Refused entry to campus building doesn’t stop Macquarie University Staff protest

Media Release
19 June 2025

Since news that Macquarie University will be scrapping a raft of key courses as part of a brutal restructure that will axe more than 75 jobs  and drastically cut options for students, NTEU members have been mobilising. On Tuesday 18th June, close to 100 staff and students gathered for a sit-in on campus to oppose the cuts.

After being refused entry to Macquarie’s Chancellery Building, staff marched across campus to the Student Centre, where they held protest for the next two hours.

Quotes attributable to Nicholas Harrigan, NTEU MQ Branch President:

“Staff are joining a proud tradition of nonviolent direct action, reaching back through generations. We don't take this lightly or frivolously. We act because we face desperate times.

“One-third of the sackings at Macquarie will involve replacing research-and-teaching staff with teaching-only roles at nearly double the workload. This isn't progress. It's not efficiency. It's exploitation, plain and simple.

“Students won't decrease, but teaching staff will. This is a travesty, a sacrilegious attack on the foundations of Australian higher education.

“Management claims this is about balanced budgets, but the budget is already essentially balanced. There is no budget crisis. The only real motive is packing more students like sardines into fewer classrooms.

“These cuts mean students at Macquarie will lose their right to a quality education, staff will lose their right to fairness at work, and Australia will lose a piece of its intellectual soul.”

High res stills and video footage available for use: MQ Sit-In Images

Media contacts:
Shannan Ely, NTEU NSW Division, 0482 684 477
 

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