Honi would like to acknowledge that NatCon is being held on stolen Wadawurrung lands. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Credits to Imogen Sabey, Purny Ahmed and Ella McGrath for live reporting. Follow @honi_soit on Twitter to keep up with all the NatCon drama!
Module 1: Subway Surfers and Sunburn
Student politicians are infamously organised, which is why Honi expected some drama getting into NatCon. Several student journalists took it a step further by taking the train to Ballarat in such large numbers that the National Union of Students (NUS) bus was almost entirely occupied by Socialist Alternative (SAlt). What Honi expected was a nightmare turned dream: a 4-hour long wait outside in the heat, a picnic, and unusual forms of Stupol entertainment. Unity, in true cult-like fashion, were singing together in their matching T-shirts. NUS were telling us we’d be in any minute. Unity once again hid away in shadowy corners and played football, and one observer was overheard saying “Student media?! How dare you!”. Our orange juice had become warm in the summer sun.
The NUS broadcasted Subway Surfers on the screen as a dismal but determined player tried to entertain the brainrot-afflicted amongst us, and achieved a score of over 2.3 million points (mainly due to the ease of Subway Surfers and possibly cheating). The icing on the cake was having to stand in the scorching heat for hours on end, which apparently wasn’t an “accessibility” concern despite all the emphasis on it within the motions. It’s giving the “NUS buzzword of 2024”.
Module 2: Distinguished Discussions
Now, everyone knows that Honi loves to poke fun at NatCon, and trust us… we’ll get to that soon! Even though it’s Coachella for every self-aggrandising student politician, NatCon kicks off a year of debates and organising around pressing political issues. From Palestine to disability accessibility, NatCon focuses on the injustices our Universities —and by extension our fees— are actively perpetrating.
In the first section of the policy document (Rules Changes), Motion 1.3 pushed for the recognition and remuneration for the National Disability Officer. With the issues surrounding the sensory room being unavailable and many pointing out that the campus remained inaccessible to students with disabilities, it is unfortunately unsurprising that there was large debate around this. A speaker for the motion explained that passing this motion would expand accessibility in fighting the campaigns for the “student’s that we look after”. In the midst of heckling, a speaker against the motion brought up the fact that implementing the remuneration for the Disability Officer is allegedly a direct attack on Women’s and Queer Officers, due to limiting or defunding those autonomous positions in order to implement this change.
Remy Lebreton (USyd Disability Officer, member of Grassroots) told Honi “the NUS can and should make its national disabilities office bearer a paid position, but this does not have to come at the extent of other existing paid positions, and it is shameful one of the two queer officer positions has been removed in favour of this…we should affirm the need for disability advocacy to be held to equal importance, and anything less is ableism…I think the fact that Natcon is still being held at Federation university despite previous and ongoing accessibility concerns is an indictment illustrating this need as well.”
These issues are mutually exclusive, and from Honi’s understanding, NUS has enough funding to provide this to the Disability Officer(s) without defunding the Queer or Women’s Officers to do so. Socialist Alternative (SAlt) voted down the motion, whilst National Labor Students (NLS) and Unity voted the motion up. The motion was passed.
In the second section of the policy document (Student Unionism), there were discussions surrounding Israel’s genocide (named a “war” in the preamble of the motion) on Palestine and Lebanon, the militarism on our campuses and the unionism in our universities. A unique facet of the NUS sits in its rights as a non-corporate organisation, free from the shackles of censorship and able to freely discuss contentious issues.
Motion 2.1 pushed for an increase in pro-Palestine action, dubbed “peace is union business” and highlighted the integral role student unionism plays in leveraging youth against injustices in both Palestine and Lebanon. The was moved by Yasmine Jonhson (UTS SAlt) and seconded by Eddie Stephenson (National Queer Officer, member of SAlt).
Supporting the motion, Deaglan Godwin (USyd Enviro Officer, member of SAlt) said, “student unions have a proud history of fighting back against the government when it has helped to aid and abet atrocities across the world”. An active participant in USyd’s pro-Palestine encampment earlier this year, Godwin added that, “we have seen Palestinians in Gaza thank students in Australia for what we have done”.
A second SAlt speaker addressed the issue of stifling university management crack-downs. They spoke in support of ANU student, Bea Tucker, who was previously expelled in June — with expulsion overturned after an appeal in September—for expressing “controversial” pro-Palestine views on a radio show.
Palestinian student Salma Elmubasher (UTS Ethnocultural Officer, member of Unity) has family in both Gaza and Hebron. “Everyday feels like a funeral for Palestinians,” Elmubasher said. “It is the responsibility of NUS to stand united against atrocities… unions are built on solidarity,” she added.
Angus Fisher (USyd SRC President, member of NLS) emphasises that “student issues go beyond the university campus…student unions ought to – no – must, mobilise to fight back against injustice”. In the face of derision and skepticism from SAlt, he reaffirms NLS’ commitment to student unionism as a vehicle for social justice.
Module 3: Hacks and Heckles
SAlts cops it from every direction today, with a barrage of heckles, cut-offs, and eyerolls. Best heckle award goes to the Indies (ANU) for the scathing but legitimate question: “Do you pay your ‘Red Flag’ sellers minimum wage?”.
NLS speaks on the genocide in Gaza, explaining that Australia has suffered political and moral death. “Our own government doesn’t even call it a genocide”. Is someone gonna tell them? Eek.
Unity brings back old-school, Trump-era security theatre and paranoia with a passionate defence of AUKUS, suggesting that “we must be ready to protect ourselves and our pacific neighbours…against threats to our democracy…”. Obviously, the one way to do this is to pay almost $400 billion for nuclear powered submarines with indefinite and increasingly delayed arrival dates.
Module 4: Recap Quiz (worth 25% of overall grade)
- What Government is in power and is complicit in genocide?
- Why are our Universities repressing our freedom of speech?
- How many Labor hacks were present today?
- What has NatCon failed to provide for “accessibility”?
- Was Honi accused of being “old” and “illiterate”?
