Shaun Wilson
@shaunwilson.bsky.social
Sociology prof, Macquarie University, Sydney.
The ever-present and common Australian pipit can be seen cheerfully skipping along dirt roads ahead of your car in rural areas. And they often pose beautifully, like this one near Wilmington. Fun fact: These are closely related to wagtails, whereas willie wagtails are not true wagtails at all.
We’re out in force at Macquarie University today because management’s cuts are destroying jobs, slashing courses, and undermining the future of our university. Join us today: nteu.au/join
A message from ACTU Secretary @sallymcmanus.bsky.social for NTEU members at MQ! We support all union activists and will advocate against these redundancies. Join us to fight for what’s right: nteu.au/join @damiencahill.bsky.social
What do voters think about the housing crisis? Just out in @aunz.theconversation.com our piece (w @shaunwilson.bsky.social @alistairsisson.bsky.social Kristian Ruming and Adam Stebbing) for MQ's Housing and Urban Research Centre exploring #Housing attitudes theconversation.com/most-austral...
Most Australians agree there’s a housing crisis. But they differ on what’s causing it – and how to fix it
New research shows older voters believe immigration is crunching housing supply, while young voters blame high interest rates and low wage growth.
theconversation.com
Want to lift workers’ productivity? Let’s start with their bosses www.thenewdaily.com.au/work/2025/08...
Want to lift workers' productivity? Let's start with their bosses
Business has the biggest influence on productivity – a much bigger impact than workers, who are typically blamed when things go wrong.
thenewdaily.com.au
"Australia has the second-lowest public expenditure on tertiary education institutions in the OECD…This has resulted in an endless chase for dollars (international students & “the next big thing”) rather than thinking about what an educated Australia should look like” www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...
Universities such as mine are making poor decisions, and we’re not allowed to know why
UTS has announced a “pause” on enrolments in 100 courses. Vacating these critically important areas diminishes not only the brand of UTS but the state it was designed to benefit.
smh.com.au
with what's been going on at ANU, UTS, Macquarie, etc. seems like an appropriate time to again post this 2021 study. Gives some good hints as to where some alternative savings might be found link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Tim Lyons@picketer.bsky.social · 12mo agoSomewhere in this Australian university, some well-paid HR people (and consultants, there's always consultants) thought that it was good idea to tell staff worried they might be made redundant that they should hand-wash their good undies to cope with the stress. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
"Europe Sees Dangerous Heat Wave as North America Sets 3,000 Temperature Records" via @truthout.org: truthout.org/video/europe...
Europe Sees Dangerous Heat Wave as North America Sets 3,000 Temperature Records
This comes as GlobalChange.gov was taken down, along with information on how global warming is affecting the US.
truthout.org
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act isn't a solution to economic inequality or for managing immigration and asylum procedures — it's a blueprint for cruelty. The US deserves a health care system that fulfills everyone’s human right to health, and a budget that makes this possible.
Unbelievable. Senate Republicans just voted to TERMINATE healthcare & SNAP for millions — all to funnel more billions to billionaires. This vote exposes Trump’s MAGA agenda: always for billionaires—not for working families fighting for care, food, dignity. seiuca.org/press-releas...
SEIU California | Republican Senate Vote to Terminate Healthcare and SNAP for Millions Americans Exposes MAGA’s Big Lie: Trump’s Bill was Always for Billionaires, Not Working People
Republicans in the U.S. Senate today voted for the biggest cut to healthcare and nutrition in our nation’s history in order to deliver on Trump’s campaign promises of tax cuts for the mega-rich.
seiuca.org
Excellent news. Great work from the ALP, Greens, Animal Justice & Legalise Cannabis parties. Of course, the LNP refuses to come out of the 1950s. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
First Peoples’ Assembly set to become permanent voice to Victorian parliament with crossbench support
Exclusive: Advisory body will be renamed and granted statutory powers after Labor secures numbers to make it permanent
theguardian.com
Please sign and share - a worthy petition to protect Sociology at Macquarie and, more generally, to protest the declining commitment by university managers to strong social sciences in Australia. Their value cannot be over-stated. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...
SAVE SOCIOLOGY AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
We urge Macquarie University management to reverse this decision and preserve the vital disciplines of Sociology and Politics. Sociology has a key place in the social sciences as the broadest and mos...
megaphone.org.au
Please sign and share - a worthy petition to protect Sociology at Macquarie and, more generally, to protest the declining commitment by university managers to strong social sciences in Australia. Their value cannot be over-stated. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...
SAVE SOCIOLOGY AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
We urge Macquarie University management to reverse this decision and preserve the vital disciplines of Sociology and Politics. Sociology has a key place in the social sciences as the broadest and mos...
megaphone.org.au
Oh god yes, the next time I read (incl from uni peak bodies) that unis are a leading export industry Ill throw up! Among other things they are key to boosting productivity. Won’t happen if corporatised production line approach persists.
🔥 FINAL HOURS! Early Bird registration for #TASA2025 closes at midnight tonight! Be part of Australia’s leading sociology conference and connect with scholars, researchers & change-makers from around the country. 🎟️ Register now and save: www.tasa.org.au/content.aspx... #DeadlineDay #TASA2025
I think the new universities regular ATEC should make a rule — every time a university kills off a course like music or politics or sociology, they should also have to reduce the salary of the vice-chancellor by $100k
Ariadne Vromen@ariadnevromen.bsky.social · last yr.It’s heartbreaking to read about the dissolution of the Politics Department at Macquarie University along with the decimation of Sociology - so many brilliant scholars livelihoods being destroyed www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
‘Academics are leaving, exhausted by stifling workloads…Students are unhappy…paying through the nose for an insipid version of the…experience their parents enjoyed. We’re so busy beating up universities…we forget what a disastrous own goal we’re kicking…’ www.theage.com.au/national/a-k...
‘A kind of monster’: Why does everyone hate universities?
Neither side of politics is giving universities the love they need, but the unis need to smarten up – for all our sakes.
theage.com.au
University policy has been broken for 40 years. ‘Our policymakers must be brave enough to argue that education is unequivocally and intrinsically a public good, vital to the interests of the nation, and therefore worth funding properly.’ www.afr.com/policy/healt...
Universities aren’t pizza joints; stop treating them that way
Policymakers must set aside the fiction that universities are just another industry that can generate its own funding and that academics can be turned into entrepreneurs.
afr.com
Maq Uni restructuring is symptomatic of the rot infesting university mgmt throughout the land (and elsewhere). Just when you think the hollowing out has to stop somewhere it accelerates into new disciplines. #Sociology now at risk there due to pitifully small thinking #AcademicSky #SaveHASS
Will History fall silent? We are extremely concerned to hear about the planned downsizing of academic positions in the Arts Faculty Please read our statement of concern on the proposed staff and course cuts at Macquarie University via the link below buff.ly/8ThbLgf
Statement of Concern - Proposed staff & course cuts at Macquarie University
The History Council of NSW expresses concern about the proposed staff and course cuts to History at Macquarie University.
buff.ly
It’s heartbreaking to read about the dissolution of the Politics Department at Macquarie University along with the decimation of Sociology - so many brilliant scholars livelihoods being destroyed www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Proposed Macquarie University restructure will ‘hollow out’ humanities, academics say
Macquarie blames prospect of international student caps and ‘uncertainty’ about domestic student numbers for proposed academic job cuts, fewer arts courses
theguardian.com
Yes to this but why stop there? Let’s go for full comprehensive universities established on co-operative principles. VCs to be elected by staff, paid the same as other professors and rewarded for the burden of their 4 year stint with a sabbatical afterwards. Local govt on the board too.
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · last yr.Better governance ‘could have avoided mass university job cuts’. Philip Augar proposes union representation on governing boards and vice-chancellor pay reforms. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Penny Wong, 2003: "I say suspicion is not enough. To justify going to war we need more than suspicion. What sort of world would we live in if suspicion alone was justification for participation in unilateral military action outside the auspices of the UN? "
From the edge of extinction Spain and Portugal were able to save the world's most endangered cat from the brink. We have the solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate #climate #energy #nature #rewilding #GreenNewDeal
Impressive work - The number of recognised genera of Australo-Papuan treefrogs has just been increased from 3 to 35! academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
A message from Bernie as we head into the final weekend before the election.
TASA is deeply dismayed by Macquarie Uni’s proposed restructuring that would decimate sociology. The social sciences matter — they help us navigate a complex world. Our full statement & call to action here: www.tasa.org.au/docs.ashx?id... #Sociology #HigherEd #SupportHASS
tasa.org.au
Thank you, @jasonclaremp.bsky.social! The minister has taken the extraordinary steps writing to ANU leadership asking them to explain themselves and referred to the university regulator. I hope the government inquiry into university governance is extended. www.afr.com/work-and-car...
Education minister refers ANU concerns to regulator
Jason Clare has intervened around issues with governance and leadership at ANU, writing to the vice chancellor and referring concerns to the regulator.
afr.com
