Guild Council to meet tonight; consider motion opposing 26 Jan as Australia Day
UPDATE: The motion to oppose 26 January as Australia Day successfully passed Guild Council.
The new 105th Guild Council will meet tonight with a motion to move Australia Day set to dominate the agenda.
Moved by Jayne-Rae Whitby, the WASAC chair, and seconded by Megan Lee, the Guild President, the motion will see the Guild oppose Australia Day being held on the 26th of January as “it is the day of dispossession of Indigenous culture” and marked a “deep loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities”.
WASAC, which stands for Western Australian Student Aboriginal Corporation, is the peak representative body for Indigenous students on campus.
The motion will also bind the Guild to support the Change the Date campaign as well as to work with WASAC and the NUS to form a Reconciliation Action Plan.
Likely to pass along party lines, Launch is set to oppose the motion — arguing that the Guild would be better-off focusing its time on issues it has the power to make a difference in.
Though Launch is in the strongest position it has ever been, it remains to be seen whether this can be translated into any major policy or legislative victories over the coming year.
They will, however, yield greater influence within the Guild.
Ben Perry will take the new position of Deputy Chair of Guild Council while Jacob Colangelo, a former Sports Representative, will be the new chair of the Tenancy Committee.
The Tenancy Committee was embroiled in controversy last year after a decision to re-allocate the clubrooms of Leisure and Science Union.
STAR’s Jacob Fowler, also the Education Vice-President of the Arts Union, is the new Guild Secretary, while the new Chair of Guild Council will be Molly Goldacre (STAR) — the new Sports Representative.
International student Su Sugandha — elected on the ISL ticket — will become the new Vice-President of the Guild.
Tonight’s Guild Council meeting will also elect a new Volunteering and Community Engagement Chair as well as consider motions relating to the Guild’s 2018 Budget.
It is yet unclear whether Guild Council will consider any motions relating to the Government’s proposed changes to higher education, announced by the Federal Government yesterday.
Full text of tonight’s motion:
“8.3 That the UWA Student Guild:
a. Does not support Australia Day being held on the 26th of January as it is the day of dispossession of Indigenous culture and a day that marks a deep loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
b. Reinforces it’s [sic] stance that Australia Day should be moved to a more inclusive day and thereby supports the #ChangeTheDate campaign.
c. Will work closely with WASAC and the NUS ATSI Officer to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan.
Moved: Jayne-Rae Whitby; Seconded: Megan Lee”
Ian is the President of the UWA Politics Club. He is currently going into his third year, majoring in Political Science & International Relations and History. In the interest of full disclosure for this article, Ian ran as Launch’s Environment Officer candidate in 2017.
