Shaun Wilson
@shaunwilson.bsky.social
Sociology prof, Macquarie University, Sydney.
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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.
Fun fact: These are closely related to wagtails, whereas willie wagtails are not true wagtails at all.
October 25, 2025 at 12:21 AM
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.
Fun fact: These are closely related to wagtails, whereas willie wagtails are not true wagtails at all.
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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
Join us today: nteu.au/join
October 23, 2025 at 5:02 AM
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
Join us today: nteu.au/join
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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
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
October 24, 2025 at 7:33 AM
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
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
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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...
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
October 22, 2025 at 9:22 PM
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...
theconversation.com/most-austral...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
Want to lift workers’ productivity? Let’s start with their bosses
www.thenewdaily.com.au/work/2025/08...
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.
www.thenewdaily.com.au
August 19, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Want to lift workers’ productivity? Let’s start with their bosses
www.thenewdaily.com.au/work/2025/08...
www.thenewdaily.com.au/work/2025/08...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
"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.
www.smh.com.au
August 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
"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...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
August 15, 2025 at 1:42 AM
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...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
UTS academics describe ‘culture of fear’ as enrolments put on hold for nearly a fifth of courses
UTS academics describe ‘culture of fear’ as enrolments put on hold for nearly a fifth of courses
The freeze comes as the university pursues $100m in cost cuts and after it announced in April it could axe 400 jobs
*
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Academics at the University of Technology Sydney have described feelings of stress and a “culture of fear” after the educational institution temporarily paused student enrolments for nearly a fifth of its courses, leaving staff wondering if their jobs will be among the hundreds set to be axed.
The university has stopped taking in new students for 120 of its 615 courses, including masters degrees in teaching primary and secondary education. More than 50 of the affected courses were international study options attached to other degrees. The pause will last until the end of the autumn 2026 semester. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
August 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
UTS academics describe ‘culture of fear’ as enrolments put on hold for nearly a fifth of courses
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
"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
July 1, 2025 at 7:15 PM
"Europe Sees Dangerous Heat Wave as North America Sets 3,000 Temperature Records" via @truthout.org: truthout.org/video/europe...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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.
The US deserves a health care system that fulfills everyone’s human right to health, and a budget that makes this possible.
July 1, 2025 at 7:21 PM
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.
The US deserves a health care system that fulfills everyone’s human right to health, and a budget that makes this possible.
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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...
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
July 1, 2025 at 7:05 PM
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...
This vote exposes Trump’s MAGA agenda: always for billionaires—not for working families fighting for care, food, dignity.
seiuca.org/press-releas...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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...
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
www.theguardian.com
July 1, 2025 at 6:32 AM
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...
Of course, the LNP refuses to come out of the 1950s.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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...
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...
www.megaphone.org.au
July 1, 2025 at 7:51 AM
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...
www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...
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...
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...
www.megaphone.org.au
July 1, 2025 at 7:51 AM
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...
www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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.
Among other things they are key to boosting productivity.
Won’t happen if corporatised production line approach persists.
June 28, 2025 at 2:52 AM
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.
Among other things they are key to boosting productivity.
Won’t happen if corporatised production line approach persists.
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
🔥 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
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
June 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
🔥 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
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
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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
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
www.theguardian.com
June 27, 2025 at 7:35 AM
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
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
‘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.
www.theage.com.au
June 27, 2025 at 10:24 PM
‘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...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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.
www.afr.com
June 27, 2025 at 7:44 AM
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...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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
#AcademicSky #SaveHASS
June 20, 2025 at 7:31 AM
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
#AcademicSky #SaveHASS
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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
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
June 26, 2025 at 7:10 AM
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
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
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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
www.theguardian.com
June 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM
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...
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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.
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...
Philip Augar proposes union representation on governing boards and vice-chancellor pay reforms.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
June 25, 2025 at 7:38 AM
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.
Reposted by Shaun Wilson
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? "
June 22, 2025 at 11:07 PM
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? "