HONI SOIT
WK V - SEM II
Acknowledgement of Country
Honi Soit is produced, published and distributed on the stolen land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. Sovereignty was never ceded. For over 235 years, First Nations peoples in so-called ‘Australia’ have continued to suffer under the destructive effects of invasion, genocide, and colonisation. As editors of this paper, we acknowledge that we are each living, writing, and working on stolen Gadigal, Wangal and Bidjigal land, and are beneficiaries of ongoing colonial dispossession.
We acknowledge that the University of Sydney is an inherently colonial institution which is not only physically built on stolen land, but also ideologically upholds a devaluing of Indigenous systems of knowledge and systematically excludes First Nations peoples. We recognise our complicity in such systems. We strive to remain conscious of, and actively resist and unlearn, colonial ideologies and biases, both our own and those perpetuated by the University and other institutions like it.
As a student newspaper, we pledge to stand in solidarity with both First Nations movements and all Indigenous struggles toward decolonisation worldwide, endeavouring to platform Indigenous voices. Honi is committed to countering the exclusion, censoring, and silencing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in mainstream media.
Always was, and always will be Aboriginal land.
Editors
Huw Bradshaw
Valerie Chidiac
Aidan Elwig Pollock
Victoria Gillespie
Ariana Haghighi
Sandra Kallarakkal
Zeina Khochaiche
Simone Maddison
Angus McGregor
Amelia Raines
Contributors
Bipasha Chakraborty
Edward Ellis
Ethan Floyd
Sidra Ghanawi
Marlow Hurst
Aidan Pollock
Kate Zhang
Jesse Carpenter
Jessica Louise-Smith
Artists, Photographers
Eden Crain
Hyewon Cho
Crossword Michael Smith
Cover Art
Lis
Back Cover and Program
Victoria Gillespie
Editorial
Angus McGregor
Universities have been in the national spotlight this year. The unified student movement in support of Palestine culminating in encampments and Student General Meetings (SGM)s across the country have brought scores of Sky News anchors and News Corp journalists as they attempt to start a new front of the culture wars.
Activists have embraced the fight. Their ideas are emerging in national mastheads for the first time, while MPs and Senators in the Greens are visiting their collective stalls and attending their rallies.
With the SRC election fast approaching, this edition reflects on the Student General Meeting and highlights the continued pushes by students and NTEU branches to force universities to divest from Israel.
Unfortunately receiving almost no attention, however, are the impending international student caps. The caps represent the largest threat to university finances since voluntary student unionism. Even conservative estimates argue they could cost thousands of jobs, more than any course cuts at any Australian university.
International students make up 46% of the student body and yet are consistently left out of the debate. Often reduced to immigration and visa statistics, this week’s feature by Kate Zhang advocates to give them a voice by centering their individual experiences. Universities refuse to stand up for students on their own terms and instead talk about international studentsonly in terms of their economic benefit. Politicians from both major parties are worse, blaming international students for the housing crisis, and engaging in well known populist troupes on the eve of a Federal election.
This edition is also a celebration of the seemingly mundane aspects of campus life and academia. Law elective caps and tutor marking codes may seem boring, but that boredom is the very reason the ever-growing University bureaucracy can escape criticism. Tutors getting paid accurately and students having access to classes is something we all should care about.
Many of my own friends suggested to me that a ‘campus’ theme lacked energy, and it is easy to see why people are not always enthusiastic about USyd, but it’s our job to sift through the forest.
News
Spilling on Spill Medical School Protests NTEU branches move BDS motions 4
ISSN: 2207-5593. This edition was published on Wednesday 28 August 2024. Disclaimer: Honi Soit is published by the Students’ Representative Council, University of Sydney, Level 1 Wentworth Building, City Road, University of Sydney NSW 2006. The SRC’s operation costs, space and administrative support are financed by the University of Sydney. Honi Soit is printed under the auspices of the SRC’s Directors of Student Publications (DSP): Dustin Dao, Jasmine Donnelly, Lia Perkins, Tiger Perkins, Victor Zhang, Lucinda Zheng. All expressions are published on the basis that they are not to be regarded as the opinions of the SRC unless specifically stated. The Council accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any of the opinions or information contained within this newspaper, nor does it endorse any of the advertisements and insertions.
Gabi
Cartoon Caption Contest
Cartoon: Ariana Haghighi
Submit your best caption for the above to editors@honisoit. com for a chance to WIN and be published in the next edition! Winners receive a personalised limerick from Angus McGregor.
Winner’s reward:
The duo moved with style and flair, She spun with Raybans, light as air. The bald one stood tight, As she danced through the night, Cooler than anyone could dare!
Winning caption: “Pictured Above: Tweedle-Ray & Tweedle-Ban®” — James Wily
Wednesday 28 August
What’s on?
QUEST Wear it Purple Day, 12-2pm @ Engineering and Technology Precinct, Darlington.
Protest: Student Strike for Palestine, 12pm @ UTS Tower.
SCA Group Exhibition: Yours Sincerely, 5-9pm @ Goodspace Gallery, Chippendale.
Thursday 29 August
Resisting Erasure; Writing for Liberation — A writing workshop by Sara Saleh, 3:00pm @ Old Geology Lecture Theatre.
Transience by Diptych. Poetry reading, open mic & art exhibition, 5-10pm @ Goodspace Gallery, The Lord Gladstone
Friday 30 August
Straight Arrows. Opening acts: Teevee Repairman & Cammy Cautious and the Wrestlers, 7:30pm @ Marrickville Bowling Club.
Saturday 31 August
Electric Dreams, DJs: Action Ant $ Miss Kate, 8pm @ Botany View Hotel.
Reverse Archaeologies & Replica Autoprogettazione @ Tin Sheds Gallery. (Verge’s 15th Anniversary exhibition) @ Verge Gallery.
Letters
Got something you want to get off your chest? A love letter? A limerick? Something you would tweet back when Twitter was good?
Submit your letters to us! editors@honisoit.com
Cartoon: Huw Bradshaw
‘Gargoyles’: Ariana Haghighi & Huw Bradshaw
Spill for Honi provisionally elected as 2025 Editors
Angus McGregor and Zeina Khochaiche ‘Spill’ for Honi has been provisionally elected to serve as Honi Soit editors next year after their only opponent dropped out of the race today.
Running under the ticket name ‘JJames.’, James, no last name given, was suspected to be a joke candidate. Honi has no information on why James decided to drop out so soon after the close of nominations.
The Returning Officer confirmed their withdrawal to Honi in an email.
This is the third Honi uncontested election without a proper election campaign since Drip and Cake contested the 2021 editorship. Both ‘Flirt’ (2024) and ‘Shake’ (2023) were elected unopposed.
The provisionally elected ticket includes Ellie Robertson, Mehnaaz Hossain, Purny Ahmed, Ondine Karpinellison, Lotte Weber, Imogen Sabey, Emilie Garcia-Dolnik, Annabel Li, Aidan Pollock, and Will Winter.
Factional affiliations on the ticket include Ellie Robertson who is aligned with Switchroots and Lotte Weber who
was a former member of Grassroots. Collectively, the ticket has written a total of 117 articles for Honi.
The ticket is yet to launch any public social media platform or policies outlining their vision for the paper next year. Honi has reached out to the new team to organise an interview and the customary quiz.
In response to their provisional election ‘Spill’ told Honi that “We are so excited to be next year’s Honi team! It’s an incredible honour to be elected as Editors and we absolutely cannot wait to introduce ‘Spill’ to everyone soon.”
Online campaigning for the SRC President, council, and NUS elections will start on September 11 with in person campaigning starting on the 16. Whilst provisionally elected, the incoming ticket are still permitted to promote their platform and policies for their new tenure.
Students will vote on campus between September 24 and 26.
Students protest medical school’s exchange program with Technion
Jesper Duffy
At 1pm on Wednesday August 21, students and staff gathered in front of F23 to protest the University of Sydney’s ongoing ties with Israeli universities.
The Faculty of Medicine currently has an exchange program with Israeli Institute of Technology (Technion) in occupied Palestine, the institute behind the D9 bulldozers used to demolish stolen Palestinian neighbourhoods and hide graves in Gaza.
The rally opened with chants
UNSW and University of Melbourne NTEU branches pass BDS motions in landslide votes
Valerie Chidiac
On Tuesday August 20, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) branch at UNSW passed a motion endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) while the Melbourne NTEU branch meeting took place today with 315 people present and a 97% vote in favour.
In landslide votes, they each called on their respective universities to endorse an academic boycott, divestment from weapons and arms manufacturers and end its relationships with Israeli universities, in accordance with the demands of Palestinians.
The UNSW deemed the motion as befitting an “urgency of action” given the International Court of Justice (ICJ) preliminary ruling that Israel is “plausibly committing genocide”, as well as the destruction of all universities in Gaza and the targeting of academics.
The UniMelb motion similarly noted that Israel is “committing genocide in the Gaza Strip” detailing the physical, human, scholastic, medical, and institutional facets, and backed the 19 July by the ICJ which confirmed that Israel is “responsible for the crime of apartheid” and its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.
They emphasised the “direct involvement of Israeli universities in perpetuating genocide in Gaza and Israeli apartheid, through their roles in weapons research and military training”, and therefore UniMelb’s institutional ties to universities and “weapons manufacturers that arm or support Israel and other repressive regimes.”
As such, the “potential exposure of staff and students to moral and
even legal censure” via this connection to war crimes was highlighted, and that because of the ICJ’s ruling for states, there is an obligation for all institutions to “not to enter economic, trade, or investment relations with Israel” that assist and maintain Israel’s occupation.
The UNSW NTEU demanded that Management:
• Disclose total monetary figures awarded to UNSW in research contracts with complicit companies
• Disclose subject matter of said research
• Cut ties with all organisations enabling violence in Gaza
• Establish international scholarships for Palestinians arriving from Gaza and partnerships with Palestinian academics and universities
• Replace the funding of all staff whose positions depend on arms manufacturers with research for the public good
• Ensure protest on campus and academic freedom in relation to Palestine is protected
The UniMelb motion shared the aforementioned demands, in addition to calling for:
• Management to cut ties with and cease partnerships with “the defence industry/ sector, the weapons industry and militaries in general”, including research collaborations
• Amendments to its Gift Policy “to abstain from accepting gifts from donors in the defence sector”
• Amendment to its anti-racism commitment by ending its
adoption of the controversial (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism which conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism
• Join the Scholars at Risk program and host endangered Palestinian academics
Both branches specified that this motion “does not prevent collaboration with individual academics” rather any collaborations with Israeli universities or those “officially mediated” by Israeli institutions.
The UNSW branch also reiterated that “support for Palestine and a commitment to justice is union business” having previously passed motions condemning the 2021 forced evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, and another in solidarity with Palestinians experiencing genocidal violence after the October 7 attack, calling for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid.
Following a Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009, UNSW was revealed to have ties to companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who have research contracts with the US Department of Airforce, Army, and the Navy, and institutional partnerships with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Similarly, UniMelb is known to have ties to Lockheed Martin, Boeing and BAE Systems, and partnerships with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.
When asked to comment on the passing of the motion, a spokesperson for UNSW said they were “committed to driving positive societal impact which includes contributing to the
security and cohesion of Australia and the wider global community.”
They reiterated their unequivocal support for academic freedom and commitment to “conducting and managing research responsibly and with integrity” including in “joint research and collaboration with international research partners.”
“The University’s mandatory disclosure scheme for foreign affiliations and partnerships enables consideration of potential risks of our international engagements and fulfilment of our disclosure obligations to government.”
The spokesperson also spoke to the establishment of an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Advisory Group which will “further focus alignment and reporting” on “environmental, social and governance goals and outcomes” as well as review “investment frameworks, supply chains, policies, procedures and practices… [and] more proactive and transparent reporting.”
David Gonzalez, NTEU branch president at UniMelb said in a press release that “staff and students have been surveilled, silenced and intimidated repeatedly by University management when expressing views against the death and destruction unfolding in Gaza.”
Both NTEU branches called for a widespread pressure campaign on the University and called upon NTEU branches across Australia to pass similar motions.
USyd’s NTEU branch passed a motion in favour of an academic institutional boycott of Israel on May 9th of this year, which also provided the basis for UniMelb’s motion.
of “Mark Scott, can’t you hear, we won’t build your weapons here,” and “Uni is for education, not for Gaza’s decimation,” led by Midhat Jafri, a member of Students Against War (SAW). Rally chair, Vieve Carsnew (SAW) opened by linking the struggles of Indigenous peoples in Australia and Palestine, and condemning ViceChancellor Mark Scott for his response to the Student General Meeting where he called those in attendance “terrorist sympathisers”.
The first speaker, Daej Arab, spoke about his experience with the movement as a member of staff in the Faculty of Medicine. He said he was inspired by the students rallying outside F23, and that the rally had brought him out to do something he had never done before.
Arab condemned the medical school’s pretence that the exchange program is harmless, and called upon Mark Scott to listen to the results of the SGM, NTEU votes and the 250 medicine students who have petitioned to end this exchange agreement. He concluded by saying “Mark Scott will be gone in three years with his millions, but we will still be here supporting Palestine.”
The rally then marched down Eastern Avenue and Physics Road towards the Nanoscience building, where Jacob Starling (SAW) condemned Mark Scott for maintaining the many ties with Israel despite the high death toll in Gaza.
Starling linked the Gaza Solidarity Encampment to the introduction of the Campus Access Policy, saying that students have succeeded in scaring management, and continued to do so with the SGM, and the unauthorised stall day on July 31st. He further linked USYD’s ties to the Australian government’s complicity in US imperialism, saying that the true terrorist supporters are the bosses who ignore the workers and line their pockets with genocide. Starling ended by urging mass mobilisation, calling for “thousands of students to disrupt business as usual” until demands are met.
Vieve Carnsew then led the rally to the Susan Wakil building, where security refused protesters entry and locked the front door. The third and final speaker, Tawhid, a medicine student, opened by saying “I am disgusted I can study here in this building yesterday, but cannot protest
here today.”
He explained the Gazan origin of the gauze he used in class the day before, mourning the fact that Gazan doctors don’t have access to their own invention and instead must use t-shirts to tend to deadly wounds.
Tawhid condemned the virtue signalling of the University’s empty reconciliation with First Nations Australians, while profiting off of the genocide both here and in Palestine. He said that he “[does] not consent to [his] student fees going towards the killing of Palestinians” and hopes that he is the last cohort of this university to wonder who his fees are killing today.
After the rally, students and staff who were scheduled to use the facilities in the Susan Wakil building were outraged at the front door being locked. One student was seen in a verbal argument with security over the protest being locked out of the building.
Photography: Jesper Duffy
UNSW development plan threatens NIDA learning spaces
Valerie Chidiac and Ariana Haghighi
In August 2022, it was revealed that the University of New South Wales (UNSW) had signed a 99-year lease on a car park adjacent to the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and UNSW Anzac Parade light rail to private student accommodation provider Iglu, to fulfil a proposed development for a 1000-bed student housing site.
Intended to be “Australia’s largest new integrated student accommodation, leisure and lifestyle precinct” housing 900 students, the UNSW-Iglu plan was to involve 23 and 20-storey buildings. It was only after NIDA, Randwick Council and locals expressed their concerns that the proposed height was decreased to 15 and 16-storey buildings.
According to a 2024 Randwick City Council assessment report, 584 submissions were received with concerns of “height, bulk and scale, overshadowing, acoustic impacts, visual privacy and building separation, loss of parking and secondary parking impacts and service vehicle conflicts”. Despite amendments to the height of the buildings and distance from NIDA, the council report recommended the development application be “refused”.
NIDA expressed its “strenuous objections” to the development in an open letter, stating that it poses an “existential risk to NIDA’s future” both in the short and long-term.
NIDA CEO Liz Hughes argued that there will be an estimated three to five years of disruptions with the development costing them “$11.4 million in the first 12 months, and tens of millions over the construction period.”
Tensions remain high as NIDA said it was “blindsided” and that tangible impacts will reverberate across crucial operations like loss of parking space, relocation and closures of rehearsals and performance spaces, and “unusable” music and sound studios, that in turn affect students and staff.
The $11.4 million figure was deemed close to a third of NIDA’s 2025 budget, given that the Institute is a not-for-profit, and that 45% of their self-generated revenue goes towards their budget.
Hughes also emphasised that “NIDA is not opposed to the entire development and we recognise the need for student housing however it can’t be at the expense of NIDA’s ability to operate.”
NIDA had initially objected in 2023, in addition to the amended development application on June 6, 2024.
They also claimed that UNSW is set to receive $168 million from the lease, and that the plan includes commercial and retail premises.
“It is NIDA’s view that the project can be designed to produce a reasonable housing outcome in a way that does not seriously prejudice NIDA and its operations.”
As such, NIDA’s open letter listed recommendations for UNSW to consider including a “24 metre setback of buildings from NIDA (minimum of 18m)”, removal of the closest building to NIDA, “confirm provision of readily available car parking for NIDA within the development in a formal agreement” and compensate NIDA for costs and loss in revenue.
University abandons plans to sell Darlington Terraces
Angus McGregor
The University of Sydney has abandoned a proposed plan to sell Darlington Terraces, after years of speculation.
USyd is instead embarking on a refurbishment of the property to reopen the building to students.
A project team has been established to advise on the development and Honi Soit understands the work is planned to be completed by 2026. Public updates have yet to be made on the nature of the redevelopment and its cost.
A University spokesperson confirmed to Honi that they are “pleased to be advancing with a refurbishment of the Darlington Terraces, recognising their vital role in accommodating students.”
“The refurbishment project budget will be determined once an investigation assessing the current state of the terraces is complete.”
An earlier estimate for a full redevelopment placed the cost at $84 million while a less amphibious renovation was costed at $19.4 million.
The federal government, acting as mediator between UNSW and NIDA, has also cautioned UNSW that it may be contravening a long-term lease if it proceeds with its development plan.
This comes despite the 2022 National Housing Accord’s push for more student housing, in particular, aimed at attracting international students. UNSW, like many tertiary institutions, relies on international student fees.
The development plan remains currently “under assessment” by the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel, an independent panel created by the state government to resolve large and controversial developments.
Honi Soit reached out to both UNSW and NIDA for comment.
A UNSW spokesperson said, “UNSW Sydney is committed to building student housing and is collaborating with Iglu to provide our students with accommodation options that are convenient to campus and everything the local community has to offer.”
They explained that UNSW and Iglu “consulted extensively with NIDA” over more than 40 direct engagements leading to “significant amendments made to the Development Application, including reductions in height and increased setbacks.”
The spokesperson continued by saying that UNSW will “continue to consult with NIDA and the broader community” and that “like many other universities” are “aware of the challenges imposed by the high cost of housing in Sydney and are currently exploring ways to provide support for students.”
A plan was considered by the University last year to sell the property for an estimated $78 million with the profits being reinvested in the longterm investment fund. The dividends from that investment were projected to be $3.4 million a year.
Universities are all scrambling to increase the amount of purpose-built student accommodation after the government announced the size of the incoming international student caps would be partially tied to how much housing universities provided.
Many universities like UNSW have faced roadblocks fighting local planning laws, zoning restrictions, and local objections to redevelopment. Student accommodation is not currently classified as ‘affordable accommodation’, which means projects are unable to be fast tracked.
USyd has restricted its options after years of selling off property to take advantage of high prices.
Over $70 million worth of property including the Forest Lodge was sold off in 2022 and this year the University sold the historic Mackie Building for $16.5 million.
One property still in limbo is International House which has been sitting for years without any development application going forward. The website says the University “has reaffirmed its intent to redevelop the site,” but the spokesperson did not provide any update to Honi if a decision has been made.
The spokesperson said that the University planned “to offer an extra 2000-3000 beds over the next five years.”
Seeing in HD: A closer examination of the marking system at USyd
Many students submit assignments semester to semester, unit to unit and receive their results in the usual two week window — with little to no idea how their tutor marks the essay or report, how much feedback they can give, or even the time they can spend on it.
Speaking to multiple tutors, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), and the University, Honi Soit stepped through a patchwork system full of disputes and confusion.
Dotting the lines
There are three marking codes that determine how much a tutor is paid for any given assignment: M05, M04 and M03. There are two main factors which determine whether the marking approach should be classified as M05, M04, or M03 include: whether the tutor has a PhD or equivalent subject and whether the assignment requires “significant academic judgement”.
The table below contains relevant categorising factors and the rates for each of those codes, with the M03 code, as the highest rate, sitting at $20 an hour more than the lowest rate, M05 — a significant difference for tutors.
What constitutes “significant academic judgement,” is subject to dispute. Tutors have told Honi that even large essays at the undergraduate level, say for 3000-level English or History courses, do not fit the category. A University spokesperson also told us that undergraduate work in most cases was not considered M03. Despite this, such lengthy essays, written by students in their third year of their major, would likely require “significant academic judgement” for accurate assessment.
Honi reported recently that new guidelines were being pushed onto FASS unit coordinators that tutors should be paid M04 or M05 for essays. The introduction of more rubrics and explicit guidelines when marking assignments has been used to ensure tutors cannot make a claim they are exercising “significant academic judgement.”
The current consensus seems to be that M03 marking is only being consistently used when providing feedback for postgraduate or Honours work, and even then, some tutors told us M04 and M05 marking codes were also prominent in those areas.
The current Enterprise Agreement between the NTEU and the University, which sets out the guidelines, says that “comments on postgraduate assignments or postgraduate examination papers, and or large bodies of work such as Honours or post-graduate papers,” fall into the higher pay category.
Tutors have suggested to Honi that there is no real room for interpretation there — the vast majority of postgraduate work should not be paid at the lower rate and that a tutor does not need a PhD to be paid the correct M03 rate.
The marker is mightier than the grading
Honi spoke to tutors who delved into the average experience of markers. They immediately noted that after COVID-19 there was a noticeably slow but consistent implementation of standardised rubrics. While rubrics are now “granular” and include smaller details, it remains labour intensive for them to be implemented for each assessment.
When it comes to simple extensions, the same rubric as the original submission box has to be theoretically applied for the extension box. Sometimes slips occur, where some students “might be getting marked against a completely different set of criteria” and the only way to avoid this is through a manual process that takes hours.
One tutor, Jack*, spoke in relation to casual workers, who are allocated one hour, per student, per course for marking. Besides basic training modules on how to use Speed Grader, which fulfils the technological side of training, tutors have had to navigate rubrics on their own with limited and targeted training on how to mark. Tutors do rely on informal
advice from meetings including what to look for, what to flag and what may be considered a problem in the paper. They have also figured out a default mark for work that is not considered a distinction or with “clear merits” within a range of 67-72. Most markers are PhD students who do not have formal training in a classroom.
When asked if tutors are taught about the difference between M03, M04 and M05 pay codes, Jack said “yes and no”. Upon receiving an initial contract, it is explicit as to what code should be claimed and the online teaching allocation database is also clear, despite it being a “pain to use.” Jack also said that it would be confusing “as to how someone would make a mistake” with regards to the different codes.
Jack also specified that “[until] you have your graduation” tutors completing their PhD do not receive a M04 rate as the Enterprise Agreement specifies that M04 “is payable if an individual holds a relevant PhD, and/or has responsibility for the coordination of the unit of study being taught.”
While it is rare that tutors consider wage thefting themselves or focus less attention on one work, “looking at borderline fails or HDs take a long time to justify either direction, because that has an impact on the student.”
If one assignment takes longer, Jack stated that they just “take the loss” because they need to maintain their job and focus on bigger issues.
“You owe that student the time, whether it’s paid or not.”
It was also revealed that for assignments involving videos/podcasts, there usually has to be a written component even though the mark entails both the video submission and written work.
When asked if there should be a pay code in between the existing codes to address the discrepancies, Jack admitted that “fewer pay codes would be better on the whole” especially as filling out a timesheet requires an hour of unpaid labour.
Ruby* felt that the word-to-time ratio was off saying that she and “fellow tutors have often had the experience of having a specific word count listed on the unit outline (e.g., 250 words)” and
are then given an assignment rubric permitting students to “submit 250-500 words, with some even going up to ~900 at times.”
They explained that this means marking is more difficult, especially when there is a large volume of assignments over a shorter period of time.
With regards to the general sentiment amongst tutors and across faculties, Law and STEM experiences which “look nothing like” that of the Arts and Social Sciences. Not only do they have classes with demonstrations instead of tutorial experiences, but there is a “slow decay in unit offerings especially for people who are really highly specialised.”
Because most Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students are international, tutors often become entirely reliant on their teaching income unless they are able to find additional work. This is also exacerbated by what Jack believes is “a universal use of prejudice against international students, which translates into allocation of work for casuals.” Equity problems, poor language support, and neurodivergent writing practices were also identified as areas requiring further consideration.
Why students should care
As students, we like to think that ‘we are more than our marks’. However, these percentages and grades not only guide our learning experience but our future outside of academic life.
Jack explained that he always tried to tell their first-year students that marks can determine entry into graduate programs. Whether that be in government or corporate roles like Qantas, graduate programs “begin from a distinction… as the low bar for entry.” Consequently, marking becomes a mutual process in which students and tutors work together rather than something tutors embark on by themselves — “the more support tutors have to act as educators, the more likely it is that students can do well.”
“If I was a student, and even if I didn’t care about my marks, it would still concern me. I’m not getting a fair hearing because the person being paid to assess my work might not necessarily have time or space to do so adequately,”
Valerie Chidiac, Angus McGregor and Ariana Haghighi mark around.
Quiet quotas: Accessibility of electives at Law School
Ariana Haghighi investigates.
After a gruelling and grisly few years of completing “Priestley 11” subjects, the 11 core units universal to all law schools in Australia, enervated law students are impatient to select their elective units. These subjects greatly influence their career path, branching out into Media or Family Law. However, every year, students are turned away at the door from prized electives. Forced to opt for entirely different subjects in order to complete their degree, students leave the Law School dissatisfied and disadvantaged. Whatever for?
Central University has a policy against setting caps on classes, but many schools do this regardless. Various law professors understand the situation regarding elective caps in the Law School differently, a testament to the puzzling nature of the policy and its execution. USyd professors complain that the rule is “set arbitrarily” and that there is “no general consultation”, stripping academics of a say.
However, following a slap on the wrist from Central University management, the Law School must devise crafty methods to reduce the number of students in popular elective courses. A law professor explains that one slapdash method involves booking rooms with small seating capacities for soughtafter subjects. If a subject is full, a student must ask for special permission. As a result, lecturers of popular subjects are inundated with requests.
However, another law professor shared one impulse behind capped classes: the educational benefits of small class sizes. Law subjects at USyd are often taught in seminars, rather than tutorials, of up to 60 students, which hampers group discussion. At other universities, law schools often cap classes or tutorials at 30 students to enhance the learning experience.
“The problem behind elective caps now is that student numbers have dramatically increased and the Law School is yet to make provisions for electives as well as core units.”
According to one law professor, the existence of quotas serve a variety of purposes including ensuring that subjects with less popularity remain filled, avoiding the need to assess why these subjects are less popular.
They also drew attention to the fact that students are emboldened to question marks on specifics more than they have witnessed before, labelled as a symptom of “the business transactional model of the university.” This was also viewed as a sign that students feel greater ownership over their degree and are increasingly proactive, seeking clarity over their results.
Since marking is not only dictated by “individual tutors’ choices” but by a broader system at work, a need for students to “funnel their complaints to the people and places where it actually matters” was identified by Mary*, another tutor. She explained that as a
The professor warned that “a tsunami is coming”, and as a result, “the faculty needs to prepare and needs to start putting on more classes”. Of course, putting on more, smaller classes costs money — but the alternative comes at a cost to the student experience. As the professor summarises, “We have lots of discussion about how to be a Top 10 Law School, but never a comprehensive discussion about how to give the best education to the students we’ve got.”
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Juris Doctor (JD) students are allowed to enrol in a maximum of 24 credit points of Master’s electives in their final year, however there are minimum spots pre-allocated for these students in these classes. This theoretically expands a student’s elective possibilities, and enables them to take a more specific route in line with career aspirations.
So perhaps the issue isn’t capping classes to be smaller, the professor explains, but how this practice affects the student experience based on current circumstances.
The problem behind elective caps now is that student numbers have dramatically increased and the Law School is yet to make provisions for electives as well as core units. In the 2024 cohort, there are almost 700 first-year LLB and JD students, due to a significant uptick in offers from years before. Despite the rise in student number, the faculty has not hired a substantially higher number of staff.
result of this, student requests asking for additional feedback “end up directly in individual tutors’ emails, and we’re not the ones who are making these decisions.” They identified the need for students to know about the marking process so that they can complain to Management which may help advocate for fairer time allocations and pay codes.
“Management get[s] away with these pay code discrepancies by relying on casual tutors to put a lot of effort into marking without complaint, because they can say ‘oh well you are only supposed to give an overall mark, and select the preset rubric points’.”
These tutor experiences indicate that it may be time for students to start
An LLB student told Honi Soit that there was a maximum of five spots for LLBs and JDs in the Master’s subject they took. They recalled a teacher describing how they would receive so many emails from students wishing to take the class that they had been advised to forward all their emails to an administrative staff member in the faculty to deal with. This functionally means that undergraduate students need to apply for permission to take the Master’s unit on the first day that enrolment opens in order to be competitive; often without knowing that this is needed until they’ve taken the class.
A University spokesperson told Honi that capping “certain electives” was “in direct response to student feedback, which highlights the need to prioritise teacher-student interactions and support, student engagement in
seeing marks as not just a way to pass our units but something in dialogue with tutors that potentially differentiates you in a competitive job market.
NTEU response and campaign
The NTEU is currently campaigning to reform the marking code system, with multiple Union members telling Honi that any discussion with the University has to be placed in the broader context of wage theft in the tertiary sector.
Essential to the campaign is also to just educate students. Tutors across the board have told us that they can receive multiple emails from students asking why feedback was so minimal. The average
their learning, and building a stronger sense of belonging for students.”
“Students have also identified the need for their learning to provide more opportunities for skill development including, spoken communication skills and teamwork, “ the spokesperson continued, “large classes in core and elective units make it more challenging to provide students with such opportunities and experience.”
Developing a curriculum requires a balance of many considerations — however, faculties should ensure that student experience is not a factor relegated to the background.
According to the spokesperson, the Law School is “currently undertaking an elective review” that will “ensure that our elective programs offer the right mix of options to meet student demand, their diverse learning needs and staff expertise.”
Developing a curriculum requires a balance of many considerations — however, faculties should ensure that student experience is not a factor relegated to the background. Elective choice significantly determines a student’s enjoyment of their degree, and restrictions on it recall the University’s broader treatment of student decision-making as dangerous, rather than liberating. With the Law School left as one of the few faculties that offers wide elective choice, it would be a step in the wrong direction to fell this sentinel.
student perceives the time a tutor can spend on each essay as much lower than it actually is.
Marked as read
The enduring purpose of a degree has and will always be to gain the knowledge and skills to begin working professionally. Therefore, students should understand the reality of the marking process to be able to recognise the disadvantages faced by tutors during the marking process. While the work is still marked, many questions will remain unanswered.
*Names have been changed for anonymity.
Jack added.
Why students attended the 2024 Student General Meeting
Lining up
On August 7, 2024, 500-700 students gathered to take part in the fifth Student General Meeting (SGM) in the University of Sydney’s history organised by the Student Representative Council (SRC). It was an impressive feat of student participation birthed from the ongoing fight for Palestinian liberation
Prior to the SGM, it was difficult to predict the turnout and reception. The meeting needed at least 200 undergraduate students to reach quorum, and the SRC could only hope their organising efforts would materialise. By 4:30pm — 30 minutes before the start time — lines leading to the main Eastern Avenue Auditorium were extending out and around, all the way along City Road bridge.
The ethos of an SGM is a shared mission to hold management and tertiary institutions to account. Undergraduate students from across different faculties, year groups and backgrounds joined together in growing numbers. So much so that a second room opened up in the Chemistry Hall, and student groups dialled in from the Conservatorium of Music. The sight of students approaching the hall in pairs and in groups, eagerly awaiting to sign in and take their seats was an inspiring scene that emboldened the meeting’s mission.
What are we fighting for?
But to understand the power of the SGM, we must recognise the power of students. Honi Soit conducted short interviews with different students in line to see who was attending the meeting and the general atmosphere of attendees. To keep our conversations accessible and safe we asked one question: “Why are you here today?”
Students referenced various reasons for attendance; citing the University’s new strict Campus Access Policy, divestment demands and student solidarity. Others spoke to broader topics including
anti-proliferation of weapons manufacturing and unfolding geopolitics.
Attendees acknowledged the historic power of the student movement, speaking to the anti-war movement,the state of student activism building upon the momentum of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Here is a collection of student interviews recorded at the 2024 SGM:
Let’s hear it for the students
Hana: I am Lebanese and I am here because we need to cut ties with Israel.
Rahul: What is going on is not right and not cutting ties with Israel is a crime.
Tom: Mark Scott’s policies are almost totalitarian and suppress our freedom of speech.
Sonnet & Aishlin: We don’t want your two-state, we want all of 48.
Tora: It is a tangible and an actual thing to do in support of Palestinian activism.
Jack: We are here to make it clear that students don’t support the proliferation of weapons manufacturers and research. And of course, to stand staunchly with Palestinian resistance.
Freya: Students played a large part in the anti-Vietnam war movement. I am very proud to be in this tradition.
Pat: I am here to vote to dissolve USyd’s ties with weapons ties to universities and weapons manufacturing.
Cate & Red: To be a part of the vibrant student movement and get the University to divest from their horrific ties to Israel.
Roy: Just to protest what’s going on on campus and being here is showing up for all types of liberation.
Tiffany, Sarah & Ellie: We are here to support Palestine in the face of our University’s lack of action and further
push to the fascist regime. When they make it harder to protest, we must reaffirm our position.
Jack: Solidarity with Palestine. I do not feel great giving my money to USyd who then gives it to Israel.
Charlie: I am here in solidarity with Palestine and this is a really good forum to make meaningful change and the fact that everyone is getting together is an impressive feat. I want to stand with everyone and get more involved.
Angus: To use our voice as a student stakeholder to pressure management.
Holly: I am here to support Palestine and believe USyd to be held accountable to their lack of action.
Alex: Important that more people understand USyd’s complicity with what’s going on.
Rand: Cut ties with Israel.
Deaglan: I am here because our university should not be complicit in a genocide and students have right to voice opposition.
Anonymous: Solidarity with Palestine.
Chris: To be a part of student history.
Where to next?
Despite this success, certain students revealed they didn’t know that the SGM was happening that day or found out last minute. Organising across campus and online platforms remains a critical obstacle for political activists, especially when it comes to increasing accessibility for the historically unengaged. Nevertheless, this event represents one of the largest attendances for any political meeting post-COVID-19.
At the crux of this Student General Meeting, and every political action on campus, is the students. In these safe hands, the movement and fight for Palestinian liberation will persevere.
The wave of SGMs
Starting with the University of Queensland’s SGM in May, at the peak of the student encampments, student activism in SGM-form is spreading across the country. At all 7, students voted for the motions unanimously.
University of Queensland – May 29 1500 students voted for three motions: UQ severing ties with companies that supply the IDF, shutting down UQ’s Boeing Centre and calling on UQ to financially divest from Israel.
University of Sydney – August 7 800 students voted for two motions: demanding Usyd cut ties with genocide, and affirming Palestinian statehood.
University of Adelaide – August 12 200 students voted for three motions: calling upon the University to stand in solidarity with people of Palestine, call for ceasefire and sign onto BDS, divesting from weapons companies, and dropping disciplinary cases against the encampment.
RMIT – 13 August (City), 14 August (Bundoora) 569 students voted on four resolutions: standing for a free Palestine, demanding RMIT cut ties with weapons manufacturers and companies with Israeli government, condemning RMIT’s and Australia’s complicity in genocide, calling for RMIT to withdraw from the 2024 Land Forces Exposition.
Queensland University of Technology –15 August 650 students voted on three motions: QUT cutting ties with weapons companies and US Air Force, disclosing all ties with Israel and weapons industry, and divesting from all.
University of Melbourne – 15 August 500 students voted for a motion calling on Unimelb to fully divest from weapons companies and cut all ties with the state of Israel, Israeli corporations and Israeli academic institutions in line with the global boycott, divestment, sanctions movement
Australian National University - 15 August 200 students voted on two motions at two meetings: calling on ANU to disclose and cutt ties with IDFassociated weapons manufacturers, and cutting ties with Israeli tertiary institutions and the Australian Signals Directorate.
Monash University – September 3 Students will be voting on standing with Palestine and demanding weapons off our campus.
University of Wollongong –September 4 Students will be voting on UOW cutting military ties.
Read the whole article online.
Victoria Gillespie and Zeina Khochaiche stand in line.
Even when we win, we lose: Reflecting on Imane Khelif’s witch-hunt
Candidly, I’m not one for sporting events and never have been. Having said this, the political aura that engulfs quadrennial events like the World Cup, and as of late, the Olympics is deeply fascinating in that it acts as a benchmark for how much society has truly progressed. Thus, every four years, the Olympic torch is set alight, and so is the fervour within me.
Coming off the back of Qatar’s controversial hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the most notable transgression during the games was the proposed banning of alcohol. A ban that aligned with Qatar’s societal norms and legal customs as a majority Muslim country, but was justified as being imposed to prevent unnecessary drunken violence and rowdiness at sporting games. Nonetheless, it raked in endless Islamophobic attacks from predominantly Western audiences calling Qatar overly conservative, rebuking modernisation and forcing Islamic values on tourists.
All the while, the true skeleton in the closet — exploitation and
systematic abuse of migrant workers — was met by the world’s blissful ignorance. With the exception of an Amnesty International report and commentary on social media, abhorrent human rights violations and working conditions failed to sustain global media outrage and nary a 60 Minutes documentary on behalf of the esteemed, virtuous Murdoch media.
So, what’s all this got to do with the Olympics?
I’m afraid that the oh-so-civilised West has its own set of skeletons in the closet, and mainstream media appear to be guarding the door.
When Italian boxer Angela Carini publicly said“I have never felt a punch like this” after being defeated by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, these words were the catalyst for the onslaught of viciously conspiratorial claims that Khelif was biologically a man competing in women’s sport. Spearheaded by right-wing, conservative figures like JK Rowling and Elon Musk — both of whom were named in Khelif’s lawsuit against X — commentators
interrogated Khelif’s womanhood, spreading defamatory lies about her biological sex under the guise of free speech, engendering claims that she possessed an “unfair advantage”.
Rather, Khelif’s participation and subsequent win was none other than a manifestation of her talent, passion, and rigour. Any distasteful attempts to discredit her win must be called out for what they are: racist.
A slew of left-wing media outlets was quick to defend Khelif, with standfirsts and headings that read “Imane Khelif is not transgender”, “Imane Khelif is a woman”, “boxing gender row”; framing the online attacks within the scope of unadulterated sexism and transphobia. It rings true that sexism has penetrated the women’s sporting world for decades and continues to do so, as does racism. Mainstream media outlets noticeably glossed over the intersection of race, gender and Orientalist stereotypes that so clearly played out in Khelif’s degradation.
Days after their match, Carini publicly apologised to Khelif, noting that “all this controversy makes [her] sad.” Somebody get me some tissues. Consequently, Carini was praised by the media as brave and kind, and the International Boxing Association also offered her a petite $100,000. Keep in mind, this is the sum being offered to Gold medallists— apparently we may have lost sight of the definition of a Gold medallist ever so slightly.
After Khelif progressed to a match with Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori, Hamori further aggrandised the already racist attacks against her opponent by posting an image that depicted Khelif as a beast towering over a beautifully athletic, and conveniently white, woman. The portrayal of the white woman as a victim is no coincidence, as to this day, the white woman remains the embodiment of victimhood and femininity. Only she must be protected by any means necessary.
The aforementioned image not only strips Khelif of her humanity, but reeks of quintessential Orientalism. It upholds the propaganda that seeks to entrench the imagery of the barbaric, violent, animalistic Arab man in the public consciousness. This narrative is inextricably rooted in colonial histories, in which the colonisation of land is perpetuated by the colonisation of bodies, particularly those of people of colour. Juxtaposed with the calm, white woman being a victim of her circumstances, the image reinforces the colonial dichotomy of the civilised West, and the savage East.
Ostensibly, this image among the infinite attacks on Khelif is all in the name of “fairness” in women’s sports. Fairness has long morphed into an issue of the “unfair advantage”,
manifesting itself in ruthless attacks on women of colour who do not fit the Western beauty standard. Athletes like Imane Khelif, Serena Williams and Lin Yu-Ting have been subject to non-consensual, crude debate about their hormones, chromosomes, athletic build and genitalia, essentially depriving them of bodily autonomy. The same cannot be said for white female athletes, for whom these controversies are few and far between. It boils down to an issue of gendered racism, where female athletes of colour do not fit Western beauty standards, and for that reason cannot possibly be women. This campaign was so incredulous that Khelif was essentially coerced into undergoing a “dramatic transformation”, hailed by Western media as nothing short of “INCREDIBLE”, in which she was seen in a floral dress, with makeup. Turns out that women do look different when they aren’t in boxing gear!
Ironically, the West purports to be the bastion of gender equality. Thus, the race to defend its ‘superior’ position in advocating for (white) women’s rights far supersedes the necessity to be staunchly anti-racist.
The fact is that Khelif is an Algerian woman, and any tangible discussion of her Maghrebi Arab identity was swiftly followed by mention of her conservative upbringing, emphasising that she grew up in a rural town where transitioning was illegal. To put it simply, they strived to disprove and eliminate the possibility of Imane being transgender and Algerian, painting these identities as mutually exclusive. Furthermore, the West simply could not capitulate to the notion of an Arab woman of such faculty: firstly, winning against a white woman, and secondly, being allowed to compete at all. After all, she is Muslim, but unveiled? She is Arab, but not subservient? She is a woman, but… she can’t be.
What they really mean to say is: Imane Khelif does not look like a white woman.
Orientalist rhetoric of this manner therefore validates the discussion and questioning of Khelif’s gender in the first place. This is nothing new, racism nourishes and perpetuates a culture of sexism, and vice versa. In Khelif’s case, what she experienced was the pernicious amalgamation of these interlocking oppressions.
As Audre Lord once proclaimed in Sister Outsider, “I cannot hide my anger to spare you guilt, nor hurt feelings, nor answering anger; for to do so insults and trivialises all our efforts.” Uniquely, these events, whether we like it or not, expose the deeply neglected cracks and potholes that we have yet to fill in the current zeitgeist.
Sidra Ghanawi people watches after the Olympics.
Chromosome Count, by Ron Ridgeway, October 1988 issue of Ms. magazine
The Story of Us.
Kate Zhang talks to international students about recent policy changes and their experience in Australia
Coming to Australia
Before coming to Australia to study, international students have already spent a lot. Besides the student visa application fee which has been recently doubled, they also need to pay to take an English test like the IELTS, as well as tuition fees to prepare for the said test, the health insurance Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC), a health examination fee, the massive university tuition fee, the flight ticket, and probably an education agent fee as well. None of these costs take into account the capital needed to just live in a city like Sydney.
Education agent fee 6.8k AUD, tuition fee 50k AUD for one year, OSHC around 200 AUD, IELTS learning 6.4k AUD, IELTS test fee and other fees 4.2k AUD, so it’s around 68k AUD in total.
– Stella Jiang
In total, tuition fees for a whole year of study is 40,000 AUD plus. This is already including a 20% scholarship that I got.
– Vi Phong Tran
Just narrowing in on the English exams reveals an even more complex system. International students might take the test multiple times just to get a satisfactory score, which means paying multiple times. Many students don’t live in cities with test centres, therefore, they might need to travel to another city. Since the tests are organised in the morning, they usually need to book a hotel as well. Moreover, the valid period of the test score is only one year. Students will have to take it again for future visa applications.
Life in Australia
International students struggle to find affordable housing. Most of the participants find it hard to look for accommodation for the first time in Australia due to the lack of rent history and a stable source of income. The weekly rent of our respondents ranges between 400-800 AUD per week.
400+ AUD a week would be impossible to afford for almost everyone I know back home in Thailand. And most people I know
here live in places far away in Parramatta, black town, Kogarah. [More than] 30-60 mins transit back and forth to attend university… cost approximately 7-10 AUD. I’m not sure how much most other students spend but I can imagine it being a nightmare.
– Anonymous
It’s hard especially when we’re offshore and looking for our first ever accommodation in Australia on Apps such as Real Estate. The agent tends to choose onshore tenants. In peak seasons, just before the semester starts, I’ve experienced a situation where a 40 square metre’s housing has more than 80 people in queue for inspection.
– Vidora
Work in Australia
International students are also facing the risk of workplace exploitation. The lack of work experience, language barriers and the restrictions of visa conditions make it harder for them to find a job. Therefore, they may compromise with the employees to work more and get less pay with cash-in-hand, and they may be less likely to report their employees for exploitation or abuse.
Tingting Zheng has worked in some Asian supermarkets and restaurants in Australia. She said most of them cannot provide salaries reaching the national minimum wage. Once she accepted an invitation for a two-hour trial work, but when she arrived, she was told that the trial work wouldn’t be paid.
Most of our respondents haven’t started work.
I can’t find a job, so I’m not qualified to experience unfair treatment in the workplace.
– Ruinai Zhao
[I’m struggling to find] parttime jobs. I think due to increasing costs, many international students are seeking part-time jobs to cover costs, hence making it very com-
petitive and hard for some to get.
– Vaishakh Subin
Struggling in Australia
Spending a lot just to come to Australia for study, suffering a lot from the high cost of living, and worrying a lot about their jobs, international students are also facing other difficulties. They are more likely to be targeted by scammers and “virtual kidnapping”. Some of our respondents come to Australia alone, finding it hard to make friends and gain a sense of belonging. Some find it difficult to learn about the culture and customs here. Many of our respondents expressed their worries: not only about finding a part-time job as a student, but also about finding an ideal job in Australia after graduation.
Many jobs are not open to international students; and even if they do, we lack competitiveness compared to the domestic students.
– Anonymous
It is hard to find a relatively good job as a student, since the limited working hours. It’s reasonable as a student visa holder is supposed to spend more time on studying, but it limits the opportunities. Also, more programs are only opening for citizens or PRs.
– Luobin Huang
I think international students have to live really cautiously: paying the largest amount of money, receiving the worst services, suffering from racial discrimination if not staying alert, dealing with many urgent situations that we’re not familiar with. And we can be easily kicked out of this country.
– Lauren Qi
Reactions to policy changes
When asked about the proposed cap students were scared and told Honi they were already feeling the effects around them.
I know this from my visa process and the voices of all the people whose visas were denied on baseless means.
– Anonymous
It is already hard to obtain visas, many students from my home country of Vietnam are facing visa delays or getting rejected. It’s becoming more and more prevalent that visa applications fail. Capping it at 40% would just make it even harder for international students, especially from smaller countries. It definitely makes Australia less competitive than other countries.
– Vi Phong Tran
Interestingly, the perspectives were not all negative. Even though the policy could end their time in Australia, many students argued the government had the right to control migration and add in restrictions. This speaks to an important disconnect between the government’s rhetoric and the attitude of students. International students don’t oppose reform, but the common complaint was that changes were rushed or arbitrary.
I can understand that if considering it from the perspective of the Australian government.
– Runai Zhao
If the policy is not targeted [at] a specific group, I feel it is reasonable. Some of the students are not focused on their study, so in this case, a [limit] may improve the academic atmosphere [on] campus.
– Luobin Huang
It’s understandable that they [the government] should make sure that the local people can get education and jobs.
– Xiying
For student visas, not only was the application fee raised, but also the English test score requirements and financial requirements. Individuals now need to prove that they have at least $29,710 and an IELTS score of 6.0 (previously 5.5) or equivalent to
apply for Student visas. For Temporary Graduate visa, it’s now 6.5 with a minimum score of 5.5 for each component of the test. However, the eligible age and stay length of this visa has been generally reduced.
I think it’s a good thing that they have raised the English test score requirement. I have observed that many international students cannot even communicate normally in English. …It is unfair to the other students in a sense.
– Damon Zhou
I just hope that it wouldn’t be another way for them to generate more revenue from international students [through tuition fees and bridging course fees].
– Tingting Zheng
Even for students currently enrolled, the changes have forced some tough decisions and trade offs.
I know some of my friends changed their major due to the changes.
– Luobin Huang
I do not think it affects those that have already received their study visa much but those with hopes and dreams outside suffer to afford and then despair over if they will receive it or get unfairly denied as they might “not return”, even though the price of the visa and the tuition fee has increased time and time again already forming a massive barrier for almost all, those that chooses to afford it still could be denied with 1600 AUD lost to empty excuses like “we just don’t trust you enough.”– Anonymous
I have to reapply for [a] visa sooner than I thought. It messes up a lot of my plans, and is making it difficult to know what to do after I finish my undergraduate degree. … The general visa applications have been very delayed and they’re seemingly inform-
ing us that it’ll be very hard. Applications used to be quite quick but now it seems that it’s on hold. Because of that, I’m likely only going to stay here until I finish my bachelor degree and then go back to my home country. I also know of many friends back in my home country who struggled to get their visas certified.
– Vi Phong Tran
Many Australian politicians seem to be entirely ignoring international student rights – there is no mandate or votes in it. The response from the NSW Minister for Transport to the ‘Fair Fairs’ petition signals still no travel concessions for international students. Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton claimed that international students should not receive student services like FoodHub which should only be for “citizens.” However, economically speaking, international student tuition fees count for a large portion of revenue for universities in Australia – nearly half, in the case of USyd.
International students pay higher tuition fees, but are not treated with fairness, which is ridiculous.
– Xiying
[Politicians] create and demonise groups of people to hide their own crimes. International students live almost exactly the same as the citizens and perhaps pays more per year to the Australian economy, and yet still Australia cannot even spare a bit of concession to us.
– Anonymous
We’re already paying a lot more than Australian citizens, we’re already contributing so much [in] so many different areas that it should only be fair that we are granted the same rights as others. Foreign students here still pay all the fees Australians pay and more, so shouldn’t we have the same access and rights. Giving us concession travel and more support for food doesn’t take away much, but
would really be helping us as Australia is such an expensive country.– Vi Phong Tran
International students contribute significantly to Australia’s economy and cultural diversity, yet they are often excluded from basic rights and services that their domestic counterparts enjoy. Many international students juggle studies, work, and the high cost of living in Australia, often without the support networks that local students might have. Denying them access to essential services exacerbates their vulnerability. International students deserve to be treated with dignity and fairness.
– Vaishakh Subin
I’m not sure. As an international student, I want to get more benefits [like] domestic students. However, maybe they and their families pay more taxes to the states and therefore get more service? I may need more knowledge on the details.
– Luobin Huang
Student services should cover international students, as international students are students.
– Runai Zhao
Ignoring international students would sadly only exacerbate the problems. It pushes keen students and academics away. Sometimes it feels like the quality of international students is used as an excuse to this exclusion, but I’d say the diminishing quality of students being attracted is partly due to the unfavourable environment.
– Vi Phong Tran
None of these stories are new or recent, but the climate since COVID has only made things worse. The rising cost of living impacts all Australians, but the government has targeted international students as a supposed
solution to all their problems.
None of that will change unless the media start amplifying their stories, and the arduous process all of them have to overcome. The social licence for migration will never be maintained by telling the public that students provide “value” to the economy, the students need to be defended on their own terms.
But people on campus need to do better as well. The Student Representative Council have to step up, like they did with the transport concession campaign and make fighting these caps and new visa rules a priority.
The University needs to do better as well. Vice-Chancellors are quick to cry foul and attack caps which will impact their bottom line but when international students are just a profitmaking mechanism their wellbeing and experience will never be the priority.
A spokesperson for the University told Honi Soit that they “deeply value the contribution our international students make to our community” and that they provide “in-person wellbeing support, online and phone support in different languages and peer support programs.”
They also pointed to specific support targeted at cost of living like “food vouchers and financial bursaries to help students cover rent, food and other general living and study expenses, as well as emergency accommodation for those who need it In Semester 1 this year we provided more than 18,000 free meals to our students, working with the USU and the Library.”
I’ve just finished my IELTS test again – spent 445 AUD to book it. I did it for my student visa, but it was also a requirement to apply for the Temporary Graduate visa – which will cost another 1945 AUD. Looking at the responses, I can see that we international students have the same worries around money – we are always paying a lot to those big institutions. We’re students, suffering from unfairness.
But we are considered as numbers that need to be capped, who’s going to listen to the story of us?
When PULP made its print debut in 2022, it was fair to ask why. After ditching its former print publication, BULL, in 2015, the USU pivoted to Pulp (then lower case) in 2016, creating its first all digital masthead.
The USU’s publications continued to be digital since then and after Hermes had its last gasp in 2019, Pulp became the USU’s only publication.
But times have changed since the heady days of 2016. A retro nostalgia is in the air for all things tangible, and PULP, printed and everything, is now in its 3rd year of publication.
And as the USU has gone back to print, so have many clubs and societies — launching wholly new mouthpieces or returning to print for old classics.
Jeremy, the University of Sydney Physics Society’s publication, recently hit stands. Available in metal wireframe racks dotted around campus, Jeremy was revived in 2020 after a 5-year hiatus as a printed, fortnightly newsletter which quickly succumbed to the ravages of COVID and enjoyed a new digital existence soon after.
Hot off the presses: The return of physical C&S publications
This year though, Jeremy has finally gone back to print — perhaps for good this time.
Having been first published in the 1980s, Jeremy has a reasonably storied history. And what’s more, its very name is a historical mystery itself.
Its first edition of the year, released in August and certainly more than just a newsletter, contains a delightful mix of articles addressing both the scientific discipline of physics and the academic department itself at USyd.
It’s not all sequels and revivals though, with the Sydney University United Nations Society (SUUNS) launching a brand-spanking-new physical publication.
The SUUNSday Post launched this semester at an event in the Royal Exchange and themed to “the Roars of Change.” Including articles about international diplomacy as well as unrelated pieces, cash prizes were offered to contributors and the slick print job is sure to attract submissions for any future editions.
Why they chose The SUUNSday Post over the name of their old e-newsletter, The Sydney Munning Herald, is a mystery, but it’s good to see clubs outside of the faculty or discipline genre, who enjoy a lot advantages in this area, putting out physical publications.
And there are more on the horizon.
FilmSoc is currently working on BESTBOY magazine - a self described “wacky”, “niche”, and “experimental” print publication that will be the tangible manifestation of FilmSoc’s ethos of community and discussion.
The editorial team say they want to “provide a casual low effort and welcoming platform for work that isn’t cookie cutter, super polished, or highly sophisticated.”
“A lot of our vision looks back to raw, unfiltered, personal, unformulated expressions, the kind that were almost prototyped by independent, artistic and underground outlets.”
And that is exactly the space these sorts of smaller campus print publications can fill, offering a more casual and approachable alternative to Honi and PULP, which to many can seem intimidating or overly professionalised.
For the editors of BESTBOY, print is just better.
“You can rip its guts out to make something wonderful, or if you hate it you can dramatically throw it on the ground and stamp it a bunch. It can be a makeshift table, sun shade, a wildlife survival kit…..endless possibilities.”
And as any Honi contributor will know, the best thing about print is enjoyed most by those who participate in it.
“If you’re part of it, well, you can frame it with pride.”
Before the internet and social media gobbled everything up, these sorts of physical C&S publications weren’t such an oddity at USyd. Almost every serious club or society would have a newsletter or journal or magazine, sustained by a more generous, preVSU funding scheme and facilitated by ample free or subsidised printing and publication resources provided by the USU: print was prevalent because it was the only option.
These publications are now mostly remembered only by the archives that catalogue them and the now grown up uni students who fondly remember publishing them. Publications like SUSFA’s Enigma, SU Tolkien Society’s The Eye, or SU Dracula Society’s Draculena were all, I’m sure, much beloved by their readers at the time.
So while the communicative necessity of print publication is now gone, the recent comeback that the medium has been making on campus is nice to see. Perhaps another symptom of the chronic condition that USyd is coming down with: a bad case of campus-life-was-better-20years-ago-itis.
Marlow Hurst primes the presses.
Sydney University United Nations Society - SUUNS
Jeremy, the University of Sydney Physics Society’s publication
Analysing the USU’s response to food insecurity and affordability on campus
One of the most popular election promises made by most candidates at the annual USU Board elections in May this year — and every year — revolves around pledges to make campus an affordable place to eat and expand existing USU services such as Food Hub and discount deals. With the USU recording another large surplus in 2023 of $1.59 million, they are well-positioned to be able to offer students support in relation to affordable food and drink on campus, at a time of persistent cost of living pressures. Even with current efforts many students choose to avoid purchasing food too frequently on campus and/or purchasing it from nearby locations off campus.
Reflecting on how the current USU Board is delivering on its promises to increase affordability is especially interesting when you consider how political USU Elections are becoming. Candidates in the left-bloc like Ethan Floyd (Grassroots) and Georgia Zhang (Grassroots) argued during the campaign that the USU needed to take on more overt positions. To what extent those policies and visions can be implemented, however, is more complicated.
When asked to comment, newly elected USU president for 2024-25, Bryson Constable (Liberal) said that among the five newly elected Board Directors there had been a general consensus for supporting cheaper food on campus. This, according to Constable, was one of many commitments, with the new board appearing to prioritise other policies related to international student support and student safety. In relation to implementing the policy of reduced food prices, Constable said that the “USU management team will directly engage with the proposals put forward by candidates in the election campaigns to ensure that student voices are incorporated into new and existing policies.” One of the criticisms during the election from Honi Soit and the current CEO Michael Bromley was that the most ambitious goals of some candidates to divest from problematic companies conflicted with the desire to spend more money on services. It is clear that incoming Directors are consulted on their election promises when they arrive, and Constable said that many of these policies will be represented in their SAAF applications and in the 2025 budget later this year. The trade off, it seems, is that policies to drive the USU in a more activist direction are being shelved in favour of service expansion.
The focus on services and increasing revenue instead of a more overt political stance is not necessarily a tension. Board candidates advocating that the USU improve who it chooses as suppliers alongside BDS or environmental principles are worthy ideas candidates the left faction advocated for in May. However, the current centre right domination of the executive makes any movement in that direction unlikely.
Services such as FoodHub underpin an essential aspect of what the USU offers to its members. In Semester 1 this year, the USU has made substantial gains on addressing this issue of accessibility and offering the service to a large number of students. There were 25,268 students who accessed Food Hub in the first half of this year, representing a 1054% increase in visits compared to Semester 1, 2023. There have also been 126,340 items of free food provided to students. The push to prioritise lower income students, in greatest need of the program, appears to be heading in the right direction, with 828 students served on at least ten occasions. Similarly, food security initiatives have continued to be a strong USU initiative in Semester 1 this year. With the USU providing 12,733 free USU Eats Food truck lunches, 4,420 bonus dinners, 7,217 bonus breakfasts.
James Dwyer (Unity), Constable, Ben Hines (Libdependent), and Julia Lim (Independent) made no such commitments and with the help of University Senate votes, have personal incentive to vote with the left faction.
The USU deserves credit for their strong efforts this year on core initiatives such as FoodHub and FoodTruck, particularly for the former, making substantial gains in expanding its accessibility and doing a better job at prioritising lower income students. However, given the stubbornly high food and drink prices across USU outlets, making campus an unaffordable place for most students to eat at a time of constant cost of living pressures, more can always be done The current executive should be taking more risks and consider the full range of ideas that were contested in this year’s election, even more radical ones that are traditionally outside of the USU’s scope.
Edward Ellis analyses.
Photography: Hyewon Cho
Pints and Politics: An activist history of the Flodge
Bipasha Chakraborty has a pint.
Nestled at the end of Arundel Street, the Forest Lodge Hotel,warmly known as the ‘Flodge’, is a staple communal space for members of the USyd community. The Flodge was first built and licensed in 1866, but the current building we frequent today was constructed in 1965, replacing the former establishment right before its hundred years.
Pubs have historically and continue to hold a significant relationship with politics in Australia. Whether it be pubs on campus or across Footbridge, student activists organise in a space that situates their issues and protests relating to tertiary education within the built environment of the university. Locating collective action within the university environment that is embedded with ideologies allows for questioning, creates room for further institutional revelations, and policies to be challenged.
Mihir Sardana, a student at the University commented, “I sometimes forget that Flodge ISN’T a part of the campus. In some part, the fact that it’s so close to the Western Ave gate, SSB and Courtyard, it almost feels like a natural extension of the University. It also is such an indelible part of the social fabric of USyd”. From FilmSoc afters, Queer Beers, campaign launches, and encampment dinners, the Flodge holds a special place for students, especially campus activists.
Campus activist Remy Lebreton adds that, “while we may have more formal meeting places, like the SRC or somewhere more formal, it is nice, especially afterwards, to meet more informally and be able to talk with less of a structured conversation.” Prominent student activist and unionist Ishbel Dunsmore followed; “I think the way that conversations come about and people end up in organising spaces, like formal organising spaces, it usually starts with a casual chat at the pub.”
The 60’s
Rowan Cahill, a radical historian and journalist, was a prominent student activist at Sydney University in the 1960s. Cahill explained that the Flodge was “the place to go for a drink”, especially given the fact that “alcohol was not on campus in those days, except in the staff club.”
Until 1972, the University of Sydney Union (USU) was segregated into the Sydney University Union (SUU) and Sydney University Women’s Union (SUWU). Cahill remarked that the Flodge was where you could “mix with women just coming in” as a result of the “mass intake of women at the university in the 1960s”. The men’s union was significantly better funded than the women’s, “The men’s union had good tucker, you didn’t need to go for a meal at Flodge, only used for drinking in a safe space… the beer garden was always crowded and alive”. Cahill remembered that, during his time at USyd, a communist printery sat directly across from the University. The Newsletter Printery on 21 Ross Street, previously printing sports guides, was bought by the Communist Party of Australia in 1943. Sitting directly next to the Flodge, this influenced the radical demography of the area. The CPA printed their leftist newspaper The Tribune here for nearly 40 years until 1981, whilst facing multiple raids by state authorities. The publication played a crucial role in drawing together various leftist groups
to the “industrial working-class area” such as activists, student organisers, and unionists. The University’s Faculty of Engineering now uses the old Newsletter Printery building to house the John Grill Institute for Project Leadership. Running under a logo featuring a barrel of alcohol, “in the late 60’s I was part of an outfit called R.U.M., Reform the Union Movement and our platform included bringing alcohol on campus and ending the division of men and women’s unions, but we were ahead of the times.” In 1968, Cahill and three other members of the ticket were able to win four seats on the SRC, running on a platform promising to end union segregation, increase union transparency and to open a pub on-campus. After Cahill departed from the University as a student, the first licensed venue, Manning Bar, opened in 1974 where students could officially consume alcohol on campus.
The 70’s and 80’s
Once the first licensed venue on campus had opened, it seemed as though much of the off-campus drinking transitioned to on-campus. Peter Carantinos, a student at the University during the time, was actively involved in the Political Economy Society that occupied the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar’s office for two months in 1975.
Carantinos explained that most of the action happened on campus, “We were more likely to meet on campus. We controlled a lot of the campus. We would have beers everywhere”. Although other pubs were frequented, much of the organising work “was on campus” or at “people’s gigs… parties and houses”. Despite this, Carantinos added that the Flodge is “still worth it.”
“It’s not like being in your lounge room, no it’s not, it’s your place. The reason why the Flodge manages to maintain that is that all of its competition has gone under.”
Today
More recently, the Flodge proved to be a crucial space for members of the USyd Gaza solidarity encampment. Student activist Ethan Floyd remarked that “some of the best parts of the encampment were the late nights and the social experiences of Flodge.”
In terms of organising, Floyd explained that the Flodge “was a good place to strategise, to have rigorous political discussions about what was going on during the encampment, and sometimes to vent our frustrations about the political inefficacy of the encampment with your closest comrades. There were a few times we’d be up in the Flodge until midnight, or until closing, strategising for a negotiations meeting, which was going to happen at like 9 o’clock the next morning.”
The popularity of on-campus and offcampus bars seems to undulate between periods of time. Campus bars are yet to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns. Currently, Manning Bar is only open three days a week for 4 hours each day, and Hermanns is open four days a week for 7 hours each day. The cost of living crisis has also impacted the pub culture in organising spaces. Campus activist Ishbel Dunsmore adds in terms of campus pubs, “It’s a little bit of a bygone era. I feel like
the cost of living has substantially gone up, and the capacity for people to drink on campus has somewhat reduced, it’s not the cheapest pub certainly, but I think it does come down to cost in some ways, and even just getting off campus for a second can be quite nice”.
The Flodge has evolved alongside the campus and its community, becoming a character throughout generations of campus activism. The Flodge has been witness to numerous political issues on and off campus through the years and has remained a constant third space for campus activists to organise and build relations. Although challenges in the cost of living and housing have altered campus interaction, the Forest Lodge Hotel remains to be a place of intersecting history, activism, and student life.
Top: Flodge 1949 – Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University. Middle: Flodge Beer Garden c. 1960s – Douglass Baglin, Australian National University. Bottom: Flodge 1966 – Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University.
Huw Bradshaw covers a shift.
‘Now, I’m just a bartender...’
So goes the song. When James Taylor wrote it in 1977, he sought to centre a perspective often excluded from the country ballads largely concerned with the consumption of whiskey: the bartender serving it. We find a similar exclusion in our present discourse of campus culture, which often seems to privilege one side of the counter over the other.
Despite how much students agonisingly and tirelessly bang on about campus culture and pub culture — which seem to have become synonymous — the labour which actually upholds such a culture’s existence seems to become a mere afterthought.
Such an oversight is not unique to our University campus. In broader Australian discourses, we hear much about pub culture — a culture overtly seized upon in Anthony Albanese’s 2022 campaign — yet little is said or done about the poor conditions and abusive work environments many hospitality workers endure,in one of the least unionised Australian industries. Only this week, new allegations of sexual assault and workplace discrimination have surfaced against one of Sydney’s biggest hospitality companies, Swillhouse.
As it occurs in many cases, the ostensible progressivism of academia has not made us immune to such an exclusion: one even finds quite a few examples of it in this very paper. Whether we are talking about the pub as a political institution or a cultural powerhouse, the perspective of the worker is at best neglected, and at worst actively derided.
It would be naive to ask why such a schism in our culture exists: one might as well ask why many student politicians hail from private schools. What still remains to be heard, however, is the voice of the bartender in this culture. I set out to ask a couple questions, buy a couple rounds, and find out how your bartender really feels about you.
Speaking to bar staff across a range of establishments in and around the university campus, a set of usual suspects immediately became clear. When asked who they especially loathed to see walk up the bar, the most
Bartender’s Blues
common answer was unsurprising: college students. One worker alleged an entire college had been barred from the Marlborough for an incident involving a jug of urine. An anonymous source from Manning Bar claims a group of St John’s College students had to be removed from the venue after they made their way backstage, stole items from DJ’s bags and made racist comments to musicians and staff.
Beyond these more extreme examples, nearly all interviewees showed a more general contempt for college students. “They would come very occasionally, but every time they would come, you would just have to brace yourself,” Sam*, a former Forest Lodge bartender, told me. “It was always a fucked up night. Always fucking yucky.”
The Drama society and Engineering Society were also among the most disliked student groups for differing reasons. Tony*, a former employee of Courtyard Bar, stated that SUDS drank too little and EngSoc drank too much. A long-time employee of the Nag’s Head Hotel also corroborated this.
Despite what might seem an obvious indicator for a bad patron, extravagance and intemperance were not always qualities that were disliked. Greek Society, contrastingly, was one bartender’s favourite group to serve due to their “crazy parties”. Veterinarian students were also well liked by a Nag’s Head employee, who told me that despite their often heavy drinking, the vets managed to keep themselves in order. “Who doesn’t get messy?” one bartender stated. “I can’t hold that against most people.”
When asked about what distinguishes a good patron from a bad one, the answer was simple: selfawareness. “The worst thing that a society or a group of people can have in the pub is a lack of self-awareness”
Sam stated, specifically speaking to “a lot of political societies, unfortunately”. Another bartender shared a similar sentiment, stating that “I think a lot of people at USyd haven’t worked in the service industry”. I was told that one group who did exercise self-awareness, to my surprise, was the Society for Creative Anachronism (often referred to as the Medieval Society). It seems amidst jousting, mead brewing, and tunics, proper pub etiquette is not something that is forgotten.
Many of the staff I interviewed commented on the divide between students who need to work to support themselves, and those who do not.
“I think there’s a time poverty” Tony said, “people that work … don’t have the time to afford to do a full credit load … they don’t always have that time to just start drinking on a random Thursday afternoon with a society, because they have to get to work. It’s exclusionary.” Joan*, a bartender from Vic on the Park expressed that they felt “campus culture in general has locked a lot of people out”
Among the people I interviewed who worked while studying, there appeared to be a general loathing for campus culture. Where some felt ostracised by it, others almost rolled their eyes when the phrase was spoken. Speaking of a former coworker, now working at The Rose, Joan told of how he “began to hate the campus culture because it was just really fucking annoying.”
Not all responses were as cynical, of course. Ella, a Forest Lodge bartender, spoke of her experience as a student
who emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s cool to witness people come together every week and chat, often until closing time,” she told me. “It has made me more motivated to get involved in uni groups, and also taught me a lot about different subjects.” It seems until the end of capitalism or the heat death of the universe (whichever of those things comes first) barriers will be constructed to inhibit the full and genuine participation of working class people in what we call ‘culture’. In the culture unique to the University campus, such a disparity is only intensified. Though the task of designating who exactly belongs to which class is one that is absurd and fruitless — specifically in an industry as large and diverse as hospitality — it only takes a cursory glance at the university culture we participate in to notice it is largely exclusionary of those who have to work to live.
REVOLVING REVOLUTIONS WITH MARTO: Cycling, Protesting, and Palestine
The bicycle is a force multiplier. Through the power of torques, pistons, and the arcing ankle it is one of the most efficient machines ever created. This was first told to me by a man at the pedestrian lights across from Newtown Station one night. I responded that I could feel it, I knew it to be true. On those two wheels I feel like a knife through still wind.
CCA protest group is also a force multiplier. It takes the resolutions of its individuals and funnels them through a single, multi-owned throat. Powered by swinging fists and beating hearts, it is one of the most effective ways for people to be heard.
I was riding to my interview with Marto (on Instagram as @Komfy) when, somewhere on Riley Street, I heard a voice behind me, on my side a shadow, then in front a familiar face. Weaving through backstreets, main streets, and footpaths with Marto felt like being two ends of lightning, our conversation zigzag between us as we overtook each other, slowed down, sped up, eyes keen on hand signals and obstacles. I felt, perhaps for the first time ever, like a cyclist.
Can you tell me a bit about yourself?
“My name’s Marto, sometimes known as Komfy. I see myself as maybe an observational cyclist documenting the day-to-day. I manage a retail store in Darlinghurst called Pam. I also have my own art practice in ceramics, making incense chambers at the moment. I guess the personal is the political and I find being present in the moment important to my life.”
The bicycle is a mystery. For the beginner it is clumsy like new languages on the tongue. Then, after enough time spilling red onto asphalt, you turn hybrid. You step into the saddle like a pair of trousers, comfortable as legs. If I walk anywhere now, it is with the same loss that I’ve heard ex-smokers describe when drinking without a dart.
I first met Marto at the lowcost community-oriented bike repair workshop Cycle Re-Cycle, which operates out of the Waterloo social housing ‘suicide towers’, where I occasionally volunteer. He rocked up to discuss with us potential interest in a bicycle group
he helped facilitate which rode from the Palestinian restaurant Khamsa, in St. Peters, to the Free Palestine rallies in Hyde Park on Sundays (on Instagram as @ride4palestine.syd). I was interested in it, neglecting my repair duties to chat. The intersection of cycling and protesting fascinated me.
This feeling (better described as a knowing), also baffles me. Not so much for the experience but for the cause. A birdboned two-wheel contraption explodes into what Marto calls a “subliminal liberation… there’s that freedom. And the repetition of movement is this kind of hypnotic feeling, you can kind of lose yourself in those moments.”
This link between bicycles and protesting seems like back-patting puffery, yet the concrete history is there, from Susan B. Anthony of the American women’s suffrage movement remarking: “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” To Mohammad Nazarpoor writing of how, in Tehran, “Iranian Women see cycling as a political practice to challenge everyday spatial regimes.” Or how Jose Etxebarria of the Human Gallery in Battambang, Cambodia, gathers donations to purchase bicycles for students so they are able to attend school. The Samajwadi socialist party of India, the third largest political party in the country, spotlights a bicycle on their flag. This most innocuous method of transport is a torpedo, as quiet as it is destructive. Marto continues:
“Every time you hop on the bike you’re beating the system in some way. You’re not paying for public transport, not emitting greenhouse gases, staying healthier as an individual which hopefully means less need to buy [from] big pharma which means in turn having more time to show up for causes bigger than yourself if you’re a healthy, active kind of person.”
What does Khamsa Eatery think?
“Sara’s fully down with it. That was an important thing when we did the first one. We reached out to her and made it a collaborative thing which is important, to have the Palestinian voice at the forefront of actions. Sara and the team at Khamsa
have been super supportive.
Couple times they’ve put on some dishes for donation. So if you have some breakfast just pay it forward with what you can to a QR code for a specific family trying to evacuate Gaza, or the Gaza Sunbirds, or mutual aid.”
Do you think something like this can ever become decentralised to the point that it continues on without having a leader?
“There’s been offshoot little rides, which I actually promote when I do a speech at the rides. ‘Take this day as an inspiration to the others and go and do your own little rides…’ A friend hit me up to do a graphic for a ride from Newtown to the Inner West council meeting in Ashfield at the Town Hall there. And I was like for sure, I can’t make it, but I think 10 of them gathered in Newtown and rode with flags to the meeting.”
I don’t know why some people cycle and some do not. The list of benefits are obvious like a receipt. But I don’t only wonder about cycling. I wonder why any of us, myself included, accept the norm when the norm is bad. Normal life is killing us. It has us more sedentary, lonely, depressed, and anxious than any previous generation. With a burgeoning awakening to the hole we’ve dug ourselves, what marks those that take to the streets? Why, in the mufti peloton of the protest, is not everyone involved? Even still, my question is projection. I rarely add my drop to the flood, and I know I don’t have any good reason why. Have you adjusted how you do the Palestine rides as time’s gone on?
“The first one… was a little more backstreets. And once everyone got a bit more confident and understood what was going on we actually changed it up to go through the encampment [at Usyd]. And naturally through the encampment we went onto City Road which was cool as we could take up a bit more space and be seen, more than [in] the backstreets of chippendale. From that we could go underneath the Harbour bridge into Circular Quay where lots of eyes are.”
Is there any meta-anxiety beyond the rides? Being a figure in the [protest]
space?
“I try to not be a figure. It’s never really been my thing. And it’s something I’ve learned through the palestinian resistance. Especially someone like Abu Obeida covering his face and doing these revolutionary speeches every few months for the whole globe to see. Obviously it’s not about him, it’s about liberating his land and his people.
There’s lots we can learn from the resistance and how to make it less about certain people and more as a collective and how we’re going to work together rather than individually.”
Of course, the path of progress is never assured. It is sidestreets, doublingback, headlamps, obstacles, sunlight. Misery and comfort and hundreds of differences. But it is not in my mind how fast we turn the world, only that the handlebars are gripped. Swarms of protestors suffer the sharpest headwinds so those that come later may eclipse them with their own slipstream. In the middle of Gaza Al-Dali rides with the Gaza Sunbirds, a para cycling group that helps deliver aid to those in need, his own leg blown up by an Israeli sniper.
“I truly believe that Palestine is awakening the global consciousness and shifting collective sentiment. With an Earth quickly diminishing today is a good day to spark thoughts around personal plus collective actions we can put in place for everyday to be the change we hope to see in our lifetimes. I believe that Palestine is the portal and may its humility continue to free itself and those who don’t just stand with it but act with it.”
Sydney is mud under the cyclist’s wheel, imprinted by the pressure of legs pushing rubber. While the trickle of new riders swelling this city’s streets annually is small, there is a rising damp still, with cycle-infrastructure breaking pavement like tree roots. I go back to the suburb of my parent’s home and see an old footpath with a new pale blue line, an acknowledgment of an increasing way of movement within this city. There is no always-normal, change is the only constant.
Aidan Pollock rides.
USU Law Revue 2024: The Good, The Bad, and the Trustee
Ethan Floyd reviews.
Hugh Jackman. Bed bugs. Furries. Italian accents of varying calibre. Oil (*eagle sound effect*).
Promising “an unforgettable evening of Western whimsy and frontier frivolity,” while clarifying that the show “actually has nothing to do with cowboys,” USU Law Revue 2024: The Good, The Bad, and the Trustee is our annual reminder that law students, despite their reputation, are actually (almost) normal people with a great sense of humour and nearunassailable talent.
THE GOOD…
This year’s cohort of closeted (and, in some cases, not-so-closeted) theatre kids boasts a remarkably impressive cast and executive, a majority of whom are women or gender-diverse, with direction by Noa Amiry, Beau Glass, Vicky Miller, Grace Selim, and Annika Lee.
Like many of its predecessors, The Good, The Bad, and the Trustee dips into its analogous superannuation fund of singing talent like a Double Bay boomer purchasing that second investment property. It was remarked of 2022’s Pulp Jurisdiction that this phenomenon “will just always be a natural consequence of handing insecure overachievers a microphone” and “giving them another sphere to dominate over their peers,” and this year’s crop of vocalists continue to prove just that. Alongside singing director and Law Revue president Emily Scarlis, Rory O’Keefe and Lee are exceptional even among this pool of outstanding singers, giving many terrific performances throughout.
One particular highlight is a surprisingly self-aware acapella piece (with guitar accompaniment by Josh Mejia), reflecting on the culture of nepotism which pervades the upper echelons of the legal profession,
putting a twist on Kermit the Frog’s classic “Rainbow Connection”.
The irrepressible vocal strength of the cast is evident in every musical number, well-rehearsed dance routines (choreographed by Anna Simpson, Vanessa Ryan, and Isla Mowbray) are spectacular, and the cast absolutely sells their character performances.
In true Law Revue tradition, this year’s cohort can’t resist assuming the histrionic personalities of presidents and prime ministers, though they manage to relegate themselves to just a single Trump impression, and O’Keefe certainly delivers. And for those rustedon Law Revue-goers, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings makes a return from 2019’s Love At First Citation.
One clever skit early in the show wonders what a police interrogation (ACAB) would look like on Bad Cop’s day off – introducing cops of the “sad,” “lad,” “ad,” “rad,” “Vlad,” and “Dad” varieties. Jasmine Aitken and Lilah Thurbon prove themselves as scenestealing performers – I only wish they were given more opportunities to shine.
A perennial feature of faculty revues, this year’s seven-piece band weaves together what can be, at times, thematically disjointed sketches, as well as providing the backing to the show’s many musical skits. With keyboardist Scarlis joining Charlie Lancaster (of Cardigan Blue fame) on drums, Mejia on guitar, Vicki Yan and Ben Cohen on saxophone, Guy Rein on guitar and saxophone, and Wocky Singson on bass, the show is impressively well-scored and the audience is never left with a boring moment.
THE BAD…
In a revue that is infamous for its perspicacious political and legal commentary, the satire does take a
significant hit, with a lot of this year’s political jokes lacking the signature “bite” that many Law Revue regulars have come to anticipate.
Though the writing and performances were undeniably funny, some pieces serve up arguably ‘easy’ political critiques, and – between a Godfather-style takedown of the supermarket duopoly, a hit-piece on Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun (Simpson), and an albeit hilarious musical duet between Elon Musk (Lee) and Jeff Bezos (O’Keefe) – the audience is certainly left with the impression “billionaires bad,” but not much more.
A clear standout is a rendition of Hairspray’s “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” which delivers a clever bludgeoning of the Labor and Liberal parties’ indistinguishable positions on climate policy – complete with co-director Glass (I stopped counting how many sketches he shows up in) as Peter Dutton and Georgia Zhang as Anthony Albanese.
Notably and perhaps inexcusably absent is any mention of the unfolding genocide in Gaza, especially given the show’s natural tendency to weigh in on the defining political issues of the moment. Here’s hoping next year’s directors pay closer attention in their LAWS3434 lectures.
Despite this, there are a number of standout sketches which begin to atone for the otherwise apolitical pieces – a recurring gag featuring producer Martha Barlow as an oilcrazed American gives the audience laughter without lull, and the Act Two musical opener “It’s Only Men” (adapted from Geri Halliwell’s hit) deals an incisive blow to some tearful Newington Old Boys.
…AND THE TRUSTEE
While revues of the past have sometimes left audiences in the lurch
Notes on Notes of a Crocodile
Jesse Carpenter reflects on lizards and longing.
Notes of a Crocodile is a truthful novel. Qiu Maojin lays things bare; the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU), the agonising love of the narrator Lazi, and even the eponymous crocodile, lie naked and twitching. The melodrama of the text; the unsent letters, frantic journaling, violence, alcoholism and inaction only adds to this sense of nakedness. The truthfulness of the novel never emerges from a certain exactness of prose or obsessive detail, but rather from how Maojin forms a series of impressions, constructing people who are full of life; who move and behave as selves.
The novel is surreal; it is a metaphor only if you wish it to be. The structure of the novel is what drew me to it; it is epistolary in every sense of the word: half the diaries of Lazi, a lesbian uni student in Taiwan, and half the confessions and musings of a crocodile in a skin suit. Lazi and the crocodile appear to live in parallel versions of Taiwan, concealing their identity and coming to terms with themselves. Lazi experiences life, particularly university, through her queerness. She moves to NTU, and becomes stuck in a sense. Like the crocodile, she puts on a skin suit, to hide the fact that she is between forgetting and finding herself.
She falls deeply in love, with Shiu Ling and then Xiao Fang, she clings to them and pushes herself away.
In these moments of profound desire, spiritual and sexual, the reader is distanced from Lazi. We become entangled with desire, we lose her at precisely the moment as she loses herself. Maojin writes longingly, exploring an attachment to love conceptually. Lazi continually desires the act of desire, and it is expressed beautifully. Perhaps this is why both ‘Lazi’ and ‘Crocodile’ have become terms for lesbians in Taiwan.
with their overreliance on facultyspecific in-jokes and ‘too-niche-toland’ references, The Good, The Bad, and the Trustee is refreshingly relatable for the most part, with one of the show’s funniest skits featuring a law student exploring their “footnote fetish” (Aitken and Glass et al., 2024).
Showcasing a brand-new Jim’s Group service with a sinister twist, and a melodramatic sketch satirising the Shakespearean aside that provoked memories of Year 10 English, it’s difficult to leave the show without feeling at least a moment of resonance with its broad range of content.
Finally, the sharp wit and excellent comedic timing of Anthony-James Kanaan isn’t wasted in this year’s production, delivering a brilliant bit of crowd work towards the middle of the second act and managing to sneak in a stinging “inclosed lands” joke, which may have sailed over the heads of the less activist-inclined audience members.
On account of its highly competent and often underappreciated crew (Grace Wallman, Dinah Horwitz, and Tempe Whalne) and stage manager Cobie Tsoi (with help from seasoned ex-stage manager Veronica Lenard), The Good, The Bad, and the Trustee manages to avoid many of the slip-ups and rough edges that are ordinarily hallmarks of an opening night.
It goes without saying that this year’s Law Revue definitely isn’t one to be missed and, notwithstanding Albo questionably appearing as the titular “The Good” in its advertising, delivers a unique night of comedy and earns its place in the grand cosmos of faculty revues.
The Good, The Bad, and the Trustee will play at Seymour Centre’s York Theatre until August 24.
The playfulness of the crocodile cuts through the book, infusing desire and alienation with queer joy. The vignettes of reptilian life are light and witty, in which the crocodile looks for friends and lovers, staying out of sight by making sure not to order too many cream puffs: cream puffs, of course, are a known favourite food of crocodiles. The crocodile attends a masquerade ball, and Maojin captures the feeling of a baby gay at a club and around their people for the first time. Maojin writes that “all that is neither masculine nor feminine becomes sexless and is cast into the freezing-cold waters outside the line of demarcation”, and Notes of a Crocodile both resides in and explores
‘We will miss your kind when you are gone’:
The Cherry Orchard at The Old Fitz Theatre
Angus McGregor reviews.
Set in Thatcherite Wales on the Bloumfield estate, Gary Owen’s adaptation of Chekhov’s classic play surveys the decline of the British aristocracy. With an auction on the property looming, the political and personal divides within the family are exposed. Anthony Skuses’s direction positions the audience to view the estate in a sentimental light while simultaneously questioning its history.
The set captures a house stuck in time. The living room, full of pastel fabric furniture and old coffee table books, looks like a heritage display. The space is not bright but refined. Large lamps are used to create ambient light during the day and are switched off to create a sense of stagnation in the evenings; it’s easy to see the dust on the floor.
Many of the characters represent class based archetypes such as the socialist teacher or the up and coming businessman. Uncle Gabriel (Charles Mayer) is a charming but delusional gentleman whose solution to every problem is that “something will come up.” Often wearing a smoking jacket and fawning over hand made preindustrial furniture, Mayer masterfully displays the classic lost aristocrat, a well educated man who knows nothing.
The matriarch of the family, Rainey (Deborah Galanos) juxtaposes Mayer’s humorous dilution with something more sinister. She is very aware of her own mental decline and alcoholism, even going so far as to predict an intervention , but still refuses to live in the present. She frames the fight over the household in generational terms, describing Lewis (Dorje Swallow), who suggests renovations, as a “son of a ditch cleaner” and argues he wants to demolish the orchid out of vengeance rather than to save the house.
Galanos was initially unlikable, perhaps intentionally, but began opening up and by the end balanced a confident arrogance that was entertaining with an acute sense of loss. Quintessentially cliche jokes
this space. The sapphism of Notes of a Crocodile, its form and content, dissolves a heterosexual standard of prose. She writes fluidly, strangely, and with longing. The components of the novel — diaries and vignettes, woman and crocodile — are caught between coming together and falling apart: they dance with each other.
Notes of a Crocodile is not a perfect novel, at times Maojin’s prose flounders and winds in on itself, but it is excellent at exploring and revealing this demarcated zone, in which sapphic desire is at times negotiated with heterosexual society, and at others is completely and truly free.
around drinking work because her presence is so striking.
The most interesting aspect of the production was how competing ideologies informed the interpersonal relationships on stage. The Marxist tutor Ceri (James Smithers) has a passionate argument with the oldest daughter Anya (Amelia Parsonson) about art. They cannot agree if art that needs to be explained is classist or not, but for her, his radicalism is a “summer fling.”; a chance to be free from the coldness of the house and its dying order.
The adopted daughter Valeire (Jane Angharad) has a similar experience with her partner Lewis. She feels safe that he has a plan for the estate’s future but grows notably uncomfortable when he asks her to cut down a Cherry tree with him. Swallow’s performance exudes pleasure as he describes cutting into the old wood. The audience is left questioning if the mother was right all along.
Ironically, the most apolitical character is the housekeeper Dottie (Talia Benatar) who stands to lose the most in the game her employers are playing. She is best described by another character on stage as salt of the earth : “salty and earthy”. Like many servants, she always knows what’s going on.
The sale contract sits on the table like Chevkov’s gun when the intermission begins. Whether it’s signed or not will decide the future of the family but also the kind of country those on stage want to live in.
The characters fight for every small piece of power left. They order each other around, and enter the room expecting to be heard. Dottie jokes that the working class “will miss your kind when you are gone,” but even at the end no one has fully confronted the reality that they may no longer keep their standing. All they can do is linger.
SUDS Review: Bin Night
Jessica Louise Smith reviews.
Joyously dark and devilishly hilarious, Bin Night is the debut full-length work of writer and director, Charlie Papps, and passion project of producer Emily Skipper. Presented by SUDS at the Cellar Theatre, the play is original, camp, and downright fun; a comedy that is acutely aware of its satirical insensitivities while leaving a profound emotional impact on the audience.
The play follows a trio of colourful housemates living in Redfern and their weekly tuning into Bin Night: a kids TV show hosted by a puppet, Mr Shingles, that teaches them about housing, gambling, relationships, and various other riveting ‘adult’ topics. Fans of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and analogue media spoofs will love the meta progression of Bin Night. Taking many unanticipated turns, the play creates a dark story full of raw emotion out of what initially appears to be a random comedy.
Bin Night isn’t just a play, it’s an experience, from the pre-show performance by the assistant director, Aiden Carter, to the ingenuitive use of hilarious pre-recorded ‘ad breaks’ in the shows episodic structure, to the transformation of the Cellar Theatre as a whole. The almost uncanny set design, also by Papps, perfectly evokes the feeling of an early 2000s children’s TV show while holding sinister adult elements in the midst of its nostalgia. Put simply by Amber Broadbent, the actor for the character Ava, “it’s Playschool if Playschool dealt with trauma… and did lots of psychedelics.”
Nat Jensen’s compelling performance gives Mr Shingles — the puppet teacher and quasi-narrator of the show — the power to fill the theatre with roaring laughter and then instantly silence it with emotional intensity and delicacy. As a first time puppeteer, Jensen’s skills were refined, successfully combining the physical capabilities of the puppet and his incredible vocal and facial expression to create such deep emotion. Jensen is an incredibly dynamic actor that guides the show with his range and power.
One of the major successes of the show was the characterisation of the trio: Ava, Issac (Tom Jenkins) and Roy (Matt Dorhay). In less competent actors and directors hands, these characters would likely overwhelm and scatter the story, but in Bin Night, each actor was able to bring their big personalities to the ensemble with clarity and purposeful juxtaposition. Each actor balanced the other out like a kilo of bricks and a kilo of feathers: different, but equal. Their personalities pave the way for incredible moments of physical comedy and an ever-stimulating stage presence, bringing life to the written punchlines. Truthfully, there were intermittent overwhelming moments
where the cast had timing and pacing issues, occasionally blunting the audience’s ability to receive the bits, but I would imagine with a cast of such calibre, such issues will smooth themselves out over the course of the show’s run.
In less competent actors and directors hands, these characters would likely overwhelm and scatter the story, but in Bin Night, each actor was able to combine their personalities with clarity and purposeful juxtaposition.
Tom Jenkins brings a sense of childhood joy (and stupidity) to the Cellar with his constant commitment to character and impressive voice work, not just just in accents but in his general expression and inflection. Matt Dohray is bloody funny as Roy, and every time I thought I understood the direction they were taking the character, they descended further into creative madness. Their presence on stage is so cheeky and playful, both countering and forwarding Jenkin’s Isaac. What grounds these two is Ava; Amber Broadbent delivers an emotional range while holding the power to find the punchline within the randomness of Roy and Isaac. A SUDS veteran, Broadbent truly holds this ensemble together.
But the trio’s accomplishment in balancing cohesion and difference is not entirely the work of the actors: the production team also deserves credit. The set’s use of levels is complemented by the costume designer’s (Sara Angelina) use of simple primary colours. Papps raves on about how the “cast made the show come alive” as “imaginative and collaborative people,” and this is an element of the performance that is so evident to the audience, crediting the actors as collaborators with the script, rather than subservient to it.
Jessica Lau’s lighting design beautifully interacted with the plot, transforming the space with its use of colour, creating a chaos of its own, and Papps’ sound design added a strange sense of melancholy in the few moments it was used. Of course, the stage management, courtesy of Matilda Holton — who has been dominating the uni theatre scene in recent months — was sleek and flawless from an audience perspective.
Bin Night is weird, wonderful, and strikingly well-written.
Bin Night is playing at the Cellar Theatre from 16 to 24 August. Tickets are available here.
President’s Report
Harrison Brennan
What a busy time! I hope the semester is treating you all well!
This week we’ve seen the Liberal party spew their usual racist antimigration bile toward Palestinians fleeing Gaza, labelling Palestinians who come to Australia as a ‘national security risk’. Meanwhile, updated reports show that the Labor government has rejected over 7,100 visa applications from Palestinians fleeing Gaza seeking refuge in Australia with their families. Since May this year, after Israel closed the Rafah crossing, only 292 visas have been granted. The Labor and Liberal party continue to be complicit in the genocide of Gazan’s, and it is all the more reason to come support the upcoming School and Uni Student Strike for Palestine!
On 12pm Wednesday August 28th on Eastern Avenue student activists will lead a contingent to UTS of students striking for Palestine, fighting to end the complicity of their universities and this Labor government. Everyone should come on out to support the strike!
The Labor government just recently passed the NDIS Amendments Bill, a measure that includes more than $14 billion in funding cuts of support plans for NDIS participants, a punitive debt collection scheme, and measures that make it harder for people with a disability to live fulfilling lives. It shows the true colours of this Labor government when they have to team up with the right-wing, racist and ableist Pauline Hansen from One Nation to get support for their bill. Finally, I want to remind everyone that the SRC offers a FREE Casework and Legal Service for all students. If you have any issues with your studies, university bureaucracy, your landlord or the police, you can reach out via the SRC website (srcusyd.net. au/contact), fill in the caseworker or legal service contact form and our amazing team will get back to you within 3–5 working days!
Education Officers’ Report
Grace Street & Shovan Bhattarai
The Education Officers did not submit a report this week.
SRC Reports
Women Officers’ Report
Eliza Crossley & Rand Khatib
The Women’s Officers did not submit report this week.
Sexual Harrassment and Assault (SASH) Officers’ Report
Ellie Robertson, Martha Barlow & Georgia Zhang
The SASH Officers did not submit a report this week.
Refugee Rights Officers’ Report
Daniel Holland, Annabel Petit, Reeyaa Agrawal & Lucas Pierce
The Refugee Rights Officers did not submit a report this week.
ELECTION WORK AVAILABLE
Do you like elections?
Have you worked on the recent state and federal elections?
Global Solidarity Officers’ Report
Nabilah Chowdhury, Gabriel Crowe, Tamsyn Smith & Lia Perkins
The Global Solidarity Officers did not submit a report this week.
The University of Sydney SRC is hiring casual polling booth attendants to administer its Annual Elections and count the votes. The elections run 24–26 September and counting continues for up to two weeks afterwards.
$42.15/hour apply here: bit.ly/3bclIiW
Authorised by R.Scanlan, 2024 Electoral Officer, Students’ Representative Council, University of Sydney
Dealing with Fines & Penalties
Penalty notices
The most common types of fines are penalty notices, also called infringement notices, on-the-spot fines, tickets, or criminal infringement notices. They can be issued in person, attached to a vehicle, or sent to you in the mail, and contain details of the alleged offence and the amount you need to pay.
LawAccess NSW has a great flowchart on your options for dealing with your penalty notice.
LawAccess NSW also provides detailed information about your options for dealing with a penalty notice, including how to pay the fine, what to do if you disagree with it, what happens if you decide to go to court and what you can do if your driver’s licence is suspended.
If you’ve received a fine for a traffic infringement captured on camera, go to Service NSW to view the photo images.
Court fines
If you go to court and have a fine imposed by the magistrate, you’ll usually be ordered to pay it within 28 days. You’ll be sent a Notice of Penalty which tells you the amount you have to pay and the due date.
Non-payment of a toll
A toll notice requiring payment is not a fine. However, if you do not respond to it, you may be sent a penalty notice for not paying the toll which is a fine. You can use the information here to deal with this fine.
Penalty notices
If you don’t act to deal with any of these fines, Revenue NSW will add en-forcement costs and you could have your licence and registration suspend-ed. The additional costs and penalties for unlicensed driving or driving an un-insured or unregistered car are a lot higher and more severe than your origi-nal fine.
Updated address
Not knowing about a fine is not a defence, so always remember to update your address if you move, especially if you have a car. Penalty notices sent by mail and reminders will be sent to your last known address. If you haven’t updated it, you could find yourself with large debts for fines,
enforcement costs, and additional costs and penalties.
Private fines
You may be sent a letter or given a document that looks like a fine when you breach a rule that applies to private property or organisations. This isn’t really a fine, although the private organisation might call it that. These notices commonly relate to private car parks such as those found at shopping cen-tres, clubs, or on other private land. Private fines can’t be referred to Reve-nue NSW for enforcement, but the private organisation might take you to court if you don’t deal with it, so you shouldn’t ignore their letters.
Public transport
When using public transport in Sydney, you need to “tap on” when you board and “tap off” with the same card (Opal or credit card) when you arrive at your stop. If you are transferring to another service, you need to “tap on” again and “tap off” at your destination.
When you “tap on” and “tap off” correctly with sufficient balance on your Opal card:
• You’re charged the correct fare.
• You won’t be fined for travelling on an invalid ticket.
• Your trip will count towards your Weekly Travel Rewards.
• If transferring to another service within an hour of tapping off the pre-vious trip, the trips will be combined into a single trip meaning you’ll be charged a lesser fare for your combined travel.
If you’re caught travelling without a valid ticket, not paying the correct fare, or using a concession ticket without being in possession of your proof of enti-tlement card (usually this will be your student card), you may be issued with a fine of $200 (Maximum $550).
SRC Legal Service
Call 02 9660 5222 and ask to be referred to our Legal Service
Disclaimer: This information is current as at July 2024 and is intended as a guide to the law as it applies to people who live in or are affected by the law as it ap-plies in NSW. It does not constitute legal advice.
Ask Abe
SRC Caseworker Help Q&A Centrelink & Relationships
Dear Abe, I’ve been seeing someone on and off for the last 14 months, but we’re mostly in an open relationship now. I’ve moved into their place this year, but we’re both still dating other people. Will this affect my payments? Will both my partners’ incomes by assessed?
Thanks, Polli Amorie
Dear Polli, Centrelink may treat your first relationship as de-facto, because of the social ties of the relationship and because you live together. They would suggest that you would
be sharing day-to-day household expenses, and dividing housework between (or among) yourselves. You have also been involved with each other for over 12 months, and now share living arrangements. So, you may be assessed as independent and your first partner’s income may be assessed as well, affecting your Youth Allowance payments. However, your newer partner’s income will not be assessed, as Centrelink no longer recognise polyamory. Check out the SRC wesbsite information on Effect of Relationships on Payments (See link QR code below) for more information.
Thanks, Abe
More information about Centrelink & relationships: bit.ly/centrelink-relationships
1: Trinitrotoluene is colloquially referred to as what?
2: A success or achievement may be referred to as a ‘what’ in your belt?
3: Triple J voted this Irish alternative-rock song No. 1 on their 1994 Hottest 100 chart.
4: Which The Doors song features in Apocalypse Now?
5: Hooked, Giant, and Vampire are all types of what?
6: Name one of Australia’s two largest exports.
7: Rihanna sings “shine bright like a” what?
8: Which Indonesian island shares it’s name with a term for coffee?
9: This Australian verb for “eagerly eating” also describes a garden tool.
10: What connects these answers?
Crossword
ACROSS
1. Barcode standard, in brief
4. Three wise men visitee
8. Genre prefix for noir or soul
9. Writer’s block ender
10. Sydney Metro’s Gadigal or Barangaroo, e.g., in brief
11. Like orders that are hard to follow
12. Term first used in reference to the 1937 bombing of Guernica, in brief
13. Captain Hook’s sidekick, in Peter Pan 14. Wimp
16. Two of them go in the back of a Wii remote
17. Workers’ rights groups, or, parsed differently, a description of the campuses in this puzzle
19. “Conversation” with a great-great-grandparent, say 20. Academic journal pieces
Dusting off the cobwebs
The Campus-ification of Connections
Sudoku
DOWN
1. Its main campus is in Kensington, Sydney
2. Cheese-loving family member, say 3. Makes excuses for, as awful behaviour
4. Its main campus is in Cambridge, Boston 5. Steadfastness
6. Discography entries
7. Its main campus is in New Haven, Connecticut
15. Korean cars including the Sorento and Sportage
18. Coffee roaster with a flagship store in Marrickville
Crossword: Michael Smith.
Zombie
The End
Squid 6. Coal, Iron 7. Diamond 8. Java 9.
Hoe 10. Minecraft
Always Balanced Coverage
