August 2025 SRC Meeting Wrapup

This month’s meeting, the final meeting before Term 3 commences, was uncharacteristically short and marked by many absences.

SRC President Diya Sengupta opened the meeting with an Acknowledgement of Country, outlining the history and origins of NAIDOC Week, which recently passed.

Motion 1: Support the NSW Division of the NTEU’s statewide Our Unis, Our Future Campaign, moved by Students with Disabilities Officer Conroy Blood (The Greens).

Officer Blood gave his speaking time to Michael Patrelli from the NTEU, who detailed the campaign’s fight against university job sector cuts. He said that the campaign has momentum, which they want to use to get statewide legislation reform. This, he said, would stop university Vice-Chancellors from manufacturing crises to justify cuts.

The motion passed unanimously.

Motion 2: End the Blockade of Gaza, moved by Education Officer Jamie Tyers (SAlt).

Officer Tyers spoke to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as many there are at risk of dying of starvation, and many already have. Tyers said the government needs to take more action, which he said could include sending the Navy to end the blockade.

SAlt councillor Louisa Chen, speaking for the motion, made the case that the current considerations by governments across the world to recognise a Palestinian state would be a sidestep to addressing the more pressing issue of starvation.

With no one dissenting, the motion passed.

Matter for discussion: Building ideas for the Student Strike for Palestine.

Environment Officer Emma Terry from SAlt said the SRC should take the lead with showing the ropes to first-time protestors. She felt this was especially important given how the movement in support of Palestine is growing. Officer Tyers shared similar thoughts, saying this isn’t a niche issue anymore and the Sunday march on the Harbour Bridge may encourage a larger attendance at the Student Strike.

Motion 3: Oppose Jillian Segal’s plan for Trumpian authoritarianism, moved by Education Officer Jamie Tyers (SAlt).

Officer Tyers said the Envoy for Antisemitism, Jillian Segal’s, plan was not put forward in the interest of protecting Jewish people and was about cracking down on pro-Palestinian speech, and brought up how even Labor won’t fully endorse her plan, which imports Trumpian strategies like cutting off university funding.

Queer Officer Alyss Cachia seconded the motion, emphasising the need to keep Trumpian policies out of Australia, given how terrified people are to go to the US, as people are being deported or denied entry because of their social media activity.

The motion was carried unanimously.

Motion 4: Defend Mehreen Faruqi against sanctions imposed by Labor for peacefully protesting for Palestine, moved by Environment Officer Emma Terry (SAlt).

Officer Terry recounted the events that led to these sanctions. She said that Faruqi had received vitriol from Foreign Minister Penny Wong as well as sanctions from the government after holding up a sign in the senate that read ‘Gaza is starving—words won’t feed them—sanction Israel’. This caused an uproar despite the Foreign Minister admitting that crucial parts for F-35 jets are exported from Australia to Israel.

Officer Blood spoke for the motion, saying Labor wants to uphold the ‘spirit’ of parliament, yet didn’t discipline the One Nation senators when they turned their backs during the Welcome to Country.

Together Again (Labor) councillor Daniel Gulic spoke against, saying Faruqi was just attention-seeking. He said his caucus stands with Palestine, but Faruqi’s actions didn’t further the cause of the Palestinians. Here I was thinking that seeking attention for important causes is a good thing! Silly me!

The other Together Again councillor, Luke Cox, also spoke against. He said that obviously his caucus supports Palestine and ending military relations with Israel, but that this was why they were voting against the motion. Cox said that it is not beneficial to the movement to have a non-’Mass party’ as part of the movement. Essentially, what Cox was saying is that Labor is backed and composed of unions, and the Greens aren’t, and so having the Greens onside isn’t helpful. He also rebuked the Greens for their supposed deployment of ‘identity politics.’ I would assume identity would be relevant when discussing a genocide, given it is the very idea of Palestinian identity that is under attack by Israel, especially given that many in their society deny the very existence of the identity they seek to erase. It takes a coalition of different organisations, who will no doubt have disagreements over strategy and goals, to be able to put up a fight against a war. Why then would we rely on a party that is not even unified on the question of Palestinian liberation to find us the answer? Cox and his faction were last to jump on the bandwagon- they don’t have the right to choose who gets kicked out of it.

 With only the Labor members of the council against it, the motion easily passed.

Motion 5: UNSW SRC endorses the nationwide march for Palestine, moved by Education Officer Jamie Tyers (SAlt).

Owen from SAlt spoke for the motion, saying the holidays shouldn’t stop the movement. He also said that the Sunday march has forced the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to respond, an insulting response, but a response nonetheless.

The motion was carried unanimously.

Motion 6: That the SRC affirms its support for a strong Food Hub and recognises the need for a permanent home, moved by Councillor Daniel Gulic (Together Again).

Daniel outlined the ongoing issue of Food Hub not being given a permanent home and its importance to students. SAlt councillor Zack Hossain spoke for the motion, mentioning the 3.3 million people living in poverty in Australia as well as the many students having to skip meals despite the multibillion-dollar universities they study at having more than enough to be able to offer cost-of-living relief.  

The motion passed unanimously

Motion 7: The SRC calls on UNSW to stop DART2252- “Generative AI for Artists” course from being run, moved by Queer Officer Ren Woodward.

President Sengupta, in speaking for the motion on behalf of Woodward, said that AI is being marketed to artists so they can have their work scraped by AI companies. She said the Fine Arts faculty is siding with the AI companies that seek to replace their students in the art market. Sengupta also raised that Fine Arts students are against this, and thus the SRC should stand with them and uplift their voices.

The motion carried unanimously.

Motion 8: Open UNSW Parramatta Campus on Weekends, moved by General Secretary Akash Nagarajan (Labor).

Nagarajan and Officer Blood both raised similar concerns regarding the convenience for those living in or near Parramatta to have the library open more often, as well as how noisy and numerous high schoolers can be on Kensington campus. Ethnocultural Officer Ethan Lin from Edge spoke for the motion as well and said it would also be good to have more events at the Parramatta campus.

 Matter for discussion: The SRC stands together with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) in advocating for a new upper campus prayer space, moved by Ethnocultural Officer Ethan Lin (Edge).

Officer Lin said that while the prayer space is due to be closed in late 2025-early 2026, estate management has not formally told the MSA. President Sengupta said it would be good to have Arc keep track of the available and unavailable spaces on campus, also mentioning how Arc is losing spaces itself. Her recommendation for anyone losing a space was to find the highest level of the relevant faculty who will be sympathetic to your cause and see what they can find for you.

Moving onto reports, most were taken as read, though Officer Blood raised that he was working on a new Disability and Accessibility club to safeguard the community should future Students with Disabilities Officers not put in the work of keeping the collective alive.

In my first SRC coverage, in the wake of the biggest electoral shakeup the SRC has ever seen, I wrote that the council was in uncharted territory. One would expect that chaos would have ensued, and not to say that it didn’t, but the SRC has been able to come together, both in the meeting room, where thus far in this term of office no motion has failed, and outside, where today the UNSW contingent of the Student Strike for Palestine will set off for Town Hall, thanks to the efforts of people from all different factions. I said in my first article that only time would tell how good this SRC’s navigational skills are regarding this uncharted territory they found themselves in. The SRC can be a mess to watch when they disagree, but when they are united, they are a show of force, even if for a moment. I think that is something we all, as UNSW students, can feel proud of. 

I’m Billy Scharzenberger Moran, and I’ve been your SRC correspondent for Noise for 2025, and that’s all from me. Over and out.