On August 1, the University of Sydney branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), held a protest outside F23 Administration Building on Eastern Avenue, resisting the new Campus Access Policy (CAP). The rally was attended by students, staff and delegates from various unions including Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), Unions NSW and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). In the cold, blistering wind, attendees stood, chanted, and listened to speeches from USyd NTEU President Nick Riemer, NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, NTEU General Secretary Damien Cahill, SRC President Harrison Brennan, MUA Sydney Branch Secretary Paul McAleer, and rank-and-file NTEU member and USyd librarian Dr Kayla Maloney.
Chairing was USyd NTEU President Nick Riemer, who conducted a thorough sound check before beginning. The Vic on the Park wishes they had sound guys like this.
Riemer began with an Acknowledgement of Country, making specific mention of how the fight for Indigenous justice in Australia has been fought through precisely the activities University management is presently trying to ban. Riemer set the tone for the demonstration, noting that the CAP was an “outright verge into authoritarianism”.
Riemer argued that Vice Chancellor Mark Scott ”misled” the press by stating that the CAP aligns itself with laws against peaceful assembly. Protests outside campus, unlike those inside campus, do not require prenotification with the police. Riemer went on to explain the historic importance of the campus protest, citing the establishment of the Political Economy department and the prevention of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, as well as the campaigns against student fees and sexual harassment.
The rally’s first speaker, NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi then took the stage. Criticizing the policy as a response to student-activist led Palestine protests, Faruqi spoke of how “this country loves to talk about upholding democracy … but not when it comes to justice for Palestine”. She spoke of how the policy extents from “this University’s embarrassment of the encampments” which she went on to say “exposes the University’s close links to the genocide of Palestinian people”.
Going further, Faruqi stated that the impact of the Campus Access Policy “isn’t just about Palestine” but would “impact on workers rights, on activists, on unions”. Senator Faruqi concluded her speech by stating that the policy “belongs in the bin and that is where we should put it” to cheering.
The second speaker, General Secretary of the NTEU and Associate Professor of Political Economy Damien Cahill focused largely on the effects the CAP would have on unionism at USyd. Invoking the name of the building the rally gathered outside of (Michael Spence Building), Cahill recalled the “last major attempt to bust unionism … led by Michael Spence” stating that “we beat him in 2013, and if we stand together, we’ll beat it [CAP] again”. Speaking to the effects the policy may have on unionism at the university, Cahill said that “when it comes to the next round Mark Scott will not think twice to use it on the picket lines.”
After Cahill, Riemer briefly noted the support from human rights organisations including Amnesty, NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Human Rights Law Centre, and Australian Democracy Network. The first of many gags from academic-turned-comedian Riemer, while introducing the next speaker, the NTEU branch president switched his megaphone off mid-sentence to demonstrate the silencing power the policies rule against megaphone usage would have. After a quick cheer for megaphones, USyd SRC President Harrison Brennan took to the stage.
Calling the policy an “outrageous full-scale attack on freedoms of speech”, Brennan condemned the CAP, going on to state it would “choke any further dissent against the University”. Like many other speakers, Brennan made note of the fact the University often uses its history of student activism as a marketing point, mentioning past activist campaigns that would be prohibited under the new policy, such as Vietnam War protests, the Freedoms Rides, and anti-Apartheid demonstrations.
In a last-minute, impromptu decision by the rally organizers (due to the unavailability of NSW Council for Civil Liberties President Lydia Shelly) Paul McAleer, Sydney Branch Secretary of the MUA then took the stage. McAleer’s message was concise but potent, telling the crowd “if there is a bad law or a bad policy, you fuckin’ break it.”
The final speaker of the rally, Dr Kayla Maloney, USyd librarian, recalled an incident only last Monday in which a library staff member knocked on a study room door, only to be flashed a holstered gun by a police officer using the Library space. Maloney highlighted the extreme distress caused by armed police in such spaces. When the staff member contacted the University, Maloney told us, they were told they could only “personally make a complaint to NSW Police”. Maloney compared such “casual threats of violence” to the ostensible safety concerns that the Campus Access Policy is said to address, asking how students and staff could believe “anything they say about safety … if they’re not willing to stand up for a staff member’s safety.”
In his closing remarks, Riemer noted the campaign’s next steps. This includes a public meeting in the next few weeks (details to come) and requesting a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott.
In a light-hearted conclusion to a rainy protest, a paper-mache-head Mark Scott joined Riemer on the stump, much to the audience’s delight. Riemer then symbolically ripped up a comically-large Campus Access Policy. After thanking Matte Rochford for his caricature performance, Riemer thanked all for attending and the crowd dispersed.
