Nobody that Farrago spoke to disputed the importance of complying with these standards. Kunkler pointed out that the WWCC is designed to protect the vulnerable, and “vulnerability does not disappear when [students] matriculate.”

However, he went on to say that “Sessional staff are on the front line of teaching, working closely with the students in the tutorials, meeting with them for consultations, and so on. What does it say about how seriously the University management takes the issue of child safety, if they are unwilling to do all they can to ensure staff are safe to work with children?”.

Furthermore, with “only a small pool of students being under eighteen,” Herrera questions how the information gathered from the WWCC is being used, as there has been a lack of transparency in the University’s information policy.

There has been widespread support for the campaign to have casual staff reimbursed for the WWCC fee, with over 423 petition signatures at the time of writing. Herrera is confident that the campaign will succeed and said that if the NTEU wins by earning a reimbursement, it will send a clear message that the Union “will push back” and “continue to call out differential treatment of staff.”

In a bid to gain support for the campaign, NTEU has reached out to the University of Melbourne Student Union and the Graduate Student Association. Unfortunately, they were unable to confirm their support or provide a comment to Farrago.

If the University chooses to support the reimbursement, it may improve its image as a global and modern leader in higher education. According to Herrera, it is up to the University to determine the image it presents to the world, and she questions why, if the University insists on world-class facilities, “don’t [casual staff] have world-class working conditions?”

In response to the campaign, a spokesperson for the University of Melbourne stated that “the University is currently reviewing the process … and will consider the feedback received to date on areas of improvement and concerns raised from the introduction of the WWCC process.”

Despite the University opening an avenue for discussion, some are afraid to come forward in case it jeopardises their prospects of being re-hired in the future.

“There is a sense among sessionals of anxiety about agitating to improve our conditions, because we worry that full time/tenured staff may find us a nuisance, and not hire us for the same subjects next time,” Kunkler said.

“I think this fear is sometimes pre-emptive and paranoid, though understandable given the general conditions of insecure work.”

Herrera says that it is vital to increase student awareness, citing that it was learning about her own lecturer’s situation when she was a student that prompted her to get involved with the situation of casual employees at the University. “Staff conditions affect student learning conditions. It’s a staff issue [and] it’s a student issue. It affects everyone,” she said.

*Individual’s name has been been changed.

Full Statement from the University of Melbourne

“Every day, members of the University of Melbourne community interact with children, both as our students and in a variety of other settings including through our child care centres, during outreach to secondary schools, during school visits to campus and while conducting research at home and abroad.

In order to ensure a safe environment for children and meet the University’s obligations under the Victorian Child Safe Standards, the University introduced late last year measures to ensure appropriate fit and proper checks take place and we now require many employees to hold a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC).

The University is currently reviewing the process following the extensive implementation phase and will consider the feedback received to date on areas of improvement and concerns raised from the introduction of the WWCC process.”

University of Melbourne Spokesperson (statement)