Students rally against AFR Business Summit
Student activists from across NSW campuses assembled to oppose the event, critical of what a business summit for corporate executives will do to tangibly better the lives of Australians in a cost-of-living crisis.
Photograph courtesy of Henrique Monteiro.
Students gathered outside the Hilton hotel in Town Hall on Tuesday to protest the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) Business Summit.
The summit was attended “by more than 40 globally-focused chief executives, political leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and technology experts,” and bills itself as tackling “the big issues facing the global economy and Australian businesses.”
Student activists from across NSW campuses assembled to oppose the event, critical of what a business summit for corporate executives will do to tangibly better the lives of Australians in a cost-of-living crisis.
USYD SRC Education Officer Ishbel Dunsmore said “housing is in crisis, rent has skyrocketed, public housing is under attack by privatisation, and unsafe housing conditions are endangering tenants. But guess what these people get to do? Drink champagne and scheme for the next environmental catastrophe.”
Dunsmore also mentioned the particular housing strife faced by students, a central focus of the NUS’ Get a Room campaign. She described the Summit, a $2000 ticketed event, as a show in which “the rich and powerful are invited to brag about their next evil plan to an audience of capitalists.”
USyd SRC Welfare Officer Ella Haid brought attention to the immense wealth disparity brought about by corporate interest and the pro-business position of the federal government, saying “whilst the elite have more wealth than they know what to do with, we have everyday people living in mouldy homes, struggling to afford rent, and a climate crisis they know is coming and refuse to do anything about.”
Haid spent time sketching out the earnings of several attendees of the summit, including CEO of the Woolworths Group Brad Banducci, who earns $11 million annually.
President of the National Union of Students (NUS) Bailey Riley spoke to the inequity facilitated by government inaction, and stated the need to challenge the Labor government, and not let undated and unchanged systems continue to fail Australians during this cost of living crisis.
The event concluded with a final speech from UNSW Education Officer Cherish Kuehlmann, recently arrested and charged with “aggravated trespassing” for protesting the cost of living crisis and interest rate increases outside the Reserve Bank of Australia in February. Khuelmann spoke of how it is in the elites’ interest to deprive ordinary people of what they need to survive, and use unjust laws to crack down on activism.