As reported by The Guardian, this week’s Essential Research survey focuses on black lives matter protests, union power and the government’s coronavirus policies, producing a mixed bag of results on each:
• Sixty-two per cent felt protesters were “justified in their demands for authorities to address the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody”, but 61% felt “the situation in America is very different to Australia and has no relevance”, and 84% felt protests amid the pandemic put the community at risk.
• Sixty per cent rated unions as very important or quite important for working people, and 74% felt they provided essential services, but 62% thought them too politically biased and 58% agreed that “union protection makes it difficult for employers to discipline, terminate or even promote employees”.
• Sixty-four per cent expressed concern about how the withdrawal of Jobkeeper subsidies “would sit with any second wave of the pandemic”, 53% considered the government had broken a promise by withdrawing payments for childcare workers, 55% thought it too soon to remove support and 43% supported extending free childcare (up seven points on a month ago), but 57% thought the government needed to withdraw help from “some industries”.
The poll was conducted Thursday to Sunday from a sample of 1087; a full report will be published later today.
UPDATE: Full report here.
meher baba
You’d almost think it was a national disaster that people will be encouraged to take up STEM subject. Heaven forbid we discourage churning out more lawyers and MBAs.
The one thing I keep thinking about all the outrage from people like Probyn about the uni pricing change is, How can you say you’re a great thinker? maybe if you studied a science degree you wouldn’t fall into the easy traps the government lays for you, such as a culture war over degree’s, Maybe you’d spend more than a day reporting about robo debt and youth unemployment being near 40%.
The youth that ain’t going to be going to uni. because they are going to need jobs.
That youth couldn’t give a shit. They want jobs!
Can they make marketing degrees full cost? 🙂
Can they make marketing degrees full cost?
______
To some, BS comes naturally!
You encourage priority areas by lowering fees.
You don’t crudely penalise other young Australians simply making their preferred choice of study area.
This is the most important choice many young Australians will make, which goes to the core of their aspirations.
This government wants to take an economic baseball bat to the choices they don’t like, as if it was somehow their business, based on nothing but ugly ideological prejudice.
Some of these courses may even cost less to deliver than students will be charged.
Sink this bullshit!
I am pleased about the changes to encourage students to study useful and relatively low paid roles such as teaching and nursing. While the empthasis on STEM is good where are the jobs?
Govt has continually cut funding to CSIRO DSTO and University research.
Those students will head overseas for higher degrees and/or work.
Can they make marketing degrees full cost?
I’d make them pay a premium to the cost of delivery
We could do away with Marketing degrees, MBA’s, and Journalism degrees for a start.
If engineering is the hardest degree then marketing or media would be the easiest degree which explains why younger journalists can come across as shallow.
Spoken like a true Tory!
First reform should be to retrospectively cancel all degrees in Economic Geography.
meher baba @ #1748 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 2:18 pm
So tertiary educated people tend to be lefties?
Who knew?
Mexicanbeemer @ #1753 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 2:43 pm
Thought journalists mostly come across as whatever their editors want them to come across as?
I may have missed an update, but has anyone heard from Cud Chewer?
Hope he and his Mum are OK.
Historians have tried to save Australia from itself. Most Australians are still deep in denial and are on their knees to a set of Foundation Myths that are nothing much more than Big Lies.
History can set you free. Which is why the Morrison Government, the most corrupt since Federation, wants to kill history dead. Does. Not. Like. The. Truth.
Without historians the Stolen Generations would have been both stolen and forgotten.
The Frontier Wars would be turned into noble settlement and the advance of civilization.
The draconian anti-gay laws would never have happened.
Terra Nullius would still be Terra Nullius.
Captain Cook would have discovered Australia and circumnavigated Australia.
Australia would have won WW1 and WW2 for the good side by punching above its weight.
The Vietnam War would have been lost on the Home Front.
No-one would have written ‘1835’ – possibly the best Australian history book to come out in a generation.
And so on and so forth.
mikehilliard @ #1756 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 12:43 pm
It’s hardly surprising that they mistake academic integrity for bias. It’s a concept so foreign to them.
Who made the most noise about recent flawed studies that were published?
Fellow scientist because they found inconsistencies in the paper.
What the heck is the point of churning out more STEM degrees if there aren’t any jobs for them, or if the work just gets shipped out to India.
If the demand is there, students will study those subjects.
The Guardian blog has a transcript of Morrison’s presser at Eden-Monaro, and his answers are a whole lot of “I’ve already answered that.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/jun/19/australia-coronavirus-latest-updates-coalition-welfare-victoria-community-transmission-scott-morrison-borders-tourism-live-news
A lot of the public art “sculptures” you see today are built by the tradesmen Megalogenis is taking the piss out of. I can recommend an excellent metal fabrication business with heaps of experience in these if anyone needs one done.
boerwar @ #1761 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 12:55 pm
I hardly think these changes will stop people taking up the study of history as a career.
a.r
They do but they can also come across as shallow.
Lefty_e: “This government wants to take an economic baseball bat to the choices they don’t like, as if it was somehow their business, based on nothing but ugly ideological prejudice.”
Well, it is their business, in that they pour a lot of funds into these courses on behalf of the taxpayers.
While I am personally dismayed at the attack on the humanities, it is true to a certain extent that the humanities – at least in the English-speaking countries – have been attacking themselves for some time, progressively “cancelling” large areas of Western thought, culture and history on the grounds of being the work of “dead white males” and promoting the ideas of “white supremacy”, etc, etc. Even Shakespeare has been under growing attack.
In a modern Australian arts faculty, centre-right thinking and to a certain extent even moderate left thinking are completely unwelcome: by comparison, the proverbial pork chop at the bar mitzvah is sitting at the main table next to the host.
So, with a degree of irony (at least in the Alanis Morrisette sense of the word), the Morrison Government has said to the arts faculties: “you’ve cancelled us, we’re going to cancel you.”
I hate it, but I can also see a sort of inevitability about it. And I’m not sure that any future Labor Government is going to rush to refloat the humanities boat. So the people who teach in arts faculties in the major universities might benefit from a bit of introspection about the relevance of what they are teaching and also about why it is that when a philanthropist leaves them a lot of money to research teach basic humanities stuff, their reflexive response it to spit at it.
lizzie says:
Friday, June 19, 2020 at 1:51 pm
“Tatiana Andersen
@tatiandersen
“This will disproportionately affect those who were already almost priced out of uni to begin with. Indigenous and Aboriginal students, single parents and carers, women, students with disabilities, mature students. Anyone who didn’t grow up in a 6-figure income household #auspol”
Sorry lizzie but once again the myth of HECS unaffordability has to be smashed.
HECS is a no-recourse income dependent loan with no upfront cost.
HECS does not price anyone out of uni.
You can go to uni, get your degree and never ever pay for it and there won’t ever be a debt collector looking to collect.
Bucephalus
He is taking the piss out of the critics of arts degrees.
The proposed university fees bear no relation to the cost of delivery.
So Law students who require few teaching resources will be subsidizing science, engineering, nursing and IT students
MB “While I am personally dismayed at the attack on the humanities, it is true to a certain extent that the humanities – at least in the English-speaking countries – have been attacking themselves for some time, progressively “cancelling” large areas of Western thought, culture and history on the grounds of being the work of “dead white males” and promoting the ideas of “white supremacy”, etc, etc. Even Shakespeare has been under growing attack.”
MB, I don’t know how widespread you think that is, but it is nowhere near as common as the predominately right wing leaning media would have you believe. It’s very much like the annual “lefty council wants to cancel Christmas” story.
MB
Shakespeare should be criticised for distorting how people see pre-Tudor history but in his defense he was employed by Elizabeth 1.
Bucephalus
I think there might be an added factor. Why is it that so many students have to take part-time jobs alongside their studies? It couldn’t be because otherwise they can’t afford to pay for accommodation, could it?
[So Law students who require few teaching resources will be subsidizing science, engineering, nursing and IT students]
Where is the justice?
Good to see law students are the hosts.
Access to an affordable University degree in the Social Sciences has utterly transformed my life, from agricultural laborer to PhD student to Lecturer. A career, a family, a house, all were possible. There is no way I could undertake my journey under the current settings…..I fear for my children’s future…..
Buce
what would Tatiana Andersen know?
PhD Candidate
Writes on the political economy of military biosciences
Teaches politics & international studies
Winter child from the Patagonian Andes
maybe a lot more than you about student motivations
Shellbell
Cruel world, ain’t it?
Mexicanbeemer @ #1777 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 1:11 pm
Shakespeare was largely writing historical fiction not history.
I don’t think anyone should get too excited about governments taking a carrot/stick approach to undergraduate courses. It has been going on for a very long time.
In previous times, money was made available for “studentships/internships” of all kinds.
I started out working for BP. The deal was pay my uni course and pay me to be a country rep. I did not see it through as the degree was part-time stretched over 6 years. Six years on low wages and living out of a suitcase in the bush was not great proposition.
Thousands of people got into uni on teaching studentships as well. The deal was course fees, a small allowance and in bondage for 600 teaching days or similar…………
Seemed to work, though I would guess out of every 100 starters, a minority would have stayed in teaching as a career.
Barney
Yes but many people see history through his works.
Mexicanbeemer @ #1785 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 1:17 pm
Silly them!! 🙂
lizzie says:
Friday, June 19, 2020 at 3:11 pm
“Bucephalus
I think there might be an added factor. Why is it that so many students have to take part-time jobs alongside their studies? It couldn’t be because otherwise they can’t afford to pay for accommodation, could it?”
The costs of living for a student is a completely separate issue from their HECS Debt – unless they are earning annual income of greater than $45,881 per year and then you will pay $459 a year ($9 a week) which is hardly bank breaking stuff.
Incidentally, why we need any more lawyers is anyone’s guess? And before anyone screams cultural/economic/social envy, I have two of my own in the family…..I rag them about their $6 a minute charges and the dig that only the very rich/poor get access to the law, which they do not see the funny side of at all….They of course remind me that ‘But you did not have to pay for your uni course, while we have had to pay back $$$$$$ in HECS fees’. They have a point….
Pica says:
Friday, June 19, 2020 at 3:13 pm
“Access to an affordable University degree in the Social Sciences has utterly transformed my life, from agricultural laborer to PhD student to Lecturer. A career, a family, a house, all were possible. There is no way I could undertake my journey under the current settings…..I fear for my children’s future…..”
Why do you fear when HECS continues to make education so easily accessible for students?
Not so silly if there is no other credible contemporary template to base the perception of historical fact on, Barney.
ScottyFromMarketing has decided that university should charge fees for courses based on the price the market will bear, not related to cost of delivery
He has decided that the demand for Law, Finance, Arts degrees is inelastic and not price sensitive so that these courses can subsidise the courses we need for the drones trained for essential jobs
The problem at uni isn’t HECS but the cost of textbooks and extracurricular costs.
billie says:
Friday, June 19, 2020 at 3:13 pm
“Buce
what would Tatiana Andersen know?
PhD Candidate
Writes on the political economy of military biosciences
Teaches politics & international studies
Winter child from the Patagonian Andes
maybe a lot more than you about student motivations”
Explain to me how a University Degree that costs nothing upfront and now is changed to costing nothing up front is stopping anyone from getting a degree?
Bucephalus
You don’t get it, do you?
lizzie says:
Friday, June 19, 2020 at 3:25 pm
“Bucephalus
The costs of living for a student is a completely separate issue from their HECS Debt
You don’t get it, do you?”
OK – explain it to me. A HECS funded place costs a student nothing upfront. $0. That has not changed. You may never have to pay it back. I know some who are in that position. You don’t start paying HECS debt back until you reach the income threshold and then it is a very reasonable rate. It is a non-recourse loan so when you apply for a house loan or car loan it isn’t included in your list of debts in any affordability calculation. When you apply for life insurance it isn’t included in any debts that need to be paid off because they don’t collect on it if you die.
Exactly what don’t I get?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/19/australian-cyber-attack-not-sophisticated-just-a-wake-up-call-for-businesses-experts-say?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Bucephalus
The costs of living for a student is a completely separate issue from their HECS Debt – unless they are earning annual income of greater than $45,881 per year and then you will pay $459 a year ($9 a week) which is hardly bank breaking stuff.
I think you should ask the overseas students in Melbourne who line up around 2 blocks past the Melbourne Club for food vouchers from Melbourne Town Hall to spend at Victoria Market.
They came to study assuming they would be able to do part time work which has been knocked on the head by Covid19
Also you observe that when people are living hand to mouth they are really unwilling to go into debt, even with the assurance of a better life incurring that debt.
EG in the UK in 1976 my roommate who had a junior’s job at the post office and was so poor parents paid train fare home, she was unwilling to borrow the airfare to Canada, could not believe that she could earn a better than subsistence wage in Toronto
Bucephalus
Also accommodation. My grandson lives at home and is very comfortably provided for, plus his parents make him an allowance. Not everyone will be the same.
Billie
International students are not eligible for HECS.
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #1739 Friday, June 19th, 2020 – 2:03 pm
As a vegetarian Mundo really can’t understand why anyone would want to tuck into the penis and testicles of another animal. It seems desperate.
And completely unnecessary.