As we return to campus after some much-needed time away, we’re putting away the rose-tinted glasses. Instead, we’re back to deliver on the perpetual promise of Honi Soit — holding people and institutions to account. We’re not here to make friends or win votes, we’re here to return to our radical leftist roots. As our editions hit stands each week, our readers can continue to expect the unfiltered and unapologetic reporting this publication is known for.
Strikes in the UK come on the back of a broader movement for workers’ rights — Katarina Butler (pg. 6) examines the University and College Union’s fight against management. Following the theft of hundreds of copies of Fagi Soit by queerphobes on campus, Will Thorpe (pg. 7) recounts Honi’s legacy of standing against what is regarded as “acceptable” and “civil”, on the basis of principle and standing for what is right. As the NTEU’s enterprise bargaining campaign comes to an end, with 80% of members voting to end 22 months of industrial action, Katarina Butler, Luke Mešterović and Andy Park (pg. 12) deliver a pulse-check on the health of staff rights at the University and analyse how much of the union’s demands have been met by management. Nathan Phillis (pg. 10) makes the case for street-art as one of the most enduring manifestations of public outcry against the status quo (see Honi’s Week 8, Semester 1 back cover). Annabel Li (p. 15) invites us to reconsider representation and diversity, arguing that if diversity means conforming to a flawed system, it only results in cheap tokenism and empty representation.
Hand-in-hand with the Labor government, Mark Scott and University management are leading our education system into a minefield, eviscerating the student experience and continuing their attacks on staff rights. Transphobia is on the rise across the country. Housing and employment are becoming increasingly unattainable as the cost of living crisis worsens. The abrasive debate surrounding the Voice to Parliament has inflicted immeasurable harm upon First Nations communities. These are the defining moments of our editorship, and we intend to continue reporting on them with the same verve and dynamism of last semester.