Close Menu
Honi Soit
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • 2025–2026 State Budget Unpacked
    • Antisemitism review puts universities, festivals, and cultural centres under threat
    • Macquarie University axes Sociology, cuts more jobs & courses
    • UTS elects new Chancellor
    • Out of the Deep: The Story of a Shark Kid Who Dared to Question Fear
    • Prima Facie: Losing Faith In A System You Truly Believed In
    • Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report
    • ‘If you silence someone or shush someone, you can get out’: SISTREN is an unabashed celebration of black and trans joy. Is Australia ready?
    • About
    • Print Edition
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    • Writing Comp
    • Advertise
    • Locations
    • Contact
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
    Honi SoitHoni Soit
    Sunday, July 13
    • News
    • Analysis
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • University
    • Features
    • Perspective
    • Investigation
    • Reviews
    • Comedy
    • Student Journalism Conference 2025
    Honi Soit
    Home»News

    Ex-SRC Lawyer refused to run legal rights seminar for China society, emails reveal

    China Development Society execs requested a legal rights seminar - it was refused
    By Alan ZhengAugust 19, 2019 News 3 Mins Read
    Contract for principal solicitor with "WANTED" in red
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    The former SRC Principal Lawyer refused to run a seminar on legal rights for the prominent China Development Society (CDS) in Welcome Week last year because of concerns of foreign interference, emails have revealed.

    “With the ongoing legal issues that international students are facing in Sydney every single year, we really hope to engage with the SRC legal department,” wrote Reijo Wang who was vice president of CDS in 2018.

    Then SRC lawyer Thomas McLoughlin declined, raising concerns over the independence of CDS from the Chinese Government and the need to maintain the legal service’s political independence and compliance with professional conduct rules. He offered a set of employment law guidelines instead.

    According to the preamble in McLoughlin’s contract with the SRC, the SRC Legal Service is to “participate in activities which improve the situation of students with regard to their legal rights and standard of living.” The service is also to maintain “political independence.”

    “I have not been asked previously to speak to a specific club or society and the SRC Legal Service may need to develop a working policy about that in relation to perceptions of any bias of present and future clients,” McLoughlin replied.

    Under the direction of President He — who held an executive role as Sponsorship Director of CDS in 2017 —- the SRC sidelined McLoughlin in March and co-hosted a seminar with private firm Longton Legal. Three months later, McLoughlin was dismissed. He denied that McLoughlin’s refusal to assist CDS played a role in the dismissal.

    In the correspondence, CDS Executive member Reijo Wang told McLoughlin he does not believe the CDS has any links to a foreign government, including the Chinese state.

    “To my knowledge as co-founder and vice president of the society, CDS has no contact with any foreign government.”

    In the past, Honi has asked students involved with CDS whether the club has consular connections or relationships with the Chinese government.

    In a 2018 interview with Honi, then presidential aspirant Jacky He confirmed no link existed.

    “[CDS] are not associated with the Communist Party in any kind of way.”

    The SRC dropped McArdle Legal and hired national law firm Moray and Agnew to defend against McLoughlin’s unfair dismissal claim.

    This comes after the SRC was forced to pay out close to $16,000 in accrued leave after that sum was unlawfully withheld as part of an attempt at settlement back in June.

    “The student body are the big losers in my dismissal,” McLoughlin told Honi.

    CDS China Development Society foreign interference Jacky He lawyer legal rights panda thomas mcloughlin

    Keep Reading

    Antisemitism review puts universities, festivals, and cultural centres under threat

    Macquarie University axes Sociology, cuts more jobs & courses

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    Jason Clare seeks replacement for ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop after $790,000 expense report

    NTEU wins wage theft case against Monash University

    USU June Board Meeting: Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye

    Just In

    2025–2026 State Budget Unpacked

    July 12, 2025

    Antisemitism review puts universities, festivals, and cultural centres under threat

    July 11, 2025

    Macquarie University axes Sociology, cuts more jobs & courses

    July 11, 2025

    UTS elects new Chancellor

    July 8, 2025
    Editor's Picks

    Part One: The Tale of the Corporate University

    May 28, 2025

    “Thank you Conspiracy!” says Capitalism, as it survives another day

    May 21, 2025

    A meditation on God and the impossible pursuit of answers

    May 14, 2025

    We Will Be Remembered As More Than Administrative Errors

    May 7, 2025
    Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok

    From the mines

    • News
    • Analysis
    • Higher Education
    • Culture
    • Features
    • Investigation
    • Comedy
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Misc

     

    • Opinion
    • Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Social
    • Sport
    • SRC Reports
    • Tech

    Admin

    • About
    • Editors
    • Send an Anonymous Tip
    • Write/Produce/Create For Us
    • Print Edition
    • Locations
    • Archive
    • Advertise in Honi Soit
    • Contact Us

    We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. The University of Sydney – where we write, publish and distribute Honi Soit – is on the sovereign land of these people. As students and journalists, we recognise our complicity in the ongoing colonisation of Indigenous land. In recognition of our privilege, we vow to not only include, but to prioritise and centre the experiences of Indigenous people, and to be reflective when we fail to be a counterpoint to the racism that plagues the mainstream media.

    © 2025 Honi Soit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Accessibility

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.