Ben Kunkler is a union activist and a casual academic. His work has been published in Jacobin, Overland, Rabbit, and Text.
Thanks to neoliberalism, Australia’s universities have become profit-seeking businesses. But they don’t just sell education: University executives are increasingly transforming their institutions into financial speculators and real estate investors.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit Australian universities hard, with a largely casualized workforce already at risk of job losses. As rank-and-file union members prepare to fight back, they’re forced to confront a neoliberal rot that set in decades ago.