Media Release: Speak Out for Fares Fair PTV
Today the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) will be attending Speak Out for Fares Fair PTV at the state library at 10:00am EDST. This is an event to hear the Victorian voice of postgraduate students who do not have access to concession Mykis for full time international students and for full time domestic students.
Since early 2014 CAPA has been passionate to advocate for postgraduate concession Myki cards in Victoria. Victoria is the only state within Australia that does not have access to this basic need for postgraduate students. In 2015, we were proud to work with the Graduate Student Association (GSA) on establishing the FaresFair Coalition. A group of postgraduate representatives were invited to join the coalition and to establish a cross university platform to advocate for student travel concessions to extend to postgraduate students.
Postgraduate students in Victoria pay the most when it comes to public transport costs in Australia, coupled with fact that around 50% of full-time domestic graduate students have incomes below the poverty line. One in seven has an income below $10,000 and one in five full-time international students are on very low incomes which makes it almost impossible to balance work, university and external commitments.
The speak out is aimed at showing the state government and the general public that while postgraduate students have suffered the ongoing outrageous costs of public transport long enough. We are a united voice and we will continuously push, advocate and lobby governments until the day we have postgraduate transport concession cards for all full-time domestic and international students.
Throughout the year we will be encouraging postgraduate students around Victoria to get involved with the FaresFairPTV campaign. We plane to build our movement so that our voice is heard across the state and even the nation.
“Victoria has sat in silence over the years regarding transport concession cards for postgraduate students. Today we stand united as a postgraduate body to ensure that the state government puts postgraduate issues at the forefront of their thinking and provides a basic student right for postgraduates” – Dylan Styles, CAPA Vice President National Operations Committee
“This campaign will not end until we have access to postgraduate concession cards for both our domestic and our international students.”
CAPA is a proud supporter of this campaign and we acknowledge the work done by the GSA and all of our universities in Victoria who have all been passionate about this campaign and its implementation.
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For comment: Dylan Styles, CAPA Vice President National Operations Committee
M: 0451 993 803
VP_NOC@capa.edu.au
