Unlike the government's previous attempts to modify education costs, this funding freeze does not require formal legislation and therefore cannot be blocked by the Senate. Resisting these changes will require increased collective effort and orchestrated action to influence change. On top of funding cuts, the lowering of the HECS repayment threshold will see students forced to start paying back their loans at an income of $45,000 per year instead of $52,000. This threshold sits just above the minimum wage and presents as a huge blow to all graduates, particularly for lower income earners. This reform forces students to privilege their financial status above their education - an outcome that is plainly unacceptable and one which should not exist in Australia. This petition calls upon the Education Minister Simon Birmingham to stop these attacks on our education – no funding freezes and no cuts to the HECS.

The four year pay freeze has devastated workers at DIBP, with many heading into Christmas struggling to make ends meet. They work incredibly hard protecting our community from guns, drugs and terrorism and they deserve respect and fairness at work. "God knows how much longer we can hold out, we have already raided the kid’s education fund…I have to find ways to cut our living expenses even more in an effort to pay them back in the next 4-5 years whilst trying to pay the mortgage. So much for well supported and valued staff." - Worker at Department of Immigration and Border Protection Michaelia Cash has been attempting to slash the rights, pay and conditions of DIBP workers for years. The case is currently before the Fair Work Commission in arbitration which is a long and complex process. The Commonwealth has the power to issue a determination raising employee’s wages at any time. Instead the Turnbull Government chose to instruct their Legal Counsel to argue against the Full Bench making an interim wage rise. This is a heartless and unnecessary intervention from the Commonwealth. We are asking that newly appointed Minister O’Dwyer ensures fairness and acts to have Government provide an interim pay rise.

The powers that be at 9 Network have decided to include a misogynist looking for a doormat/wife in the next series of Married At First Sight. Declaring such views as wanting to be in charge, he's the man, she has to listen, and referring to traditional roles that still exist in "other countries", he fits the perfect profile of a controlling, dominating abuser. Now, undoubtedly the program will cast him as the bad guy (which he is) and manufacture conflict around his controversial character. In doing so, 9 Network are giving a platform to views and ideals that will appeal to a certain demographic, and are capitalising off the abuse of women. This in the age of #metoo. This following the growing movement naming and exposing abusers, molesters and rapists. This when on average one woman a week is killed in Australia as a result of domestic violence. The oppression and abuse of women should never be used as a marketing tool. We're talking about lives here, and lives are far more important than ratings or network profits. 9 Network, hang your heads in shame.

The powers that be at 9 Network have decided to include a misogynist looking for a doormat/wife in the next series of Married At First Sight. Declaring such views as wanting to be in charge, he's the man, she has to listen, and referring to traditional roles that still exist in "other countries", he fits the perfect profile of a controlling, dominating abuser. Now, undoubtedly the program will cast him as the bad guy (which he is) and manufacture conflict around his controversial character. In doing so, 9 Network are giving a platform to views and ideals that will appeal to a certain demographic, and are capitalising off the abuse of women. This in the age of #metoo. This following the growing movement naming and exposing abusers, molesters and rapists. This when on average one woman a week is killed in Australia as a result of domestic violence. The oppression and abuse of women should never be used as a marketing tool. We're talking about lives here, and lives are far more important than ratings or network profits. 9 Network, hang your heads in shame.

Nearly a year ago a 64cm blood clot almost killed my healthy 20 year-old daughter, Elanor, after she was prescribed an old and dangerous drug, Diane-35. Diane-35 is also marketed under the names Brenda-35, Carolyn-35, Chelsea-35, Estelle-35, Ginette-35, Juliet-35, Katie-35, Laila-35 and Dermapil. Since talking publicly of our experience I’ve been deluged with horror stories of life threatening or fatal blood clots by families from across Australia. I’ve researched the issues and met with health regulatory authorities and professional bodies. This drug has never been approved for use in the USA and was actually banned in Europe in 2013 after too many women died from blood clots, and only reintroduced with tough restrictions. Yet it’s routinely prescribed to unknown thousands of Australian women without proper warnings, education or consideration of safer, modern alternatives.

Tasmanian public sector workers deliver opportunity, protection and improve the lives of our whole community. But to have services you can count on, public sector workers need jobs they can count on. Tasmanians, like other Australians, need a decent pay rise. Even the Reserve Bank is encouraging workers to demand higher wages. To do this we are asking the Tasmanian Premier, Will Hodgman, to Scrap the Cap, negotiate in good faith and make sure public sector wages and conditions are provided for in future budgets. Bargaining is how generations of workers have built the jobs, wages and living standards most of us rely on today. This doesn't happen when governments decide wages outcomes before negotiations begin.

The Pacific Solution is a failed policy. Mandatory detention of refugees is a failed policy. Every week brings a new low in Australia's refugee policy. Every day brings fresh heartache and despair for refugees suffering at Australia's hands. And right now, every hour brings thirst, hunger and the risk of death-by-policy to the 600 men on Manus Island left without power, water, food or medical supplies by the closure of the refugee camp without provision for safe settlement of the people detained there for years. Last year thousands of Australians rallied and organised, protested, moved motions in their unions and community organisations and demanded sanctuary for asylum-seekers and refugees in Australia for medical care. At that time, state governments stepped up to offer protection to these vulnerable people. In the same way, the Queensland state government should offer safety, housing and settlement services, both because it is humane and to help break the federal political consensus that there is no limit to the abuse that can be directed at refugees, in the attempt to look "tough." Refugees are not our enemy. It is heartless racism and vilification of the vulnerable that is the biggest threat in this situation. It is time to stop saying "stop the boats" and start to recogise asylum saves lives.

Our group of early childhood educators will be meeting with the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Jenny Mikakos, on the 1st of December. We need to take this opportunity to show Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister Mikakos how important preschool education is to our children’s future. Currently we rank 33 out of the 36 OECD countries for participation in 3-year-old preschool education – this is disgraceful and we need to make a change. Together we can send a strong message to the Andrews Government to make sure they deliver funding for 10 hours of 3-year-old preschool per week, to give all children the best possible start in life. Please sign the petition to tell Premier Andrews and Minister Mikakos that all Victorian children deserve 10 hours of 3-year-old preschool.

Stealing is wrong. Yet every year hundreds of thousands of hospo workers in Australia are robbed. We are victims of wage theft. Wage theft, where companies deliberately underpay workers or refuse to pay superannuation, is also hurting people working in retail, farms and fast food. If workers stole from the till, we could go to jail. But if bosses steal from us, all they have to do is pay it back, if they’re ever caught. How is that fair? The rules are broken. The current laws make wage theft too easy and the punishment is too light. It’s now so common it’s become a business model. Venue owners right now are getting rich by stealing from their staff. WE NEED TO CHANGE THE RULES Prime Minister, if you are serious about upholding the law, make wage theft a criminal offence and introduce much bigger fines. We need to hold companies to account for their theft.

These allegations follow those launched against Harvey Weinstein in the US by numerous women in the entertainment industry, and the #metoo campaign on social media, which highlights the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault. For young women in particular, sexualisation, harassment and objectification are all too common. Sexual harassment in the workplace isn't just harmless flirting - it is an issue of fair working conditions. The Wom*n’s Collective stands with women who have experienced harassment and assault, whether at work, at university, on the street, or in the home.

Closing Macquarie University Station will create a public transport nightmare for the University and the broader Macquarie Park area, as there is a high reliance on rail, too few campus parking options and typically a major traffic gridlock on Epping road during peak hours. Don’t let the NSW Government leave us in the dark about the Macquarie University Station closure. Sign the petition today.

Staff at the University care deeply about the students they teach and support. But difficult conditions, insecure work (including casual contracts without student consultation hours), excessive workloads and salaries which cut the real pay of staff make it difficult to deliver quality teaching and student experiences. It is not too late. Management can still avoid high-impact industrial action by making positive steps to finalise a single, high-quality staff agreement for all staff. As students, future alumni, and members of the University of Tasmania community, we need your support to show that staff working conditions are student learning conditions.