We are worried about students who are struggling to pay for rent, food and bills, and when Centrelink payments are reduced in October this will only get worse. We are worried about international students and their families who are struggling to pay course fees, and the obvious impacts this will have. Students are suffering and the University’s response to this has been silence. The University needs to act – and it needs to act now.

The Flinders University Student Association (FUSA), is once again calling on Flinders University to provide additional academic support to students during this global health pandemic. While case numbers have decreased in South Australia, many students are still completing the majority of their learning online, have lost their jobs and income, and are about to see a severe reduction in government support. In Semester 1, FUSA was instrumental in campaigning for the academic support changes that allowed many students to continue their studies here at Flinders. Changes such as the Opt-In Non-Graded Pass assessment structure would not have occurred without our campaign and the support of the student body. We understand the stresses of being a student in the best of times, let alone during a global health pandemic, but we need your support to push for these changes. Flinders University can and must do more to support the student community during these unprecedented times. Please share this campaign with your classmates, club and association mates and anyone else you know in the student community to help us fight for your rights and welfare as students.

Mark Latham's Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 is a dangerous attack to LGBTIQ+ kids and staff. If passed, the Bill will: -prohibit trans and gender diverse content being taught in health and physical education classes. - prohibit teachers from mentioning the existence of LGBTI+ characters, people or events in other subjects like English or History. - prohibit counsellors from giving advice to students on the subject of gender fluidity. - force teachers to refuse to call students by their preferred pronouns. - teachers who do not comply could lose their accreditation and their jobs. - allow parents and guardians to remove their child from any course that mentions sexuality. - force schools to consult with parents and guardians at the start of each year about any course which mentions sexuality (and change the courses accordingly). - legitimise the stigmatization of intersex students. This Bill goes further even than the Religious Discrimination Bill that the Morrison government has waiting in the shadows - which itself would legalise discrimination towards LGBTI+ people in Australia. Latham's Bill goes further as a calculated attempt to erase the very existence of LGBTI+ people and force kids and staff back into the closet. Please share this petition to keep up the fight!

Health care workers are at high occupational risk of contracting COVID-19, and are overrepresented in serious cases. Preventative measures, including provision of and education about the use of personal protective equipment, is only effective if it is fit for purpose - masks that allow unfiltered air entry and exit exposes health care workers, their colleagues, family members, and care recipients to increased risk.

Standard DSP only has a $174 per fortnight allowance for earning beyond the DSP payment. For every dollar after that, the recipient loses 50c in every $1. The effect of this is to reduce the hourly wage in earnings to around $10 per hour. This legislation, which creates a two class disability payment system, is discriminatory. We need to join together and demand that the Government provide all DSP recipients with the same level of benefits. This must be addressed immediately. If you also want a copy and paste letter to forward to your local minister, please feel free to use the following… To minister , I have recently become aware of an unfair and unjust practice of the Australian government paying 2 different disability support payments (DSP). The standard DSP is income and asset tested and restricts recipients to being renumerated for their employment to around $10 gross/hour maximum. The second category is reserved for those classified as ‘legally blind’. As this payment has no income or asset restriction, all money earned from employment is retained. As disabled people face enormous struggles in their day to day life, whether their particular disability is legal blindness, or some other disability type, all should have the same set of access to a fair pay for work undertaken. As a society we have long ago moved toward equity and as such all should be granted the second DSP. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Sincerely,

The working class of Indonesia are opposing attempts by the Government of Indonesia to introduce the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation that seeks to exploit the present Covid-19 crisis in order to reduce wages, remove entitlements and erode workers’ rights in Indonesia. The government of President Joko Widodo is arguing that this bill which aims to rewrite 79 laws to deliver greater foreign direct investment, support economic growth and create job opportunities for Indonesians. But the reality is the Omnibus Bill will only harm working people and the environment. It must be stopped.

It's important we show the University that we don't want them supporting these destructive industries. They don't care about our futures and are actively responsible for endangering them. The University of Melbourne can't be sustainable when it continues to fund the destruction of our planet. Full divestment would send a powerful message to these companies that they are no longer welcome on our campuses and that it's time to start investing in a sustainable future.

It’s not fair to expect CBA workers to take a cut in their sick leave entitlements going forward in order to accommodate an increase for their colleagues who are on less favourable Commsec contracts. Nor should they have to sacrifice their sick leave safety net to pay for extra leave days with strings attached. Everyone at CBA should get 15 sick leave days per year in the 2020 agreement. CBA Group employees who currently get 10 & 12 days should have their sick leave increased in line with their colleagues.

The slap-on-the-wrist fines that these companies get are not enough. Dodgy companies that cut corners and put their workers, the community and the environment at risk should lose their operating licences and be closed. These fires have deadly consequences and we need urgent action to hold these corporate criminals to account.

On Friday 1 August, at a socially-distanced protest organised by the University of Sydney Education Action Group, two activists were arrested and fined $1,100. NSW riot police arrived to break up a crowd of less than 50 students and staff, who were gathering on their own campus, in a socially distanced, masked demonstration against the University's push to fire casual staff, push through redundancies and cut subjects. What is more concerning than this blatantly cynical attack, under the guise of public health, on the right to protest? Probable collaboration between University of Sydney security who the Education Action Group alleges called the NSW Police to disperse the protest. The protest was a small gathering of less than 50 people, outdoors, with all participants wearing masks & gathering in groups of less than 20. This is a blatant and outrageous attack on the free speech of students and staff. And it comes at a time when university management's around the country are drastically slashing subjects and jobs. The university is meant to be a place where students can discuss and debate ideas, not just in an academic sense, but also relating to the real world. Collaboration between university management, security and the police endangers students and creates an atmosphere of censorship and the crushing of dissent. How can students pursue an interest in social justice or political issues if at any time, armed riot police may be called on them at the request of security? Can we expect when classes return in second semester, when cafes are open, and students are expected to return to laboratories and libraries, that any display of political opposition can expect to face repression from University security and the NSW police? Students will continue to show our opposition to attacks on our education and the working conditions of our teachers in socially responsible ways. We call on Vice Chancellor Michael Spence to guarantee students the right to protest at the University of Sydney, without fear of repression.

My name is Ranjan. I’m a 53-year-old asylum seeker from Sri Lanka. I have worked at Polytrade Recycling in Dandenong, Melbourne, since 2017. On 23 July, I was sacked by text message. My supervisor told me that I’m no longer needed. This happened on the day I took sick leave. Two days earlier, I became unconscious at work. I was taken by ambulance and the bill was paid by Polytrade. I had to take sick leave to do further tests on my chest. When my union representative contacted the human resources manager, the manager claimed that I spoke with a colleague about lodging work cover claim and that’s one of the reasons behind my dismissal. In 2017, Polytrade received a government grant of over $500,000. Meanwhile I was underpaid by $7 an hour. Only after we joined the Australian Workers Union did Polytrade lift our pay to the required minimum under the Waste Management Award. But I’m still owed tens of thousands of dollars from the underpayments. I rely on my job to pay my rent, bills, food and support my family back in Sri Lanka. I want my job back. And I want all Polytrade workers to have secure and safe jobs with fair pay. Please sign this petition.

Thousands of us are still being stalled in negotiating a rent reduction, and are facing eviction in coming weeks. At the end of September the much needed Jobseeker and JobKeeper payments will be slashed. At the same time, the COVID19 Omnibus eviction moratorium is set to end. For those of us who were already struggling to stay afloat we will be expected to live on $3 a week. While we’re expected to stay home, we need to make sure we have a secure home to stay in. The COVID19 pandemic demands long term solutions. Deferring the problem only exacerbates the crisis. Time is running out. #ExtendTheMoratorium #RentReliefNow #Nooneleftbehind