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Empire Times acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands in which its editors, contributors and readers live, and honours Elders past and present. Empire Times is printed and distributed on the traditional lands of the Arrernte, Barngarla, Boandik, Dagoman, Erawirung, Gunditjmara, Jawoyn, Kaurna, Larrakia, Nauo, Ngadjuri, Ngarrindjeri, Peramangk, Ramindjeri, Wardaman, Warumunga, and Yolngu peoples. We acknowledge that soverignty was never ceded, and that this land is stolen.
We stand in solidarity
ISSUE 1 EDITORS
Claire Gibbins Jessica Rowe Tahlia Dilberovic
WRITERS
Evangelia Karageorgos Georgia Nolan Jessica Rowe Leigh Briar Stasi Kapetanos Tahlia Dilberovic
FRONT COVER
Photographed by Jessica Rowe Model Daphne Bostantzoglou
SUB-EDITORS Georgia Nolan Grace Andrea Grace O’Brien Sarah Beagley
MASTHEAD
Kienan McKay
JOIN THE TEAM!
Empire Times is always on the look out for new contributors. We accept written and visual pieces. If you would like to contribute to your student mag, flick us an email at empiretimes@flinders.edu.au
WHAT IS ET?
Empire Times is a publication of the Flinders University Student Association (FUSA). It is your student magazine. The opinions expressed within are not necessarily those of the editors, Flinders University or FUSA. Reasonable care is taken to ensure articles are as accurate as possible at the time of publication.
Photography Competition Winner featured on cover of issue 5! & selected submissions featured inside in our competition gallery.
Theme: Reflection, generations, lifestories, the interconnectedness of past & present JPEG or PNG file types
Submit photos to empiretimes@flinders.edu.au by the 13th of May
By submitting your photos you give ET full permission to post, and publish your image accross any platform they choose with the appropriate credits. 1
Photography Competition. . . 1 Contents. . . 2 The Bad Issue: Explained . . . 3
CONTENTS
Green Street Studio. . . 5 The State Of Empire: a history of your student magazine. . . 9 Cram Collective. . . 12 President’s Address. . . 15 A Glimpse Into Your Student Council. . . 17 Invasion Day photo-dairy. . . 23 Some Of You May Die. . . 25 Smoke & Seabreeze . . . 27 The Editor’s Guide To Uni Lingo. . . 29 The Problem Of Progressive Identitarianism . . . 31 Castles and Fields (Part 1). . . 32 Behind The Scenes: Photo Collection . . . 33 Cop Out?: a reflection on COP26 . . . 35 Political Correspondence . . . 37 Get involved . . . 39
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The Bad Issue
The bad issue. Much to our dismay, that is what we decided to put on the cover of our first issue of Empire Times. It was supposed to read ’The Full Story,’ but as we write this, two weeks into semester one, two of our major articles are still being held up for approval. What we hoped to feature was an exposé on the decolonisation of FUSA, and a series of interviews with female staff about Colin Stirling’s staff cuts. What you hold today, is not the full story. Historically, ET has been boundary-pushing, never shying away from a controversial or politically-heavy topic. As a team we hope to bring this zest back into the magazine, and hopefully back into a community of students who’s fighting spirit and campus-culture has been rendered dormant by COVID restrictions and the global shift online. At first, we were confused as to why ET had been somewhat inactive and passive over recent years. Having now experienced the bureaucracy that surrounds us, we understand why. Understaffing, ineffectual processes and under-communication have meant that issue 1 is, in our opinion, kind of bad. We have watched the other student magazines in Adelaide (On Dit, and Verse) release their first issues and engage with students as soon as Uni returned. We are frustrated that this hasn’t been the case with us here at Flinders. It is sad that what was once such a notorious publication, was unknown by most of our friends before we began campaigning for our editorial positions. It is sad that a remarkably disproportionate amount of people actually vote in our student elections. We believe that a strong student-lead media is key in fostering campus-culture, engagement with the people who represent us, and turning University back into a place where you feel like you can change the world! From what’s inside of our first issue, this desire may not be so evident because of our key stories being held up. We have some juicy and important pieces up our sleeves - for now, we will take the hold-up as a compliment. Anyway, enough with our pity-party. We better tell you a little about ourselves. The team is made up of three editors; Tahlia Dilberovic, Jessica Rowe, and Claire Gibbins. Tahlia is studying her Honours in International Relations, and is passionate about using media to question dominant narratives and why we believe what we do about the world, and about power. Jess is in her final year of studying screen production, and aims to use the incredible power of media and storytelling to help uplift the voices of people, communities, and subcultures in a world where this power is often exploited. Claire is studying her first year of Creative writing and Environmental geology, she is passionate about environmentalism and examining what we can do better to protect our planet. Of course, we all have our lives and experiences away from study, for example; Tahlia works as a Researcher at the Jeff Bleich Centre, and Jess produces her podcast, and documentary projects. But for now, we are just FUSA’s headache, a presence that haunts student council inboxes. We want to wish you a great new year of student life. May you find joy in your study, achieve your academic goals, and maybe - just maybe - break the ‘two-minute noodle diet’ stereotype of students. Yes, we’re telling you to eat your greens. Thank you for picking up Empire Times, we hope you find the goodness that remains inside, and we can’t wait until we can finally bring you the full story.
Love and light, 3
Jess, Tahlia & Claire.
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GReen street pots
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GREEN STREET
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Meet our resident pot-head (& not in the way you think!)
Greenstreet Studio is a small business and space where I create hand painted terracotta pots and ornaments as well as propagated plants and homegrown plants. I also share my own plant experiences and gardening tips on both my Instagram and Tiktok account! I am still not 100% sure if I can really classify Greenstreet Studio as a business, most of the time my outgoing costs are more than my incoming revenue, but I really just love doing it! I knew that my love for all things plants and gardening could be turned into something more when I painted a terracotta pot as a present for someone in my family, I got a lot of positive feedback from it, and I thought “I want to do this some more”. I wouldn’t say I’ve always identified as a creative person. But I have always enjoyed being creative and have been passionate about creating aesthetic things whether that be a presentation at school or re-designing my bedroom. But I’d never found a creative outlet that suited me well, until Greenstreet Studio came to fruition! I think growing up on KI inevitably influenced my appreciation of the environment and all things living. Plants and nature bring me comfort and I have surrounded myself with them in my new home in Adelaide. I was also lucky enough to have a big garden where I lived on KI and spent a lot of time learning and gardening with my dad who definitely has a green thumb!
I study a Bachelor of International Relations and Political Science at Flinders and I’m going into my second year! I’m actually working on a new idea combining my pots and my passion for politics! If I’m being completely honest, I did struggle during the year with getting all my study done, working two jobs and promoting and working on Greenstreet Studio, but I always utilise holidays and any spare time on weekends to smash out some work on the business. I really love creating something that can be used to show off amazing plants, and honestly, I love the whole process – it involves picking and sourcing the appropriate pots, sealing twice on the inside of the pot as well as the outside, multiple layers of painting and designing and then sealing again! I am still trying to find my exact groove and exact style, but I’m really excited about these new political themed pots which I will be sharing soon! Instagram: @Greenstreet.studio Tiktok: @green.street.pots Photos & Interview by Jessica Rowe If you have a small business that you’d like us to share please get in touch via empiretimes@flinders.edu.au
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THE STATE OF
EMP IRE RY O T S I AH R U O Y OF NT E D U ST MAG Words by Tahlia Dilberovic Special thanks to Nix Herriot for their assistance in the research behind this piece and the provision of transcripts of interviews with past editors Ian Yates and Andrew McHugh
Attending Flinders University is a political choice, or at least it was in the 1970s. Isolated from the bustle of the city, the small university, established in 1966, attracted those who believed education could be done differently. Central to its establishment was the question of who education truly served – the people?
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Or government and big business? It was this radical spirit infiltrated every part of the student experience at Flinders. It made us the stronghold of the student anti-conscription movement, and it was present when we took the registry building. This legacy has not yet ebbed from our cultural memory, but it is beginning to.
While the legacy remains, our reality is now different. With the shift towards voluntary student unionism in the 2000s, the commodification of the modern Australian university began to pick up speed. Suddenly, institutions of higher education began to market themselves as service providers. Campus culture began to dwindle, and brutal restructures and staff cuts became a rite of passage for those bestowed a vice-chancellorship. The degree factory was born.And Flinders, the small, quaint Uni on the Hill, that once drew in radicals and creative eccentrics, was unable to escape this fate. As Andrew Hughes, former ET editor states, ‘I think as time went by at Flinders; people just realized that it was probably going to turn into the same kind of university every university ends up being’, but still, ‘Flinders held out for a good long time’. Empire Times was a core component of this radical spirit. Student publications serve a crucial role in the University ecosystem as a form of alternate media; conveying student voices, not that of institutions’, resulting in the promotion and discussion of views that challenge the dominant paradigms of society. As Martin Fabinyi, founder of Empire Times argues, student media not only provides students with ‘topics of discussion and dissention, but also proves to society that a better system is possible and forthcoming’. Student publications have a sordid history in Australia, mainly for their role in challenging censorship laws. The first student newspaper was published in 1925, the University of Melbourne’s Farrago, and by the mid-1930s, most universities had their own paper. Most of these publications are ongoing and still print under their original names– Empire Times is the new kid on the block, with the first edition published in 1969. But ET arrived on the scene just in time. The 1960s and 1970s served as a crucible for student media; with issues such as conscription, censorship, police brutality, and reproductive rights entering mainstream discourse. Student media took up arms on these issues, publishing materials that either toed the legality, or straight up broke the law. ET’s newness did not result in meekness. After all, we were the only student magazine at the time to control the means of our production - we had
our own printer, meaning we were the only ones in Australia with the ability to publish what we wanted, when we wanted. Ian Yates, former editor, described Empire Times as a ‘weapon to advance causes’; pushing limits with each edition, regularly featuring pornography to flout censorship laws; and constantly railing against the system. In 1970, not even a full year into publication, the Australian named Empire Times ‘plucky, brash, and the most lively of all university newspapers’, while Mark Posa of the Democratic Labor Party provided our favorite compliment, simply describing ET as ‘filth’. And ET certainly earned it. Early editions saw articles entitled ‘The Pill and You’, ‘Gay is Good’, and ‘In Defense of Unwed Mothers’, all at a time when access to birth control was highly restrictive and stigmatized, homosexuality was illegal, and forced adoptions were commonplace. Likewise, in the height of the Vietnam war and conscription, no issue went to print without a call for a moratorium, and articles giving advice on how to dodge the draft. In fact, in April 1969, the Editors spent the night in jail for demonstrating against conscription. Empire Times was alive, spirited and didn’t shy away from a fight, whether it came from the (now defunct) SRC or (oddly enough) CIA recruits. ET, the darling of the student left, did what all good media should – it challenged power. In recent years, successive editorial teams have adopted a more apolitical approach to Flinders’ student mag. A quick glance at the ET inbox will see contributors warned against taking too strong of an ideological stance, or articles edited to exclude the promotion of specific causes or rallies. Long gone are the days of our seedy little student mag, printed in the backroom of a share house, constantly questioning the powers that be. But this shift has not occurred in a vacuum. As our institutions of higher education are reduced to degree factories, there is no place on campus for a steadfast student voice. The very nature of a political, and critical, student media is a threat to any university structure that relies on undermining student experience, and solidarity, for the sake of profit. But the fight isn’t over until you leave the mat, and ET is still here – and still swinging.
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vol. 17, no. 7, 1985
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ming it all in!
How four Flinders graduates are making their mark on the Adelaide theater scene fresh out of student life.
Connor, Ren, Aarod and Melissa are talented and hard-working humans that many current Creative Arts students will recognise. The dedicated group of actors, filmmakers, writers and directors founded CRAM Collective before some of them have even put their graduation caps on! Lucky for our readers who may be staring into the piercing eyes of graduation with fear and self-doubt, the CRAM team has kindly shared their story to inspire us all. Hello creative and inspiring humans at CRAM! Let’s start by talking about what the CRAM Collective is and what it hopes to achieve? CRAM is an arts collective founded by four grads from Flinders Drama Centre. We aim to create new work for young people and redefine what we expect from theatre. We’ve just debuted our first show and we’re about to release a whole season of new shows for 2022. How did the group initially come together? We all met one another at Flinders Drama Centre where we all shared a passion for creating our own work and noticed gaps within Adelaide’s art scene that we wanted to fulfil. Three of us - Aarod, Ren and Melissa were all part of the same year level and had discussed the idea of a theatre company over the years of training. Having seen Connor’s incredible directing work within the program and his love and drive for theatre, we four formed together early 2021, which lead to the creation of CRAM.
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How did you find the confidence to form something like this so soon after - or for some of you, before graduating? During our training we were taught to make our theatre shows and films off our own backs - the producing, the marketing, set, props & costumes, stage management, we did it all. We learnt to write grants. We came away with the skills and know-how. And we were told from day one that if we wanted to work in this industry, we had to make our own projects. Our confidence, I think, comes from the necessity. There is no time for self-doubt or indecisiveness, we simply must go out there and make work for ourselves. Plus, we love doing it - the theatre runs in our veins. And who better to make theatre with than 3 of the most hard-working and passionate people you know, who also happen to be 3 of your best friends? How would you respond to naysayers who might suggest that you’re too young to start a fully-fledged company? The four years we’ve spent studying at Flinders University’s Drama Centre have encouraged us to be driven, self-sufficient and brave. We’ve all been creating and making from incredibly young ages, and this desire to share our projects has only grown. We’ve been inspired by some of the fantastic alumni that upon leaving Drama Centre formed their own companies, taking Adelaide and Australia by storm. There’s no such thing as too young. Young people across the globe are doing incredible, groundbreaking things and this should be celebrated. CRAM seeks to bring new, emerging voices to the table, and we can’t wait to embark on this wild and exciting journey.
What is your advice to Creative Arts students nervous about navigating the world of creative careers after university? I’d be lying if I said none of us are nervous with every choice we make as a company. We’re never sure whether what we do will be a success or if we’re making the ‘right’ choices, but the truth is that no one really does. As creatives we’re all just playing and experimenting and seeing what works. You are the founding members, but as a collective you are also building a creative team made up of many others. What kind of talent is featured in your team and how were you able to connect with these creatives? We are all about cramming a large variety of artists into a space, building up our Cram Fam. It is so exciting and riveting seeing art that merges together all types of art forms and this is exactly what we want to create. Our first show ‘New World Coming’ which was devised over 5 days, incorporated dancers, musicians, writers and actors. Creating the look for
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CRAM we teamed up with graphic designer Emily Savage, Pamo Boutros with photography and Aiden Smith for cinematography. All these different artists within our CRAM Fam we were able to connect with through social media, working with them in the past and having seen their work in shows. We want to create a real hub of artists and performers, and through our website - make it accessible for these artists to be found easily and recognised. What is your advice for students who hope to be a part of collaborative spaces and teams like yours? Just go for it. Do not think, do not doubt - feel the fear and do it anyway. And make sure to work with, and surround yourself with, people you love and people you gel with. If you can’t imagine climbing Mt. Everest with that person, you probably can’t start a company with them. And be open to anything, to all possibilities and options, be open to collaborating and compromising. Work with joy and curiosity.
CRAM COLLECTIVE
How can students support CRAM? There are so many different ways students can get involved with and support CRAM. The whole vision of the collective is to engage and work with a wide range of creatives, and we are constantly looking for new artists to join us in the CRAM FAM. This is a community of creatives who have played a crucial role in CRAM and the projects that we make. We’ll be doing a call out for creatives who may be interested in joining the CRAM Fam very soon, so get in touch if this sounds like something that interests you! Most importantly, you can support us by engaging with and coming to see our events. After a sell out season with our debut show, New World Coming, we are so appreciative of all the support and have big things planned for 2022. Follow us on our socials @thecramcollective to keep up to date with new projects, see other creatives we support and stay tuned for our 2022 season launch.
Interview by Jessica Rowe, Photos supplied by CRAM Collective
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PRESIDENT’S PR ESIDENT’S
Hey Flinders!
Congratulations all - you’ve made it through the year 2021! My name is Molly, I’m your Student President for 2022 :) A little bit about myself… I’ve been on Student Council for three years, as First Nations Students Officer and then General Secretary, which has given me the tools and skills for this new role. I’m currently studying for a degree in Social Work. In the past, I was studying for a degree in tourism and events combined with a degree in arts. I switched my degrees as I found my passion for helping people, supporting them to see the powers they have and gaining new powers they didn’t know they had. I’m an animal lover with two cats: Sox and Eli Perry and when I’m not working for you I’m a gamer: I love video games and board games. What really is Flinders University Students Association (FUSA) Student Council? Student Council consists of 19 members. All of these amazing students have been elected by the student body to represent you and fight for your rights and interest as a student at Flinders University.
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FUSA is made up of the Student Council, sub-committees and amazing staff (yes, they’re amazing too) that create social events on and off-campus. We all take part in creating O’Week events and activities such as picnics in the Plaza, free Grab and Go’s, Pride Fest, NAIDOC week, and more! We as a Student Council believe in empowerment, advocacy, and integrity – and that’s what you’re going to see through our plans for this year. For a little flavour of what we do as a Student Council, here are some highlights from 2021. We finalised the opening of a new disabilities space in the Library. This is an accessible and welcoming space for the use of students with disabilities. We also refurbished some of the older spaces on the Bedford Park campus (the
ADDRESS Women’s Room, Queer Space and Postgraduate Space) to be more welcoming places for our student community. Our Student Council connected with all the Flinders campuses around the state and in the Northern Territory – including a tour to meet with students at every campus. You will see around the Bedford Park, Sturt and Tonsley campuses that there are menstrual product dispensers; a Student Council initiative to combat period poverty that was achieved last year. A little less flash but no less important, Student Council members participated in the development of the new assessment policies and were the student voice on Academic Senate and other University committees and working groups. This year we have some big plans too. My own priorities are: ●
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Making sure that we continue building our connections with all Flinders University campuses, Continuing to work on the student poverty campaign. Last year, we began a campaign to highlight student poverty. This is a crisis that many students experience due to insecure work, poverty-level Centrelink payments, unaffordable bills and rent and the personal toll that
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this takes on us. Working on the Be A Better Human campaign. BABH was a great success for FUSA and we’re re-launching it this year. Work on an enrol to vote campaign: South Australian and Federal elections will happen this year, and it’s important that our student voices count. Working on obtaining a space for mature aged students. Continue to make sure that student voices are heard in all areas of the University.
You can get involved too! You’ll see more information about joining Collectives (student groups that focus on a particular community of interest, for example, the Postgraduate Collective or the Queer Collective). There are also plenty of non-sporting Clubs to join. FUSA provides funding and support for affiliated clubs. And you will also see the opportunity to become a Representative as well in your Colleges. This is a chance to work with teaching staff to improve your and your cohorts experience in the classroom. If you want to get in contact with me, my email is: student.president@flinders.edu.au
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o t n I e s p m i l G A t n e d u t S r u o Y l i c n Cou The Student Council is the elected representative body for Flinders students. These representatives each hold a portfolio and are elected by the general student body each year. They receive financial honorariums in return for their work, ranging from $2,000-$28,000 p.a. The current Student Council was elected on the 7th of October 2021 and assumed office on the 30th of November 2021. Empire Times thanks the council members who worked with us through the submission and editing phase to help us create a culture of transparency. Unedited and extended responses will be available online, follow @empire.times on Instagram, and like us on Facebook for updates!
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Welfare Officer Darlyn Tan-Sik She/They
welfare.officer@flinders.edu.au
What would you like the Flinders community to know about you? I am a Psychology Honours student and the President of the Queer Collective. I love animals, music, a good drama show and Animal Crossing (with 600+ hours to show for it!) What drew you to your position? I am a person who oversaw and experienced injustices and discrimination within systems and society, so I wanted to know how I could help people. As I learned more about how I could make positive change, I actively pursued opportunities to do so. This position will allow me to work with students and staff to implement policies, campaigns, and support systems for students. What would you like to achieve in this role? I want to achieve better accessibility for students to learn and live in our current society while studying at Flinders University. I want to also educate, raise awareness and advocate for policy change on supporting students with neurodivergence and mental illness. What do these goals look like? What benefit will they bring to students? Closed captioning for academic content, financial grants, food packages and access to mental health support services. These resources and services will allow for students to have better accessibility and knowledge about essentials and how the FUSA and the university can support students What are some of the steps involved? What barriers do you foresee? Contacting and meeting with Student Council, FUSA and academic staff, and mental health services to collaborate and communicate the logistics of the projects mentioned above. Communicating with students to ensure these projects benefit them, and how to improve accessibility. With new regulations and structures made due to ensure community safety from Covid-19, there is also a decrease in accessibility. Another barrier that can be foreseen is my own personal experience as an individual and the lack of experience in specific areas. The Welfare Officer position is for the great diversity of students and their lives during their time here at Flinders University and I may not have the knowledge and personal experience for specific issues
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Women’s Officer
Alivia Vickers She/Her Womens.officer@flinders.edu.au
What would you like the Flinders community to know about you? I am studying a combined degree of International Relations & Political Science and a Bachelor of Languages (Japanese and Mandarin). I immigrated to Australia at 14 and grew up in a multicultural household. After being effectively adopted by my beloved aunt Yayoi, I began following a Japanese denomination of Buddhism called Shinnyo-en and love to learn about religions What drew you to your position? The influence of my stepmother who came into my life after a lot of deep-rooted ideologies about what it meant to be a woman and non-man in a world made to suit the lifestyles of men. Being a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault and poverty, I wanted to make change and provide opportunities for others. What would you like to achieve in this role? I would love to ensure that there is cultural diversity and representation amongst clubs, collectives, and the university that concern and include women and non-men. I would also like to work towards a community that protects the safety of student on campus. What do these goals look like? What benefit will they bring to students? To me these goals look like proper representation of people of colour and different cultural and spiritual backgrounds, as well as inclusive of members of the queer community. In regard to safety on campus, this may look like support groups, accessibility plans, self-defence class and information on services. This would allow for greater diversity in representation and safety What are some of the steps involved? What barriers do you foresee? In the professional sense, COVID-19. On a personal level, dealing with some of the more sensitive topics may be difficult, but I plan on overcoming these barriers by working closely with effected communities and the rest of Student Council. Is there value in affiliating the Women’s Collective to FUSA? Will you assist in this affiliation? What kind of timeline can we expect for affiliation? I believe there is great value in affiliating the Women’s Collective to FUSA. Collectives create the necessary means of close communication to ensure multiple perspectives are considered. I would love to work on the affiliation of the Women’s Collective. There is currently no timeline planned. Do you feel like your experience differs from others on the student council as you were elected for this position unopposed? I do feel that my experience differs from my colleagues on the Student Council in being the only member elected unopposed. On one hand, I was further motivated in being proactive. On the other, I was grateful that the role of Women’s Officer was filled and that a position with the ability to tip the scales of inequality and discrimination at Flinders was not left vacant. I was shocked to experience the ease that a role with vast amounts of responsibility could go by uncontested
Queer Officer
Shanii Sparrow He/Him Queer.officer@flinders.edu.au What would you like the Flinders community to know about you?
I have a rescue greyhound named Lao. I really like Kimchi, my favourite colour is orange, and my hobbies are skateboarding and photography. I’m non-binary and I own about 100 plants.
What drew you to your position?
I was attracted to the position as I had a strong passion for activism and a background in refugee, First Nations, and human rights campaigns. One of the first major events that showed me how important LGBTQIA+ advocacy is was the marriage equality debate. This showed me how much more work needs to be done to ensure we’re providing queer people with access to safe living, learning and community environments.
What would you like to achieve in this role?
In 2022 I hope to finalise and launch my free chest binder pilot program, improve access to LGBTQIA+ health services, and continue helping assist people in decolonising queer spaces through art initiatives that provide visibility, supporting People of Colour, and First Nations people.
What do these goals look like? What benefit will they bring to students?
Office Bearers are allocated a budget of $2,000 and then need to try and make this stretch across all students and 12 months worth of support, projects and autonomous space upgrades. This means there’s lots of administrative work. behind the scenes: countless hours of emailing, budgeting, meetings, spreadsheets, negotiations, and vision boards. I am currently in the process of connecting with a range of stakeholders. Visibility, diversity, and access to helpful and supportive healthcare are things that support and benefit all students. Often, the main thing I hear from the student body is “I’m not queer enough”, “I feel alone, nobody is like me”, “which doctors are safe”, “where do I go”. The queer community is so beautiful and diverse, but broken connections make us feel like we’re alone or not the “right” kind of queer. I believe by improving visibility, diversity and access to community and healthcare we can help close these gaps and ultimately improve students’ wellbeing. Burnout is a massive barrier that almost all Student Council face. Most of us are studying full time, with additional responsibilities such as working part time, family, or health commitments in addition to doing Student Council. In truth the majority of us end up dedicating full time hours to our jobs at FUSA. As Queer Officer, I’m expected to complete three hours of work per week, however during my time planning Pride Fest 2021, for one of the two planning months I ended up clocking in around 150 hours. For context, our yearly commitment to FUSA is 156 hours. So in an attempt to complete one project and support students to the best of my ability I did almost a year’s worth of work in about a month. Which is an unsustainable workload, but one I felt I had to take on to meet deadlines whilst also managing the expectations and limitations of the role
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Mature Age Students Officer Jessica Williams She/Her
Matureage.officer@flinders.edu.au What would you like the Flinders community to know about you?
I am a mature aged student studying Forensic Biology and a mum with a huge family. I love exploring places around Adelaide. After school, which I didn’t finish due to needing to work to live, I spent 12 years learning, growing, and eventually having a family.
What drew you to your position?
I enjoyed socialising with the diverse cohort of students around campus and wanted to be further involved in supporting students. I started as a topic rep and as a student ambassador. I took on the challenge of running for Mature Age Officer because I was questioning if mature aged students were receiving the same support as school leavers. Many of the students I attended class with were fresh out of high school, tech savvy and fresh with their academic understanding. A lot of the work was put into compensating for this difference – what if other mature aged students were struggling?
What would you like to achieve in this role?
I would love to facilitate opportunities for more mature aged students to share their experiences and feedback; share the importance of support networks; and depict the wide range of daily lives of Flinders students. Higher education should not be a one size fits all.
What do these goals look like? What benefit will they bring to students?
This looks like on campus events to facilitate conversation; build up the mature aged students collective; implementing a playgroup for caregivers. This will provide the perspectives of mature aged students experiences to help build an understanding of the struggles that come with being a mature aged student. Hopefully, this will inspire support for change.
What are some of the steps involved? What barriers do you foresee?
To state the obvious, COVID-19 has continued to make things difficult. Hopefully, we can navigate these challenges and find better ways to connect and engage. Managing my studies alongside my goals for this role will be challenging. At home, my large family will be both a strength and a difficulty in keeping my life balanced. How does a mature age student’s experience differ from a school-leaver? This depends on the student, but often mature aged students are entering Uni while having work, caring duties, and health difficulties that some school-leavers may not yet have. This leaves little time for students to upskill, take time for selfcare, and navigate unexpected circumstances. For example, when my children get sick and I need to care for them – this leaves missed classes to catch up on.
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Disabilities Officer
Anu Francis She/Her Disabilities.officer@flinders.edu.au
What would you like the Flinders community to know about you?
I study Education/Exercise Science & Physiology and am an elite para-athlete, seeking qualification for the 2024 Paralympics in triathlon. In 2017 I graduated Bachelor of Science (Veterinary Bioscience) at UofA but transferred to Flinders in 2018 due to my disabilities (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and Dystonia) jeopardising my eligibility for registration as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. This discrimination founded my passion for disability advocacy, which has led me into this role.
What drew you to your position?
During my first semester at Flinders, I ran into significant accessibility issues and was disappointed by the lack of support available. Staff empathised with my challenges and reported that many of my concerns had been raised by countless students before me but stated that the issues were simply out of their control. Not one to take ‘no’ for an answer, when I saw the vacancy for FUSA Disabilities officer in mid-2018, I jumped at the opportunity.
What would you like to achieve in this role?
Completion of several major projects from my previous terms, including the final set up and opening of the permanent Disabilities Space in the library and utilisation of our full fleet of Basketball Wheelchairs. I also aim to increase the profile of the Flinders University Disabilities Collective.
What are some of the steps involved? What barriers do you foresee?
The greatest barrier I have faced and will continue to face in this role is that whilst students move quickly, the university moves slowly. This is why the majority of my projects have been multi-year and is precisely why I have remained in the role for multiple terms. What are some areas you’ve identified that really need improvement from the university regarding disability support and inclusivity? When I came into this role, the list of areas for improvement was overwhelming! Whilst we have made significant progress, areas that still need significant improvement include wayfinding and physical accessibility of all Flinders campuses (with the Sturt campus being particularly problematic) and students with disabilities readily receiving the reasonable and necessary adjustments that they need to access education on the same basis as their peers without disability.
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On the 26th of Januray hundreds of people gathered at Tarndaanya for the Survival Day Rally. The marchers stood in solidarity with the Aboriginal tent embassy on what was its 50th anniversery. The powerful event featured live music, interactive dances lead by Uncle Moogy and moving speeches as people rallied with passion for First Nations justice, soveriegnty and recognition.
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ALWAYS WAS,
ALWAYS WILL BE.
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As 2022 begins I sit here not long out of isolating after being a symptomatic close COVID contact on Christmas day and I wonder, what have we actually learned from this pandemic in the past two years. Because as a person with a disability, and as one of the vulnerable people in our society, I started this year feeling like I was not a valued member of our community but an expendable one. We have gone from ‘we are all in this together’ to ‘you are on your own’ and ‘let it rip’. The fabric of our government and our society is threaded with the notion that the vulnerable and disabled are less than. How can I make such a claim? Recently when doing some research, I discovered that the Australian Government has not bothered keeping statistics on the percentage of people with disability who have tested positive or died from COVID. Even after the Royal Commission recommended that they do so. This speaks quite loudly to how much the Australian Government actually cares about its vulnerable and disabled community when they can’t even be bothered to understand how much we are being affected. The lack of information available, lack of discussion or consideration from the Government for the vulnerable and disabled during any COVID conversation is shocking – Even while we are constantly being listed as the most at risk in the population. It feels hypocritical, doesn’t it? Left twisting in the wind as policies to protect us are stripped away and we are unable to access clear information on what to do. The defeatist narrative of the ‘let it rip’ strategy along with the ‘oh well, everyone is going to get it’ approach disregards the lives of the vulnerable and disabled. We are just seen as the collateral damage, the acceptable loss. At the start of January, the Government announced changes to the Supervised Quarantine Direction, now allowing those who work in supervised quarantine to work in other high-risk settings. In New South Wales, healthcare workers who are asymptomatic have been told they could be exempt from quarantine requirements and could return to work despite being positive.
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The logic of these two announcements is horrifying and ableist. It shows a clear disregard for the spreading of the virus and a disregard for the lives of the vulnerable and disabled. The fear of risking illness and death just to attend your basic, needed and regular medical appointments is now increased. The burden of living with, or should I say dying with, COVID is on us.
So, let me propose something for you to think about: Is this all just really eugenics? It is pro-eugenics thought and movement that believes that some lives are worth less than others? It is pro-eugenics thought and movement that believes that the more valued lives should not be inconvenienced by the less valuable ones? This reopening at any cost movement, the ‘let it rip’ strategy is not just ableist, it is also classist, ageist and racist. It is a movement of sacrificing the vulnerable, placing most of the burden of isolation, sickness and death on to those at the highest risk. Why? Is there really any acceptable, justifiable reason? Going back to ‘Normal’ should not just be a privilege given to those who are nonvulnerable and non-disabled, it should be a privilege we all have. Learning to live with COVID should not be about abandoning all supports, abandoning testing, opening everything back up with no monitoring. It should not be about accepting the death of people, accepting the sickness and death of those at high risk. It should not be about accepting long term disability from long COVID. It should be about learning to live with temporary precautions, learning to live with low restrictions, learning to live with the quarantining and testing when traveling. It should be about protecting the people and that includes the most vulnerable amongst us. Learning to live with the minor inconveniences to avoid the major ones for the long-term benefit of returning to ‘normal’ for us all. After all, wasn’t the last two years of disruption all about protecting our grandparents and our babies? We are the unconsidered vulnerable, but not the inept contributors to society that the Government has treated us as through this decision-making process. This pandemic will not be over just because you are over it, over the inconveniences, over the inconsistencies in direction and over the lack of support. This pandemic will not be over, and we will not be back to ‘normal’ until I can be, until the vulnerable and disabled can also return to the way their lives were before COVID.
SOME OF YOU MAY DIE
The message we are given from many around us is that the inconvenience of wearing a mask, having to isolate and get tested to cross borders, not being able to go out amongst hundreds of people to get wasted, or standing a bit further away in a line from someone is just too much to ask. That the isolation, sickness and even death of the vulnerable and disabled is far more convenient - and even preferred.
It is not acceptable for the vulnerable and disabled to be treated as expendable, let’s stop accepting this movement of eugenics. Words by Evangelia Karageorgos
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SMOKE &
our three-year reign is ending— an empire built on love and forgiveness washed away by the gentle tides of passing time swallowed by the ocean sparkling like Tanqueray beneath waves where we tossed our incense ashes— offerings to gods still separating us watching the sun sink into the horizon like a premonition of our future love sharing cigarettes and joints and kisses on the balcony cluttered with my empty bottles and your fingernail clippings the air warm with tobacco smoke and seabreeze numbing the pain of missing you before you’re gone a love worth lifetimes politely parting ways— three weeks until you clear out your side of the wardrobe empty space upon coat hangers between bedsheets within my chest as vast as the distance your flight carries you from me our three-year reign is ending— but relinquishing this crown feels like drowning no longer able to keep my head above water at least now you know how to swim
SEABREEZE words by Leigh Briar
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WTF DOES THAT MEAN?
FUSA – The Flinders University Student Association (notably, not a union). FUSA represents students interests on campus, providing social and advocacy services. SSAFs – Student Services and Amenities Fee is a compulsory fee which supports non-academic services. The funds go towards advocacy and welfare services, financial counselling and assistance, and clubs. They also pay ET’s and Student Council’s honorariums. Student Contribution Amount – Domestic students are entitled to Commonwealth Supported Places at university, meaning the government subsidises our fee. The remainder we pay is the Student Contribution Amount. Census Date – for the uninitiated, the census date is the last day you can withdraw from a course without incurring tuition fees. For the initiated, it marks the beginning of finally being able to get a park on campus again. GPA – Grade Point Average. 1 being the lowest, 7 being the highest. Generally, 5.5 is required for honors degree admissions. What you’ll use to transfer courses in place of an ATAR. Student Council – Your representatives on campus, who hold overriding governance of FUSA. The student council consists of 19 elected members, who are paid an honorarium. The Tav – the tavern, the only place to get some beer on campus. Located on level 2 of the hub, overlooking the lake. Siberia – A section of the university at the top of the hill near education. It’s freezing in the winter – hence, Siberia. Tutor – Tutors run your tutorials and are often the ones grading your assignments. Woefully underpaid and overworked, be nice to them. Colin Stirling – Flinders University Vice Chancellor, the principle academic and administrative officer of the Uni. Also, the guy who pushes through continuous restructures and cuts, while taking home a 1.4 million dollar salary.
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THE PROBLEM OF PROGRESSIVE Clinton and Elizabeth Warren are other IDENTITARIANISM Hilary figures I would associate with progressive Identity politics is an often thrown around word in the world of 21st century politics, particularly among the young and terminally online. This term was originally coined not by frustrated young white men, who are most associated as users of the term today, but rather black lesbian feminists in the 1970s who were part of a socialist collective critical of white feminism and the civil rights movement for not addressing their needs as individuals and as collective identities. Identity politics is seen as a rather contentious and divisive issue among the political left where positive, negative and mixed views can be found debated among everyone from Young Labor types to hardcore commies. On the political Right it is almost universally decried but oftentimes practiced anyway because they lack the selfawareness and/or honesty to admit that they are champions of the politics of identity but of the hierarchical and oppressive as opposed to needs based variety. Nonetheless, identity politics on the Left can also lead to some pretty dark places, not in its commonly understood form, as is often debated about today, but rather as progressive or leftwing identitarianism. Identitarianism is usually associated with right-wing radicalism, white nationalism and racism - anextreme reactionary equivalent identity politics nothing like what the first people to coin the term must have imagined it to mean. In left-wing and progressive spaces, a similar form of identitarian politics has hold, not actually to service the needs of those otherwise marginalized by their very identity and who they are in the hierarchies of capitalist society but rather to exclude, attack and brow-beat anyone different to them regardless of one’s place in said hierarchy. Anyone looking for examples of said progressive identitarianism in our upcoming state and federal elections is likely to find nothing more than some standard identity politics or right-wing shittiness. However, looking to North America one can find much clearer examples starting with the online fans of the sitting Vice-President Kamala Harris whose bullying behaviour stood out among ‘progressives’, a curious thing for such boring and incompetent purely representational politics.
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identitarianism, and not vicariously like Kamala. Indeed, both women are remembered for launching bizarre pseudo-feminists attacks on Bernie Sanders and the movement behind him, smearing them all as sexist and threatening. This was despite Bernie’s humble social democratic platform which included taxing both women’s corrupt donors to pay for expanding healthcare coverageand cutting the American Empire’s military budget to pay for welfare programs like a fifteen dollar minimum wage, waiving all student debt and introducing paid maternity leave (what a misogynist pig). Hillary and Elizabeth, on the other hand, ended up running on the idea that a woman running the most powerful and dangerous nation on earth was sufficient merit to give them power. Elizabeth even originally supported many ideas similar to Bernie’s but started courting donors instead of voters and promptly abandoned them. Needless to say, unlike the original identity politics aimed at serving the needs of marginalised communities, progressive identitarianism tends to fulfill the whims of selfish people, particularly politicians, journalists and capitalists. Other, more mundane and less manipulative, example of progressive identitarianism include a few BlackLivesMatter organisers insisting that black and white people march separately against the police brutality that affects almost all Americans; or the Canadian teachers’ union introducing race weighted internal voting. Funnily enough, progressive identitarianism evokes far more outrage from the Right than it does on the Left, where people are not as gung-ho about attacking feminist figures or racial justice movements, but conservative critics are just being shallow, many of the worst aspects of progressive identitarianism are just a shiny but broken mirror of their own politics. While one may easily dismiss progressive identitarianism as a uniquely American disease, anyone intimately familiar with student politics at home in Australia could tell you a similar story whether it is in student elections, campus boards or indeed events like the National Union of Students’ annual conventions. Progressive identitarianism is here to stay. WORDS BY STASI KAPETANOS
CASTLES AND FIELDS Villandi is an ancient world, plucked out of time like an old story. Be assured, some of this story is very, very old, as it concerns creatures created hundreds of years ago. But to properly understand it, one must place themselves in a similarly distant situation. Imagine, if you will, a world of giants. Villandi was host to many creatures of such bounty, giants, trolls, and men not excluded. All were under the watchful rule of Ofleti, a king rightfully addressed as a god for his wisdom, creativity, and indomitable strength in battle. Ofleti was the first being cast unto the world, and therefore believes the world is his to control. Under his rule, Villandi was slowly sculptured into the image he desired. Every animal and plant; all the seasons and diseases; even the light of the sun and moon spawns directly from Ofleti’s imagination some millennia ago. Despite his immense power, Ofleti suffered from the most severe gluttony. Discontent to live among the lesser beings, he came upon the idea of an enormous structure. So large he wished it that he could wander its vast halls and chambers for all eternity and never grow bored. But just as Ofleti was glutenous, so was he impatient; to build such a castle would take an immeasurable amount of time, and how could he be surprised if he knew the contents of every room? From this, Ofleti designed the giants. Giants looked very much like ordinary people; some were beautiful, others were grotesque and often mistaken for the despicable trolls; some had brown hair, and depending on the season, may even have blonde hair. The very old giants with white and grey hair sometimes, if the spot for a bit of fun, would sit very still and could be easily confused for a snow-capped mountain. This particular story involves Hallra, the tallest of all giants. So tall he was, the regular-size men had no measure to judge his height, for he was taller than everything else. Over ten seasons, the giants dug trenches and hurled stones from the great mountains. The ingenuity of man was used to create the interiors the rooms. To this day, many men still devise new ways to please Ofleti in his palace. Hallra was not involved in the building of the massive castle – this was long before his time – but the legend had passed the lineage, so he knew the story just as well as his ancestors. The giants, their work completed, dispersed across Villandi. Some ventured to the mountains to build their own structures; others became constructors for the men, and they often lived in agreement of one another. Ofleti remained extremely pleased with his castle for a long time, and never grew bored again. It is hard to tell exactly how long he had been in this castle, but one room in particular struck him with new purpose. The room was small and sparse, save for a lonely window opposite the door. It was curved (like the interior of a ball), situated to the eastern side of castle and the rising sun. It was also the highest room of the castle, and Ofleti took great joy in watching the world he’d moulded from the best vantage. Although, upon first gazing out the window, Ofleti realized he in fact did not have the best vantage. This privilege belonged to Hallra. For the first time, something akin to jealousy bubbled inside him. From this room, Ofleti could see the incalculable size of Hallra’s steadings. His wheatfield grew into a dense forest; the vineyard stretched past the horizon; and the lodgings – though not as wide as Ofleti’s – rose deep into the heavens. Over time, his unchecked jealousy became too much to endure. He summoned a council of his most trusted friends. “This farm to the east,” said Ofleti. “Tended by the giant, I should like it very much.” “And what do you propose?” asked Bardaga, the kings battle-master. “A compromise,” said Ofleti. “Something to satisfy both parties. Surely the giant, Hallra you say, shall want for more than a plot of land.” “Such a compromise must be substantial,” said Skynsa, the wise-man. “For giants seldom desire more than the space to be themselves.” Ofleti nodded in agreement. “Yes, but surely there is something he would want, and there is nothing I cannot grant him.” TO BE CONTINUED IN ISSUE 3
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BEHIND THE SCENES
A collection of photos by Abigail Nicholls taken behind the scenes on various BCA Screen productions.
‘Darling’ Directed by Amy Evans, Coming soon
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Watch Now
‘Gig Guide: Mum Friends’ Directed by Jessica Rowe 34
COP OUT? Words
by
Jessica
Rowe
Maybe some of you will relate when I say that at the end of last year I had been approached by many a’young activists attempting to educate me about COP26. I listen, but of course retain nothing and leave the conversation feeling good for providing a listening ear, but nonetheless as ignorant as I was before. If you’re like me, passionate about world issues but struggling to keep up with the intricacies of politics, then you’re in luck! Here’s a breakdown of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. As explained on the official United Nations website, COP26 brought together 120 world leaders and over 40,000 registered participants including party delegates, observers and media representatives. The conference spanned over two weeks in the city of Glasgow. The outcome was the Glasgow Climate Pact, and new agreements were made in the areas of forests, coal, cars, methane and private finance. At first glance, the outcomes of COP26 seem positive, like our world leaders are totally down with fighting climate change! So why did it seem like the Adelaide activists were so eagerly trying to mobilize the every-day person to get involved? Lucky for us, Maddy Tapley from Uni Students for Climate Justice is here to explain…
“After decades of summits like this one, global emissions have continued to rise. COP26 was nothing more than a conference of “blah blah blah”. World leaders committed to fighting climate change in rhetoric only, and even then, what they committed to is completely inadequate given the level of destruction we are already witnessing. Instead of buying into greenwashing events like COP26 we need to focus on the action (or inaction) of world governments. We believe that the fate of the world should not be left up to those who exploit its resources for profit. The urgency to fight for climate justice has never been greater, and we need that fight to happen in the streets because politicians clearly aren’t going to fight for us. We need a movement like the anti-uranium campaigns of the 70s and 80s that saw communities and workers mobilise to stop the mining and transportation of uranium for weapons manufacturing.”
Maddy T apley
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The
SCOMO
controversy
Reading international publications like the New York Times calling out Scott Morrison and Australia’s “inertia” when it comes to tackling climate change, made me blush with embarrassment. There was literally a crowd-funded-billboard calling Morrison “coal-o-phile Dundee.” Here are some of the reasons Australia was criticized for its actions during the conference: When asked by press whether Morrison would be attending COP26, he said he had “not made any final decisions,” explaining, “It’s another trip overseas… and I’ve spent a lot of time in quarantine” (standard.co, independent.co), we didn’t sign up to a pledge made by dozens of countries to phase out coal-fired power (abc.net), although the PM committed to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, he did not announce a target for 2030 & we are one of the last ‘developed’ countries to commit to zero emissions (abc.net, nytimes.com). Maddy shares the general views of Uni Students For Climate Justice on the outcome of the conference and how Australia performed:
“Leaders committed to increasing their emission reduction targets and “accelerating efforts” to phasing down coal power. These targets were watered down over the course of the conference and come nowhere near to meeting the level of reduction needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. The Australian government lowered the bar even further, refusing to commit to increasing 2030 emission goals, instead touting ‘net-zero by 2050’ as their new green credential. This plan relies on the development of ‘future technologies’ such as carbon capture and voluntary action by big businesses to reduce their emissions. This couldn’t be a clearer case of abdication from taking action in the here and now where it’s so clearly needed. But what else could be expected from one of the biggest exporters of coal? We need to put pressure on the government from below to establish appropriate climate targets, cease all fossil fuel operations and implement renewables on a vast scale. We need the kind of movement we saw from the 2019 climate protests and we need it now, otherwise, the bushfires of 2019 will become the new norm.” For all the attention from the media that COP26 attracted, it seems it wasn’t enough to wake up our leader-ship to what Maddy explains is an issue of urgency. Like many in my generation, I am issuebased; I speak and care about the urgency of climate change, but you wouldn’t catch me reading the latest updates from Parliament regarding environmental policy. Hearing passionate activists like Maddy speak about the importance of putting pressure on the government from below has encouraged me to pay more heed to the decisions of our pollies, to watch them closely and critically, however dry policy may be.
Words by Jessica Rowe
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Political Correspondence
1. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR GROUP’S POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND PRESENCE AT FLINDERS UNIVERSITY? 2. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE RECENT RESTRUCTURES, STAFF AND COURSE CUTS AT FLINDERS UNIVERSITY UNDER VICE-CHANCELLOR COLIN STIRLING? 3. HOW DO YOU THINK THE EVENTS OF THE LAST TWO YEARS, AND THE DECISIONS MADE ON BOTH STATE AND FEDERAL LEVELS, WILL IMPACT THE RESULTS OF THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS?
LEFT
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE
1. We are Marxists and revolutionary socialists. We recognize that all forms of exploitation and oppression are rooted in the profit motive of the economic system that we live under (capitalism) and that we must replace this system with one that places human need over profits (socialism). We believe that change happens from below and through collective actions such as protests and strikes. We are very active here at Flinders, whether that be organising or building towards protests, petitioning for current issues, or running discussion groups. 2. The cuts and restructures that were pushed through last year were a direct attack on staff and students. The line used from Flinders management was that the cuts were responding to “the challenges posed by COVID-19, Jobs Ready Graduate legislation and continuing loss of student load and, therefore revenue” despite the Vice Chancellor Colin Stirling sitting on a whopping $1.7 million a year and the University making a $37.8 million surplus in 2020 (comparatively a $25.1 million surplus was made in 2019). These cuts and restructures are a result of the University being run for profit rather than what it should be run for: a quality education. There has been plenty to protest against the Liberals in the past two years, from the bushfire crisis at the start of 2020 3. and to letting COVID rip across the country. Scott Morrison placing profits over health has rightly made him a hate figure for much of the public. It would be welcome to see the Liberals out of office, but from locking up refugees to supporting the fossil fuel industry Labor has shown no alternative to the Liberals. If Labor do win election, which looks likely, then they must not be let off the hook and should be fought back against when the time comes.
CENTRE
LABOR UNITY
1. Labor Unity (or Unite on campus) is the progressive, pragmatic force on campus. We are proudly centre left believing that government services need to be expanded and that the wealthy should pay their fair share of tax.
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1 (CONT.) We are focused on how working people can have their lives improved in the here and now. On campus our representatives advocate responsible spending of student money and for the rights of our diverse campus community 2. Terrible, straight and simple - staff are already overworked and students will have a worse quality of education. We believe Creative Industries and Humanities have a very important place in our society and economy (Creative industries provide more jobs per million dollars than construction). Students need to stand up to management and fight these cuts or we will all suffer. 3. The past few years have been a real awakening to many people especially the youth who are increasingly getting interested and engaged with politics. With the rise in online usage during the pandemic, people have been more interested in politics from social justice to the latest events. We can only hope that the federal and state government are punished at the ballot box for their recent mishandlings of the pandemic
RIGHT
FLINDERS’ LIBERAL CLUB
1. The Liberal Club promotes personal responsibility and small governance, championing the individual freedom and rights, provided this does not cause significant physical harm to another. Freedom of expression and a marketplace of ideas is the best way of operating a society. The Liberal Club is currently rebuilding, with strong connections to other University Liberal Clubs, and an all-female leadership team. 2. We believe that the quashing of humanities and arts detracts from student ability to engage in culture and develop nuanced ways of thinking. We oppose the staff cuts and hope the Student Union will be more active in their opposition to the cuts, rather than settle for saving Italian. 3. We believe that both state and federal governments have endeavoured to do what is best for their citizens at all times with the information and resources available. Although, at times, they may have erred, they were learning with us. We have confidence in our state and federal governments moving into the 2022 election cycle, particularly while opposing the Albanese and Malinauskas governments whose policies and approaches seem to indicate a paddling in a circle, having lost their oars of competence somewhere in the mist.
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Issue 3 submissions are now open! Our guiding words: Bodies, Sex, Grounded, Showing Up, Touch, Evolution, Pain, Catharsis, Representation. Any written or visual forms welcome. Nothing exceeding 1000 words.
Email us with your pieces & ideas before March 25th.
empiretimes@ flinders.edu.au 39
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Volume 49, Issue 01