On Saturday October 5, the National Council of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) held a meeting where a motion was passed supporting “the institutional academic boycott of Israel”.
Over 100 delegates from NTEU branches across Australia attended to vote, resulting in a majority vote in favour of the motion, five votes against and eleven abstentions.The motion was moved by Lachlan Clohesy from the ACT NTEU division and seconded by Markela Panegyres from the University of Sydney.
Per the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), the motion included the following demands:
- “Refusing any form of academic and cultural cooperation with Israeli (academic) institutions.
- Advocating a comprehensive boycott of Israeli (academic) institutions nationally and internationally.
- Promoting divestment from Israel by international academic institutions.
- Working toward international condemnation of Israeli policies.
- Supporting Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts.”
The motion also called on Australian universities to “carry out a nation-wide audit” of their connections with the Israeli military and its suppliers, as well as publicly disclose and cut ties to the weapons industry. It then urged that scholarships be provided for Palestinian students and scholars, and that universities “commit to supporting the re-establishment of higher education in Gaza.”
As for domestic policy, it called on Universities Australia, the peak body representing Australia’s 39 universities, to “withdraw from the 2013 memorandum of understanding between Israel and Australia on cooperation in higher education”.
Two other motions were passed; one for the NTEU to endorse and promote their own National Day of Action for Palestine on October 23, and another for the NTEU to make a public statement against the scholasticide in Gaza.
These motions come one day before October 6 nationwide protests set to mark one year of the genocide against Palestinians.
Attempts had been previously made for the National Council to support BDS for over a decade. A consensus position was reached by NTEU members for Palestine before putting these motions to the National Council as well as state branches.
In 2024, the following state branches passed motions supporting BDS: University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, and the University of New South Wales.
