
The first day of the 2023 National Union of Students Conference has yet again failed to productively hold the policies of student interest to account.
This year’s conference is being held at Federation University, just 20 minutes out of Ballarat Central.
Before the conference commenced, 6 out of 7 positions were elected unopposed following the close of the Business Committee nominations. These positions are held by:
1. Oliver Shephard Bayley
2. Simar Bedi
3. Aidan O’Rourke
4. Ben Myatt
5. Althina Hillman
6. Lucy Vascotto
Starting the day with a delayed session by 30 minutes, motions were dominated by the tedium of neurotic bureaucratic changes to quorum thresholds and subscription fees (only the latter of which actually carried).
In almost two hours of amendments and motions, the conference scarcely completed chapter 2 of the 328 page ‘Policy Book’.
Situated aptly on either sides of the converted sports auditorium, Unity and NLS battled to lead the conference with Grassroots and Independents lurking at the back.
Early in the conference agenda, NLS and Unity put forward a procedural to move all motions concerning the Palestinian genocide until Wednesday, leaving only two days of the conference to discuss what SAlt called “the biggest humanitarian crisis of our generation.”
True to form – particularly after RepsElect – SAlt took this as an invitation to speak against every motion thereafter, instead completely dispensing with their platforms around support for disabilities OBs and affirmative action to empower gender diverse identities.
While Liberal delegates were busy shouting into the microphone about why student unions should be abolished, there was some worthwhile discussion of solidarity between Palestinian and environmental resistance. As Xavier Dupe (SAlt) and Jordan Anderson (Switchroots) put it, “Gaza is being carpet-bombed… we need climate justice and we need a free Palestine.”
Speaking to a Palestinian student activist and observer during our break, Honi gathered that SAlt’s rhetoric and conduct was received as “performative” and “virtue-signalling”.
Nowhere were these out-of-touch policy decisions more obvious than in Unity and NLS’ joint motion to “increase voter turnout for student annual elections” through “democracy sausages.”
And whilst the abysmal attempts at democratic proceedings and sausage fests unfolded, Honi received a tip that Unity strengthened their dominance by sealing deals with Liberals through proxy votes.

Dinner was called just after 6pm with the anticipation of an evening session at 7pm, which came to a screeching halt following NLS’ contested absence sparked by motion 2.19: ‘Save the LTSU from itself’ (the condemnation of the La Trobe student union conduct in their most recent election).
While Unity attempted to convince us that there had been a national leadership spill the remaining delegates, observers and student media were left bottle flipping, singing and emptily staring at the wall. A genuine upset over Unity’s decision to publicly condemn a fellow member faction is the more likely reason for NLS’ walk-out – reinforced by the many lighthearted ‘gathos’ we witnessed trekking back to our accommodation.
As we left the auditorium with our fellow student media peers,, the echoes of “Student Unity Forever”, a tired parody of a popular Marxist chant, made us cringe one final time.
What a day.
Hopefully tomorrow morning won’t be as stressful as dealing with the turbulence of late flights, under-resourced NUS secretaries and unexpectedly cold weather. Honi Soit’s coverage will resume on Instagram and X at 9am for NatCon’s next session.
Disclaimer: Simone Maddison is a current member of USYD Grassroots & Zeina Khochaiche was previously affiliated with state Labor.