Hundreds rally at parliament against proposed university merger

Key points

• More than 300 students and staff marched on Parliament House in Perth to protest a plan to merge the University of Western Australia, Curtin and Murdoch. The government has set up a steering committee to examine the proposal, which would create the country's largest university.
• Tertiary Education Minister Tony Buti said the merger would only proceed if the business case stacked up.
• The Liberal party has rejected the proposal, and the Greens are strongly opposed, so Labor would need at least three cross-bench votes to pass its legislation.