Murdoch staff given backing to join student anti-merger rally

Murdoch University has taken the extraordinary step of encouraging staff to join a student protest of the Cook Government’s university merger plan at Parliament on Wednesday.

The protest on the front steps of Parliament House is being organised by the student guilds of UWA, Curtin and Murdoch universities to voice opposition to the proposal to merge all three institutions.

It is understood Curtin University also alerted staff of the protest and encouraged its staff to support students. The protest takes place during Curtin’s weekly 12pm to 2pm tuition-free period meaning no classes need to be rescheduled.

Murdoch vice chancellor Andrew Deeks is a staunch critic of the idea and on Monday staff were told on the university intranet his institution would support staff who choose to attend the protest and classes would be rearranged if necessary.

“The university also supports staff who wish to attend in solidarity with our students, including academic staff who may need to rearrange classes,” the message said.

“If you wish to attend, please advise your leader and make appropriate arrangements to maintain continuity of work.”

Deeks told this masthead it supported staff and students wishing to attend the protest.

”The uni merger protest has been organised by the student guilds of Murdoch, UWA and Curtin, who are united in their rejection of the WA Government’s merger proposition, and we support our community, including any staff, students, alumni or supporters to stand with them,” he said.

Earlier this month Premier Roger Cook and Tertiary and International Education Minister Tony Buti announced plans to build a business case to guide the proposed merger after three years of behind closed doors discussions.

The feasibility study comes after two separate reports in 2023 and 2025 provided to government advocating for a merger to improve the global standings and research dollars of the state’s tertiary sector.

The steering committee authoring the feasibility study will be led by Western Australian businessman Mark Barnaba as chair and medical researcher Professor Fiona Wood as deputy chair.

The 2025 report, a cost benefit analysis authored by Deloitte Australia, caused a major political headache for Buti and Cook after university students found its citation page was littered with errors caused by AI use.

On Thursday Buti called for Deloitte to refund the government $160,000.

Deeks and Curtin vice chancellor Harlene Hayne have publicly lashed the idea while UWA Chancellor Diane-Smith Gander and vice chancellor Amit Chakma threw their support behind it.

On Monday Cook said: “this was always going to be a noisy debate.”

“That’s why we have getting a steering group to do it. This is not occupying the minds of the time of government. We’ll allow the steering group to undertake their work, and then we’ll be informed by it,” he said.

During Monday’s press conference Cook was asked whether he was comfortable, as a Labor leader, potentially losing the name of a revered Labor Prime Minister John Curtin from Curtin’s name.

Cook said there was no reason the state should lose the name Curtin, or Murdoch.

“This is about how we reform the university sector, so it’s fit for purpose, internationally competitive, and can provide our students with the skills they need to create the workforce of the future,” he said.