President
Jacky He

Welcome everyone to a fresh new start to the first semester of 2019! To students who are new to the University of Sydney, this will be a new chapter to your life. To students who have been living and breathing the air of the University of Sydney for the past few years, welcome back and it is great to see you again.

This year in preparation for Orientation Week, the SRC had devoted an enormous amount of effort into ordering merchandise, organising activities, welcome sessions and parties for the students upcoming arriving at / returning to the University. During the upcoming Welcome Festival, we would have 2,000 gift bags, several thousand discount vouchers, wall planners, and a slushie machine to wash off all the heat.

On top of that the SRC will also be hosting an undergraduate arts student welcome session with the Sydney Arts Students Society, and an undergraduate law student welcome session with the Sydney University Law Society. There will be critical information on how to study for exams, how to get involved, and experiences and tips from third or fourth year students. We encourage all first year arts and law undergraduate students to come along and join us at our welcome sessions.

During the week after Welcome Week, we are also likely to host a welcome party for undergraduate students, revolving around fried chicken and beer. Definitely check out the event when the notice comes around! It would be a great way to enjoy your start to the semester, make some new friends, and listen to some good vibes.

Again, a final sincere welcome to you all stepping into the first semester of 2019, and if you need any help, remember that the SRC would always be here for you..

Vice President
Dane Luo and Wanlin Chu

Hello and welcome to USyd! We’re your Vice Presidents for this year. We just celebrated the Lunar New Year of the Pig. And we will be running exciting events throughout the year, starting with the SRC’s Welcome Week stall (please come say hi!).

The SRC is here to help YOU! Our CASEWORKERS are professional and experienced staff who can assist you with academic issues, Centrelink, tenancy, show cause and tax help. Our LEGAL SERVICE has dedicated solicitors that can help with court appearances, fines, consumer rights, employment law, witnessing documents, visa related and migration matters. These services are FREE, independent and confidential.

We know that going to University doesn’t come cheap! The Government funds a proportion of course fees for all domestic undergraduate and some domestic postgraduate students. But students are still expected to pay a fee. You can either pay it upfront or (like most students) defer payment through HECS-HELP. HECS-HELP is an interest-free loan scheme where you don’t need to pay until your income exceeds a threshold that is adjusted to inflation.

To apply for HECS-HELP, you need to apply before the ‘census date’ (Sunday 31 March 2019 for semester 1):
FIRST, check your eligibility. HECS is available to all students with a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP). All domestic undergraduate students are eligible for a CSP, and if you’re unsure that you meet these requirements, you can check your eligibility at http://bit.ly/2DiMCUc.
SECOND, apply for a Tax File Number (TFN) at https://bit.ly/1VltRCj if you don’t already have one – your enrolment will be invalid without it and your application for HECS will ask for it.
THIRD, log on to Sydney Student then go to My Finance > Your Finances > Government forms and fill out a Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP form.
In addition to course fees, there is the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) – a portion of which goes to the SRC. The SA-HELP program allows you to defer this amount just like the HECS-HELP program. To do this, follow the same steps and fill out a Request for SA-HELP assistance form on the same page in Sydney Student.

If you need any help with any of these payments you can email help@src.usyd.edu.au and a caseworker will be happy to give you advice. Or if you would like get involved in SRC events or campaigns, feel free to email us at vice.president@src.usyd.edu.au.
Good luck for the year ahead!

Dane and Caitlyn

Your Council at Work.
Report from your Student Council

ELECTIONS
For the 91st Council of the Students’ Representative Council (1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019), the following people have been elected.
PRESIDENT – Jacky He
VICE-PRESIDENT – Wanlin (Caitlyn) Chu, Dane Luo
GENERAL SECRETARY – Niamh Callinan, Yuxuan Yang
EXECUTIVE MEMBERS – Josie Jakovac, Xiaoyu Jin, Juming (Vonnie) Li, Prudence Wilkins-Wheat, Chia-Shuo (Alexander) Yang
REPRESENTATIVES – James Ardouin, JP (John-Paul) Baladi, Lily Campbell, Wanlin (Caitlyn) Chu, Hartley Dhyon, Yiting Feng, Ella Finlay, Nicholas Forbutt, Xiaoxi (Shirley) Hou, Daniel Hu, Josie Jakovac, Guipeng Jiao, Xiaoyu Jin, Jayesh Joshi, Yihe (Victor) Li, Juming (Vonnie) Li, Dane Luo, Layla Mkhayber, Shangyue (Brian) Mu, Amy Newland, Zac O’Farrell, Shaan Patel, Swapnik Sanagavarapu, Jiaqi (Abbey) Shi, Himath Siriniwasa, Ellie Stephenson, Gabi Stricker-Phelps, Manchen Wen, Prudence Wilkins-Wheat, Jingxian (Lois) Wu, Zifan (Crystal) Xu, Chia-shuo (Alexander) Yang, Kelli Zhao

OFFICE BEARERS
Education Officer: James Newbold, Yiting (Eva) Feng
Women’s Officer: Gabrielle Stricker-Phelps, Zifan (Crystal) Xu
Welfare Officer: Madeleine Powell, Ellie Stephenson, Liam Thomas & Mingxiao Tu
Ethno Cultural Officer: Zheng Dingsong, Junjie Shen, Mahek Rawal, Ellie Wilson
Indigenous Students’ Officer: Thomas Harrington, Akala Newman
International Students’ Officer: Jahanzaib Lashary, Yilan Wu, Ken Leung, Janet Lin
Environment Officer: Alev Saracoglu, Alex Vaughan, Georgia de Mestre, Jayesh Joshi
Global Solidarity Officer:    Lingxi Li, Jiale Wang, Ella Finlay, Swapnik Sanagavarapu
Intercampus Officer: Manchen Wen, Paul Touma, Shuhan Zhang
Sexual Harrasment Officer: Hang Gao, Charlotte Plashik, Jazzlyn Breen, Layla Mkhayber
Disabilities Officer: Wilson Huang, Hayden Moon
Queer Officer: Peter Burell-Sander, Steff Leinasars
Mature Age Students Officer: Vinil Kumar
Interfaith Officer    : Julia Kokic, Keegan Mason, Hongli Wang, Angela Zhang
Social Justice Officer: Joshua Noble, Shikki Wang, Siying He, Olivia-James McKeown
Refugee Rights Officer: Lili Schapiro, Yihe (Victor) Li, Sulainsan Malik
Residential College Officer: Hayley (Luoyu) Zhang, Flora Zhao, James Ardouin, Annabel de Mestre
Student Housing Officer:    Irene Ma, Yinfeng Shen, Seamus Kirk, Ziwei Lin
Chair, Standing Legal Committee:     Xiaoman Zhu

MEETINGS
The first Ordinary Meeting of Council was held on Wednesday 6 February 2019. The following substantive motions were considered and carried:
R2. Censure Motion
The SRC censures and strongly condemns Zac O’Farrell who attempted to blackmail the organization by preventing the organisation’s democratic process and hypocritically acting against the best interests of the students he claims to represent.
Moved: James Ardouin      Seconded: Chanum Torres    Co-sponsors: Josie Jakovac
The next Ordinary Meeting of Council will take place on Wednesday 6 March 2019 at 6:00pm at New Law 026.