National Union of Students Victorian Branch General Secretary Matthew Lesh has condemned a disruptive protest organised by the National Union of Students. The latest aggressive rally coincided with the launch of Christopher Pyne’s new book, ‘A Letter to my Children’ by Michael Kroger.

Mr Lesh, who attended the book launch and saw the rally first-hand, described those involved as unrepresentative of normal students.

“The aggressive actions of the extremist few give all students a bad name,” Mr Lesh said.

“The vast majority of students are taking a well-deserved Friday evening break after our first week of classes, not wasting police time and resources and causing unnecessary mayhem in our CBD streets”

“While there are acceptable ways and places to protest to show your displeasure with certain policies, a book launch is not one of them”

Mr Lesh said that he was not consulted beforehand about the protest, despite it being organised by a Victorian Branch executive member.

“As a member of the Victorian Branch I am disgusted by the lack of consultation and consideration of different views in the National Union of Students,” Mr Lesh said.

“The NUS’ latest actions show an organisation that lacks any legitimacy.

“NUS not only faces massive budget deficits and accountability issues, but the fact that executive members are selectively taken out of decision making shows further issues related to inclusivity”