Where’s NLS? NatCon day one

The National Union of Students’ National Conference descended on a cold, grey and rainy Ballarat on Monday, arguably a fitting tone for the day’s proceedings. 

After a lengthy check-in, the conference opened a respectable two hours late at 4pm, and only managed to survive one of the two sessions planned for the day. We’ll start with the goss on that.  

NLS hold conference indefinitely 

National Labor Students (NLS, otherwise known as Labor left) pulled quorum, that is, left the floor so that the conference could no longer go ahead, at around 7pm. This happened right before the conference was due to head for dinner, after which NLS disappeared for the rest of the night, with Sheldon Gait (NUS General Secretary, Unity) declaring the conference inquorate around 9pm. Was NLS simply too full from the lovely Federation University catering provided for us? Did they head out to experience a little of Ballarat’s nightlife? We don’t know just yet, though theories (and baseless rumours) abound. 

One explanation Tertangala has received for the walk out is that NLS is holding the conference over a motion condemning La Trobe Student Union (LTSU). The motion, moved by Unity, titled ‘Save the LTSU from itself’ condemns various ‘anti-democratic’ actions by the union, which Tertangala understands has been held by NLS for a significant period of time. Unity accuses NLS of banning political competitors, ‘in-effect’ abolishing LTSU’s electoral tribunal, and forcing tickets off the front voting page. Multiple sources contend that NLS pulled quorum on this motion to avoid facing the damage a condemnation by the NUS would bring. Others have speculated the walk out is in protest for the NUS attacking a member union. NLS has not said anything public in relation to the walk out. 

A small Liberal contingent is voting alongside Unity. Unity claims this gives them a majority on the conference floor, though Tertangala has not been able to ascertain exact numbers. If this is true, it is likely that should the conference return, the motion will carry. 

Discussion of Palestine 

With NLS’ disappearance out of the way, let’s run through what else went down on the first day of NatCon 2023.

Early in the conference, a procedural motion came from Unity to move all motions relating to Palestine to the ethnocultural chapter of the conference. By moving the numerous, mainly SAlt-backed Palestine motions to the ethnocultural chapter, discussion of Palestine would be limited until Wednesday. NUS Ethnocultural Officer Ben Naiju (Unity) spoke for the motion, saying the move was to avoid further “shouting matches” and facilitate respectful debate. 

Needless to say, the SAlt contingent was none too pleased. Grace Hill, a member of SAlt and current NUS Queer Officer, spoke against, arguing that ​​Palestine should be spoken about.  “It is not a topic that should be put on pause.” The motion carried, with Unity voting for the motion. 

Unity then carried another motion permitting a speaker to be suspended if they speak to something irrelevant to the motion being debated. A shout, “you’ve got rocks in your head!” came from an independent sitting near the student media contingent. 

This rule wasn’t enforced on Monday, as SAlt proceeded to speak about Palestine on almost every motion put to the floor for discussion. On a motion about a name change for the Disability Officer to Disability and Carers Officer, SAlt spoke about dead babies in Palestinian hospitals, calling the war in Gaza “a textbook case of collective punishment that our government refuses to condemn.”

UOW’s Ryan Chapman, a SAlt member, spoke about the pressing need to discuss Palestine and lift the day three ban. He specifically aimed this at his fellow UOW delegates Ela Akyol and Alec Hall, saying “please fucking do something about it and let’s talk about it.”

“Because secretariat fucked up the minutes”

The conference ran through a number of motions that the NUS adopted at last year’s NatCon. Some were more bureaucratic, procedural motions like ‘Fix the spelling and grammar’ in the NUS Constitution, changing mention of LGBT to LGBTQIA+ or the disability name change mentioned above. This was because, as Jordy Duffey (last year’s Disability OB) put it, “secretariat fucked up the minutes.” Sheldon Gait said that because of this issue with the minutes, the NUS couldn’t lodge the policies with consumer affairs. 

SSAF or ’embarrassing the Labor party’?

Later in the afternoon, a motion appeared calling for a return to universal student unionism and a rejection of SSAF as a funding model. Ela Akyol, outgoing President and incoming General Secretary of WUSA, UOW’s student union, fought off a raucous conference floor to speak about what she called unfair allocation of SSAF money at UOW and other universities. WUSA does not receive SSAF money, instead receiving a small budget funded through UOW, meaning WUSA has to negotiate with the university to maintain its funding. She said, “it is absolutely disgusting. It is shameful.” Despite opposing SSAF, Ela argued student unions should instead receive at least 50% SSAF. “Student money belongs in student hands. That’s all I have to say about it.”

Satvik Sharma, a USyd liberal delegate, spoke against this motion, yelling, “Abolish the SSAF. Abolish student unionism. Abolish it all.”

SAlt member, Saravina Afaj, also took the stand to speak on the motion, using the opportunity to instead to criticise Ela on Palestine. She criticised Ela, who is an organiser of Students for Palestine Wollongong, for her support for delaying Palestine motions. She says she remembers Ela saying she will “do everything she can to embarrass the Labor Party” and called it “abhorrent and irresponsible.”

The motion failed, with Unity voting against. 

Keep up to date on Tertangala’s socials for further updates throughout the week!