spray attack on 20 of the students 
in Sydney, NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon demanded a review of the 
use of the spray by police. "People have a right to protest in 
our society and the use of capsicum spray by police on students 
should be condemned", she said.

The Greens have called on the Police Minister to direct the 
police to cease the use of capsicum spray while a review is 
undertaken. They point out that the pretext originally used for 
the introduction of capsicum spray was for it to be a "non-lethal 
alternative to firearms".

Ms Rhiannon said that clearly the police were not going to use 
firearms in this instance and that they have apparently become 
"spray happy".