President
Imogen Grant
This Wednesday staff and students at Sydney University will join a national day of action across campuses to call on the Morrison government to end offshore detention.
In recent weeks the mental health crisis on Nauru has exploded. Around 20 children still on Nauru have been consumed by despair and are refusing food and water. The situation is growing more and more urgent and the pressure on the government is building. The doctors’ peak body, the AMA, has called for all children to be immediately brought to Australia for medical care.
At Sydney University, outside Fisher Library on Wednesday 17 October, staff and students will hold a public reading 11am-1pm of Behrouz’s book written from Manus; and at 1pm hold a group photo action with placards reading #NoMoreHarm, #BringThemHere and #EducationNotDetention.
The USYD action will coincide with actions being organised across the country by Academics for Refugees. The USYD action is endorsed and being co-organised by Campus Refugee Action Collective and the National Tertiary Education Union
Secondly, on Saturday 1pm Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) and USYD Queer Action Collective (QuAC) will protest against Scott Morrison’s homophobia. The SRC will be attending protest and stand alongside the queer community in their calls for an end to the homophobic rhetoric that has been spurred on by the so called leader of this country.
We demand an end to gay conversion therapy. This is an ongoing practice in Australia that our new PM has described as simply “not an issue for me”. We call bullshit on this. Conversion therapy has been deemed as ‘torture’ by the United Nations. Morrison’s response shows a deep lack of respect and is just one example of his incessant homophobia and contempt for LGBT+ Australians. Even when the postal vote returned an overwhelming Yes for marriage equality he left the room in parliament instead of voting for equality. Now since becoming PM he has re-raised the issue of religious discrimination in an attempt to roll back our rights post marriage equality.
He has also joined the train of inflammatory comments directed at trans young people and the schools who support them. As he tweets “let kids be kids” and “we don’t need gender whisperers in schools” these are genuine statements that we direct back at him, conversion therapists and the government-funded school chaplains that have interfered with trans kids lives. No person should be put through mental torture because of someone else’s bigotry.
Join us to say No to ScoMo. Come protest on the day of the Wentworth by election and march to Oxford Street within their electorate. This protest will be held in conjunction with another taking place in the heart of Canberra that day.
Feel free to email me at president@src.usyd.edu.au if you have any concerns or wish to get involved with the SRC. If you are experiencing any academic, personal or legal issues and wish to seek the advice of an SRC caseworker or solicitor, contact us at 9660 5222 or help@src.usyd.edu.au.