week eleven semester two 2013 honi soit honi

General staff unhappy with EBA offer p 4

Master Shang p 7 Who’s Violence in the queer community p 10 playing Watching porn for the first time p 14 who? DISCONTENTS RAUE V MORRIS Untying the strings 4 Max Chalmers Deception. It’s a powerful tool. cons of transparency – are here to throw in the open, for everyone to see. Whether it be lying about – or hiding light into the places where it’s hard to It’s very easy to feel as though your – your identity, your situation or moti- see and hold the powerful to account. strings aren’t being pulled. To retreat THE WET PLANET vation, there are often a number of rea- The faceless can hold the strings of stu- into ill-formed preconceptions, judge- 6 sons to want to deceive an audience. dent politics as the Chinese millionaire Ariel Castro-Martinez ment, and arrogance; the idea that you In theatre, the audience is shown Master Shang allegedly does, or their can see through every pretense and the stage and little else. What goes on partner’s wellbeing and safety, or just a delusion. This is something none of us behind those curtains, in those wings, lot of money and little sense, and the are exempt from. But in order to shape REROUTING isn’t meant to be seen. We do know, by role of the media, we think, should be the world into something a little better 9 PROGRESS the nods of the head and the wave of to expose such things when it can. than it is – just a little better, only as Rebecca Wong the hands by the actors at the conclu- But the great paradox of our work much as we can – we need only be a bit sion, that there are people back there: as editors is that sometimes you can’t more thoughtful about who has power, pulling the strings, calling the shots. expose. Sometimes it’s clear that there’s a bit more critical of how they use it, THE REALITY Faceless men. just as much value in keeping things and – if it isn’t being used well – how to 10 OF VIOLENCE In the theatre, the faceless men are secret, to preserve people’s right to change things so they do. Georgia Behrens and usually competent and humble stage- anonymity. For one reason or another Madeleine King hands, lighting technicians, playwrights, – personal, social, or, well, criminal – designers. But, extrapolating this idea four of this week’s contributors could A BAD TRIP further, to life beyond the play, and not put their name to their work but 12 there are faceless men everywhere (and still wanted others to know about, and Anonymous women, and non-gender specific peo- learn from, their experiences. Whether ple), pulling the strings behind a whole it was their terrible time with LSD or horde of stages. Sometimes so quietly their experience being a trans* man at BUSHWALKERS DO you don’t even know. university, they’re things mainstream 15 A NUDE CALENDAR What happens when the faceless society won’t (but should) let us speak men are revealed? Time will tell in fed- openly about. In attempting to break Mariana Podesta-Diverio eral politics, as The Faceless Man this down larger power structures, the little week becomes The Face of the ALP. guys must change or redact their names. Truly great social shifts need to go down Bryant Apolonio and Lucy Watson THE SOIN But there are many more, hiding in the 21 shadows. And newspapers – ideally bea- before these things can be talked about Editors-in-chief than in recent years, it must be empha- sised that SULS were not informed of Editor-in-chief: Bryant Apolonio and Lucy Watson SOUND& the tax liability until the end of the 2011 Editors: Rafi Alam, Max Chalmers, Avani Dias, Mariana Podesta-Diverio, Nick fury Executive’s term. Naturally, a different course would have been taken had this Rowbotham, Hannah Ryan, Xiaoran Shi, Nina Ubaldi. been known. Reporters: Georgia Behrens, Ariel Castro-Martinez, John Gooding, Nick In Defence of SULS As the article attested, the USU paid Dear Honi, Gowland, Georgia Kriz, Samantha Jonscher, Neha Kasbekar, Madeleine King, the bulk of the tax liability up front with Phoebe Moloney, Thomas Murphy, Felicity Nelson, Cameron Smith, I write in response to last week’s arti- an agreement that we would pay them cle on SULS’ tax debt to clarify SULS’ Matilda Surtees, Rebecca Wong back in installments - and we are incred- position on some of the issues raised. Contributors: Alex Gillis, Lauren Pearce, Bro Reveleigh ibly grateful for it. SULS’ tax liability SULS receives annual sponsorship came as a complete surprise to the USU Artwork and photos: Madeleine Pfull, Eliza Waterhouse from corporate law firms as its main who audits SULS and the SULS. The Cover: Bryant Apolonio and Lucy Watson source of income. We receive around USU paying this tax has allowed the bur- Puzzles: Patrick Horton $160 000 each year, rather than the $350 den of the liability to be spread over two Ticker tape: Choose your own awkward party theme 000 claimed. Our relationship with cor- or three years. porate sponsors is mutually beneficial. While the Socials portfolio receives Firms pay money to access students more than any other SULS portfolio, through careers events which SULS host. this does not mean that SULS considers The editors of Honi Soit and the SRC acknowledge There is no pretense that the money that socials more important than other pro- the traditional owners of this land, the Gadigal people firms pay goes towards other SULS pro- grams. Rather, it reflects the reality that grams (including socials), but there is of the Eora nation. Honi Soit is written, printed, and social events are costly. While a moot still a strong benefit for the firms as they can be run by volunteer student conve- distributed on Aboriginal land. If you are reading this, recruit high numbers of Sydney Uni nors, socials require that money be paid you are standing on Aboriginal land. Please recog- students. While the society cannot be to an external group to administer the categorised as ‘charitable’ by the ATO nise and respect this. event. In 2013, as well as socials, SULS’ in light of this funding, all programs are program has included ten competi- run by a tireless and unpaid Executive tions, a women’s moot, a Rape Culture exclusively for the benefit of students. Want to place an advertisement in Honi Soit ? Contact Amanda LeMay & forum, a Mental Health publication, This benefit extends to students form- weekly juvenile detention centre visits, Jess Henderson [email protected] ing and maintaining friendships through two journals covering Social Justice and social events. It is important to clarify Women’s Issues respectively, and a text- Honi Soit is published by the Students’ Representative Council, University of Sydney, Level 1 Wentworth Building, City Road, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006. The SRC’s that a figure of $189 000 was not spent book exchange program. operation costs, space and administrative support are financed by the University of on socials in 2012, nor is the figure of Sydney. Honi Soit is printed under the auspices of the SRC’s Directors of Student $60 000 spent on law ball accurate or Best wishes, Publications: Clare Angel-Auld, Adam Chalmers, Bebe D’Souza, Brigitte Garozzo, suggestive of financial recklessness. James O’Doherty, Lane Sainty. All expressions are published on the basis that they Isabelle Youssef are not to be regarded as the opinions of the SRC unless specifically stated. The Whilst in fact $110 000 was the gross Council accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any of the opinions or informa- expenditure on the 2013 ball, the net Arts/Law III tion contained within this newspaper, nor does it endorse any of the advertisements cost (event cost minus ticket sales) was 2013 President, SULS and insertions. Printed by MPD, Unit E1 46-62 Maddox St. Alexandria NSW 2015. around $9 000. With 700 attendees, this meant a cost to SULS of $13 per stu- dent, a cost the Executive considered reasonable. When any campus society Anyone can write for Honi Soit ! @honi_soit runs a large social event, of course the Email all letters and submissions to: gross expenditure will be high and this is [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/honisoitsydney countered by ticket sales. While expen- diture on Law Ball in 2011 was higher PARTY TIME. Are you a fan of costumes? If yes, go to 7, if no, go to p. 8. 3 HONI NEWS FREE Week Eleven Edition “MASTER OF PUPPETS, I’M PULLING YOUR STRINGS” CPSU strikes off on its own in EBA negotiations The general staff union has voted not to endorse the latest EBA offer, leaving it at odds with the University and the NTEU, Nick Rowbotham reports The USYD branch of the Community commit to further industrial action. increase in over a year. increase to lower paid staff – seemed to and Public Sector Union (CPSU), the Honi Soit reported last week that the “CPSU members remain disappointed no longer be on the bargaining table. union that represents general staff, has NTEU had voted overwhelmingly to by the sub-standard, sub-CPI salary When asked about the likelihood of broken from the National Tertiary Edu- endorse the University’s Enterprise Bar- increase offered by the University,” further industrial action, Wheeler was cation Union (NTEU) and voted not to gaining Agreement (EBA) offer and Wheeler wrote in an email to staff. equivocal. endorse the University’s latest enterprise cancel its proposed 72 hour strike. “CPSU members are particularly con- “Our members understand that there bargaining offer. The proposed EBA includes a 14.5% cerned by the extension of the length is fatigue amongst staff at the Univer- pay increase over the duration of the of the Agreement under this offer, lock- sity,” he told Honi. “The CPSU is ... aggrieved agreement, which would expire in ing staff into this sub-CPI rate for even Wheeler speculated that in initially about a perceived lack March 2017. longer, and the continuing lack of provi- attempting to strip back conditions sion for back dating the salary increase of consultation over The NTEU’s canvassed 72 hour strike like leave entitlements and workload was called in response to what was per- under this proposal.” requirements, “the University was trying negotiations on the part of ceived to be a below-CPI wage increase The new EBA is likely to be six to cause fatigue amongst non-unionised the NTEU, particularly given of 11.6% to the end of 2016. months longer in duration than the staff ” in the lead up to the eventual pay Despite the NTEU’s decision to sign 2009-2012 Agreement, which included a dispute. many of the University’s on to the University’s latest offer, the pay increase of 15%. Given the NTEU’s decision to sign an lowest paid staff are non- CPSU argues that even a 14.5% wage The CPSU is understood to be in-principle agreement for a new EBA, academic staff.” increase may not keep up with inflation. aggrieved about a perceived lack of con- the University now appears to be in a The University has extended the length sultation over negotiations on the part position to put the proposed Agreement CPSU Branch President Grant of the agreement in its latest offer, and of the NTEU, particularly given many to a staff ballot. A bare majority of staff Wheeler told Honi Soit that there was a has consistently refused to backdate of the University’s lowest paid staff are would be required to vote in favour for “fairly overwhelming sentiment” to not salary increases to compensate for the non-academic staff. the new EBA to be officially accepted. support the proposed agreement at a lack of a wage increase during negotia- CPSU members are also said to be The University could not be reached members’ meeting last Tuesday. tions over the new EBA. In effect, this frustrated that a flat pay increase for for comment at the time of print. Nonetheless, the CPSU would not means that staff have not received a pay staff – which would deliver a higher pay s

USU debacle to be decided in Supreme Court Efforts to remove the USU’s Vice-President have been frustrated and will now hinge on a further court decision, reports Max Chalmers A University of Sydney Union (USU) tors were spending on their legal team said the USU’s constitution gave it broad hear the case before October 25. meeting at which a Special Resolution and whether the USU was paying for powers to create regulations, including Until the matter can be heard in full to remove the organisation’s Vice-Presi- their defence, President Hannah Mor- those outlining the circumstances in Raue will continue to serve as a Board dent was to be debated has been delayed ris declined to comment. “I’m sorry but which a director may be expelled from Director as well as the USU’s Vice Presi- for the second time after the NSW as there are legal proceedings currently the Board. He rejected the claim that the dent, but has given an undertaking not Supreme Court granted an interlocutory occurring I am unable to comment on information Raue shared could not be to exercise any duties in that function injunction on Thursday. anything related to the matter before considered confidential and argued Raue while the injunction remains. court, or any personal opinion relat- was fully aware of its status as such. The move from the boardroom to Disclosures: Honi Soit editor Hannah ing to the matter before court,” Morris the courtroom represents an escalation While noting the “force” of Sirtes’ Ryan contributed additional court reporting wrote in an email to Honi Soit. of the dispute sparked after USU Vice- submissions, the Court found that to this story. She is currently in a relationship President Tom Raue provided informa- Raue’s barrister Lisa Doust argued at Raue’s case was still arguable and that with Tom Raue. Max Chalmers handed out tion to Honi Soit indicating collaboration the Thursday hearing that the Board had delaying the meeting would not cause flyers for Raue when he ran for Board in 2012. between police and the University dur- overreached its powers in moving the significant damage. The Court will now ing an August 31 strike. Special Resolution calling for Raue’s dis- Asked whether he was concerned that missal. According to Doust, provisions student money would end up wasted on in the Regulations and Directors’ Duty the case, Raue said responsibility fell on Statements, which the Board’s Executive the Board Directors pushing the motion had claimed entitled them to move the to remove him. “I’m not the one who’s Resolution, were inconsistent with the forcing them to pay legal fees, they tried USU’s constitution which outlines the to remove me from Board. I would ways a Board Director may lose office much rather the whole thing go away (for example by not attending six meet- and no one has to pay anything,” he said. ings in a row). Raue has secured the assistance of a Doust also argued that even if the barrister on a pro bono basis but the powers to remove a Director granted other directors (with the exception of by the Regulations were upheld, Raue Bebe D’Souza) are being represented by was not guilty of “serious misconduct” Senior Counsel Greg Sirtes as well as the as the information he released was not USU’s regular legal firm Kemp Strang. strictly confidential. When asked how much the Direc- Sirtes countered these arguments and Photo: Hannah Ryan 4 How would you decorate? Bare minimum, go to 16. If you go all out, go to 6. www.honisoit.com news

for excessive alcohol consumption. dates have nominated for the election. undergraduates and postgraduates alike Changes informally discussed by Why should we care? Well, the elec- – opened their inboxes to find some- SUSF staff include the option to void tion has already thrown up a number thing more than the usual compilation credit points of students sent home for of peculiarities. For starters, its elec- of Hoyts double pass giveaways and All the rumours, hearsay, and downright misconduct or breach of the athlete toral system grants voters what in effect Manning gig listings. slander from the world of student agreement. SUSF is the largest benefi- amounts to five votes. That is, each of Addressed to “Graduate Members”, politics and culture ciary of your SSAF money, and earlier the voter’s first five preferences count the email was sent to all those sub- as a primary vote in the first count. The Sue me? Sue the USU! this year we reported that information scribed to the newsletter, including a HONI NEWS about where exactly SSAF goes is dif- bizarre, ‘five-vote’ electoral system pro- large number of undergraduate students Raue v Morris wasn’t the only court FREE Week Eleven Edition “MASTER OF PUPPETS, I’M PULLING YOUR STRINGS” ficult to obtain. vides a strong incentive for candidates to who are ineligible to vote in the upcom- proceeding concerning the USU last form a ‘ticket’, for it means that a group Thursday. A keen-eyed Twitter follower ing Senate election. Nonetheless, this of candidates can win all five spots with did not stop the email, personally signed (@Apolden) noticed that at the same Glitter in the air (no more) a bare majority if they run a disciplined time Justice Button heard Raue’s appli- off by the five members of ‘Unify’, USYD’s queer community has been campaign. from imploring its readers to vote for cation for an injunction, Acting Justice rocked by the shocking decision to ban Windeyer of the Equity Division of the Two clear groups of candidates have the Unify ticket, with its “commitment glitter from the Glitter Gala. Event co- emerged. The first is ‘Unify’, a self-pro- to excellence and our University”, in the The general staff union has voted not to endorse the latest EBA offer, leaving it at odds with the University and the NTEU, Nick Rowbotham reports Supreme Court was hearing Shakespear- organiser, USU queer convenor Fahad ean Mark Anthony Productions (NSW) Pty fessed “unlikely alliance” that includes aforementioned election. Ali, labelled the move “outrageous”, former state Labor MP Verity Firth, Ltd v University of Sydney Union. calling glitter “the essence of queer life”. Two days later, the USU issued an Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal predecessor apology from its Facebook page with Mark Anthony Productions seems Ali also made some hefty allegations, in the seat of Wentworth, Peter King, to be an event photographer based in stating “the fact that the USU would ban a link to a post on the Board Direc- and journalist Peter FitzSimons. A pol- tors’ blog, stating that USU Alumni & Crows Nest but its number is discon- this gay ambrosia is indicative of a deep- icy statement on Unify’s Facebook page nected. Meanwhile, the USU is remain- rooted prejudice within the Union.” Friends (USUAF) was responsible for was long on buzzwords, but seemingly sending the email. When approached ing tight-lipped. When asked what the Though, because the USU is providing short on detail (what the fuck are the dispute concerned, President Hannah significant funding to the event, and Ali for comment, USU President Han- “dynamically diverse fields” that they nah Morris revealed that the decision Morris replied: “Unfortunately, as with was drunk when The Gate contacted want to “enrich”?). any ongoing legal proceeding, I am him, we’re pretty sure he didn’t mean it. to grant USUAF access to the Union’s The second ticket, ‘Reclaim the Sen- membership database was negoti- unable to provide a public comment on The event, to be held on October 23 this.” Where have we heard that before? ate’, is endorsed by the National Ter- ated between herself and the USUAF in the Holme Refectory, has banned the tiary Education Union (NTEU) and is President because Morris believed the The last court proceeding involving ‘fabulous’ metallic matter from any dec- running on an explicitly anti-corporate USUAF and its endorsement of Unify the USU (Baggs v University of Sydney orations, out of fear for its ability to lin- platform. It includes a number of jour- would “protect [the USU’s] interests in Union) was resolved this March, when ger, unwanted, on any surface it makes nalists, and, confusingly, also Ms Firth, the Senate”. The USUAF has an alleged an employee of the USU was unable to contact with. It appears the USU has not whom both groups have chosen to history of opposing VSU and the recover damages for an injury sustained gotten over the fateful glitter bombing endorse in order to increase their profile. University’s attempts to take over the in the Wentworth building in 2003 due incident of Verge ‘11. Unify are well ahead in the Facebook Union’s commerical operations in 2011. to the statute of limitations. like war, with 859 likes to Reclaim’s 359. Morris further defended the deci- Even alumni dig USYD elections Whether this will translate to victory sion to pass on the personal details of Student athletes gone wild SRC elections, SULS elections, and when the ballots are in is anyone’s guess. thousands of its members by noting The Gate has been informed that Syd- now Senate elections: the Gate loves its Among the throng of other candi- that because the USUAF does not have ney University Sport & Fitness (SUSF) elections. An election for five graduate dates in the mix is Kate McClymont, any databases or online platforms of its are considering tougher restrictions on fellows of the University Senate is cur- one of the most respected investigative own, USU resources had to be used. As scholarship holders behaving badly at rently underway via postal ballot. journalists in the country. Interestingly, for whether a direct message from the University Games. The Senate is the University’s peak McClymont was one of the journalists Unify candidates was the most appro- The consideration of tougher penal- governing body; it is comprised of who revealed earlier in the year that cur- priate method of communicating the ties is a response to a male water polo staff, student, graduate and government rent Senate fellow David Mortimer had Union’s support, Morris was evasive. player being sent home on the first night appointed ‘fellows’ who collectively registered a company in the British Vir- But, like they say, every cloud has a sil- of the Australian University Games for make all the important decisions about, gin Islands, a notorious tax haven. ver lining. Morris also assured the Gate riding a hotel elevator whilst naked. well, running the University. Graduate that the database has since been rectified A few nights later, the men’s water fellows are elected every four years, and Unified spam to distinguish between undergraduates polo team manager was found passed all USYD alumni are eligible to run. On October 9, recipients of the USU’s and graduates. No need to unsubscribe out in public and hospitalised overnight An unusually large field of 22 candi- Member Mail newsletter – received by from that USU newsletter, folks. Efforts to remove the USU’s Vice-President have been frustrated and will now hinge on a further court decision, reports Max Chalmers Sydney Uni Sport and Fitness should be ours OPINION Alex Gillis reports on SUSF’s ongoing operational capacity Sydney University Sport and Fitness fitness programs. SUSF is registered profit companies, even though the facili- even membership numbers are elusive. (SUSF) is, by most definitions, a -stu with the Australian Charities & Not-for- ties are entirely owned and maintained Clearly, marketing outlay is massive – dent organisation: one with an annual profit Commission as a charity, and is by the University. Individuals in the Elite considering the glitzy website, heavy turnover in the multi-millions managing eligible for income tax exemptions and Athlete Program sometimes receive O-Week presence and proliferation of seven large facilities. GST concessions. access to tutoring, academic represen- membership campaigns. Receiving almost $4 million this year Despite taking $85 every year from tation (including appealing fail marks), An apparently charitable organisation from the Student Services and Ameni- every full-time student (the amount of and may be awarded international travel that runs on our money should have ties Fee (SSAF) and purportedly exist- your SSAF that gets allocated to SUSF), grants. Estimates put non-USYD recipi- nothing to hide, least of all from the ing to serve USYD staff and students, there is little means of communication ents at 15% of the 400 beneficiaries. people who it allegedly exists to serve. this body has a monopoly on university between this entity and those who fund Of the 50 000 students here, how Is the University getting a reasonable it. Their mechanisms, funding sources, many care for our university’s sporting return on its massive outlay? Without and priorities are unknown, their use of success? Of those, how many are of the information there is no way of know- our money almost entirely opaque. opinion we should devote significant ing but it is difficult to reconcile a posi- Functioning completely autono- financial resources to that success? tion of essential monopoly and definite mously from the university proper, Although registered as a charity, there influence over the student body with there is little accountability for the is very little financial data of any sub- this complete lack of transparency. SUSF administration’s behaviour and, stance publicly available on this sport- SUSF is a student organisation, like the although stakeholders in the organisa- ing behemoth. SUSF employs a Social USU and SRC; the difference is that you tion, non-members have no sway over Media Co-ordinator, a Marketing & must be an SUSF member (which costs priorities and resource allocation. Membership Manager and a Corpo- $55 per year) to vote in their elections. While large scholarships are provided rate Relations Manager. However, all You do not need to be a member of the to hundreds of the sporting elite, mem- of Honi’s requests for information and USU or SRC to vote in the elections for bership costs remain prohibitive. Use of comment were summarily rebuffed or these organisations. SSAF payers are the pool alone costs $352 yearly, play- entirely ignored. stakeholders in all three organisations. ing in the soccer leagues runs $500, and Annual reports are bereft of any The facilities are ours, the money is ours. gym membership is comparable to for- data on revenues and profits, while The organisation should be ours.

“What do you plan on drinking at your party? If it’s anything from a beer bong go to 18, if it’s cheap wine and Mi Goreng go to 11. ” 5 news @honi_soit The wet planet SCIENCE Water, water everywhere, but are there Martians to drink it? asks Ariel Castro-Martinez In a milestone that has amazed amateur Once thought to be a cold, barren des- didate for possibly harbouring life. It has have a very thick atmosphere, and it is stargazers and scientists alike, a team at ert, these finding could boost the pos- an icy surface that is thought to conceal almost all carbon dioxide. Astrobiologists NASA working with the Curiosity Rover sibility of one day colonising Mars in a an ocean underneath, and its atmosphere grapple with the issue that extraterrestrial have discovered that water is abundant long-term and self-sustainable way. Exo- is comprised mainly of oxygen. Life on life may be present, but not in any dis- in soil on Mars. The Curiosity Rover biologists, who study the conditions that Earth has two original energy sources, cernibly obvious way. Life beyond Earth detected the chemicals present in Martian could make life in space possible, would the sun (in a process harnessed by plants may operate with different chemicals soil by scooping small amounts, heating also rejoice in the news. Water is a fun- and cyanobacteria called photosynthesis) powered by some other energy source on the samples, and analysing the gas that damental ingredient in the occurrence of and ambient hydrogen-based chemicals a time scale incomprehensible to us. The evaporates. NASA reported last week that life on Earth, so with more water, it is bubbling up from volcanic smoke stacks possibilities are overwhelming, but with there is about 2% by weight water in Mar- more likely that we may find extraterres- (in a process harnessed by bacteria called water on Mars and on the moon, it could tian soil, which means you can extract a trial life in the solar system. chemosynthesis). Europa may support be closer to home. Arthur C. Clarke, litre of water per cubic foot. This follows The discovery of water on Mars has life of the second kind and with water futurist and writer of 2001: A Space Odys- the 2010 discovery of water in craters on only added to the list of possibly hos- in Martian soil, Mars may support life of sey poetically surmised: “Two possibilities the moon, by the Indian Space Research pitable celestial bodies that we know of. the first kind. exist: either we are alone in the universe Organisation, suggesting that water in the Europa, Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, The Curiosity Rover did not, however, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” Solar System may be more abundant than and only slightly smaller than the Earth’s find any methane – a waste product typ- previously thought. moon, has long been considered a can- ically indicative of life. Mars also doesn’t Pain and Honour(s) Felicity Nelson muses on the merits of an Honours year NEWS IN REVUE After 13 years of school and at least another Honours graduate, Alexan- three years of university you could be der Clubb, who came first in chemistry forgiven for longing to throw your grad- last year, found the exact opposite. “I Faceless Bill’s Face uation cap in the air, march through the remember applying for graduate jobs Bro Reveleigh wrote a little poem, just for Bill gates, and never look back. Despite this, and almost all of my answers to the many of us contemplate adding Hon- selection criteria were examples from ours to our list of qualifications, often Honours. If you want to answer the without really knowing what it involves question ‘Give an example of a time and how useful it is. So what is Honours you showed leadership/initiative’ then actually like? do Honours,” he said. Honours can be the worst or the best It is clear that Honours calls on an year of your life but it will definitely be entirely different set of skills than a the most challenging. I am only a little bachelor’s degree and will suit some way into Honours in biology and I am people more than others. Alexan- finding the program as intense as it is der was surprised at how well he took rewarding. Great things are expected to research. “I never expected that I of you in Honours – you are essen- would work so hard for so long and tially invited backstage by the academic be so pleased about doing it … while I community and given the privilege of was pretty ambivalent about undergrad participating in the production of new classes, I absolutely loved research. It’s knowledge. But with this privilege comes all about initiative, imagination and hard the expectation that you take your role work,” he explained. seriously and work hard. Along the way That being said, Honours can also you receive more guidance, help, and come as a shock to some students. Char- support than at any other point in your les Foster, who was awarded the Univer- ‘Twas Faceless Bill, from Maribyrnong, that caught the caucus craze; degree from experts in your field. sity Medal and the Ilma Brewer Prize It’s a pretty sweet deal but opinions are for his project on plant biology last year, He turned his cheek and found himself the vote in thirty days; divided. Sam Jenkins, who dropped out told Honi, “I didn’t expect to be thrown He dressed himself in suit and tie as Albo bowed in grace; of physiology Honours to pursue his act- into the deep end so quickly ... There is a And hurriedly, did Faceless Bill, go buy a brand new face! ing career, told me he has, “discontinued lot less spoon-feeding of answers.” Honours, because it’s only valuable if I Benjamin admits he went a little nutty want to go into research or do a PhD”. towards the end. “I was convinced for a Benjamin Pope, who won the University great deal of the time that I was going to He stretched it on and gave a smile, he was not used to teeth; Medal and a number of prizes last year fail. I submitted my thesis three minutes The nose was slightly crooked but it hid the woe beneath; for his work on kernel-phase interfer- late and I was on the verge of total hys- It did the job. He paid five bob. His chest puffed proud and true; ometry, agrees: “Honours is very much teria by that point.” Until the shop assistant said, ‘Excuse me, who are you?’ about taking in green recruits, putting If you are wondering about whether them through boot camp and sending to do Honours, the best thing you can them to the front lines – it’s not a relax- do is talk to past students. If you can ing or pleasant experience and you don’t get beyond the horror stories, you’ll “I’m leader now,” said Faceless Bill, “not Albo or Penny. learn anything you wouldn’t learn much discover that practically everyone takes From Conroy’s Crap to Gillard’s Map: I ran the ALP. better … with vastly less pressure.” something away from this year, whether I’m good all round at everything, as everybody knows, Honours is indispensable if you want it be a set of new skills, lessons about Although I have no common vote – I AM the man that blows.” to do research but outside this area time management or, if nothing else, employers are apparently undecided the knowledge that they never want about the worth of this extra qualifi- to become a researcher. The value of cation. Chloe Paul, who received first undertaking a year of independent The shop assistant shrugged her frame and went about her wares; class Honours in biochemistry last year, research with one-on-one mentoring And as Bill strutted out the door he bore more quizzing stares; told me, “I haven’t found my Honours shouldn’t be underestimated. You just degree helpful at finding a job outside can’t get this sort of experience in the For no one knew, just, who the hell poor Bill was with a face; of lab work. I’ve actually found it to be rest of your degree. Though, least he’s better than the monk who lost the boating race. more of a point of friction.” However,

6 How do you dance? Around a maypole? Go to 14. If it’s the Smustle go to 17. www.honisoit.com news OPINION Christopher Pyne, equity goals, and the p-word Lauren Pearce thinks those advocating to keep USYD “prestigious” often do little more than lock out the disadvantaged I’m going to drop the p-word: presti- students from low-SES backgrounds targets was to introduce the E12 scheme a nation, and as a university population, gious. There’s really nothing wrong with and regional students. in 2013, which provided early entry and are we too busy trying to be a “presti- that word. The only real issue is if you Since Labor’s reforms were a scholarship to 124 students from a gious” institution that we’re blind to keep applying the word to yourself, justly announced in 2011 there has been a low-SES background, including myself. how pretentious we’ve become? or otherwise. Then you start to look like That number is expected to double in another p-word: pretentious. As a nation, and as a 2014. The White Paper’s also found that On Thursday, 10 October Tony university population, are concerns regarding a student’s disad- Abbott emerged in Melbourne to assure vantaged background being an unneces- reporters the university reforms that we too busy trying to be sary drain on university resources were Christopher Pyne announced earlier a “prestigious” institution “unfounded”. were to be put on a back-burner. These As a student from a low-SES back- changes would mean a cap on univer- that we’re blind to how ground, hearing Christopher Pyne effec- sity places as opposed to the “demand- pretentious we’ve become? tively say I am “the poison that would driven system” currently in place and undermine [universities’] reputation[s]” the axing of equity goals that encourage slight upswing in the number of low- stings. An article by Avani Dias in Honi students from low-SES backgrounds to SES students attending university. Soit two weeks ago demonstrated that enroll, a move that Pyne stated would Department of Industry higher edu- students from western Sydney experi- ensure quality but which had been crit- cation statistics show that out of the ence casual and serious discrimination icised by the NTEU as detrimental to total students who commenced in 2012, by their peers. Pyne’s comments showed 16.9% of them were from a low-SES that his government endorses this kind background, up 9.1% from 2011. The of quiet discrimination and highlighted Gillard government aimed to reach a real cultural problem. 20% by 2020. USYD falls far behind How are students, who as Dias high- that percentage. The University’s White lighted have enough barriers to attend- Paper, published in 2010, states that ing university, meant to feel welcome only 7% of our student population was when they know that both the Federal from a low-SES background, a number government and their peers are looking the Paper aimed to increase to 12% by down upon them, because of where they 2015. One method to help achieve these grew up, or went to a public school? As The return of Master Shang UNI-VERSE The mysterious businessman claiming to represent international students is allegedly pulling strings at UTS, but why is he banned from other campuses and why can’t anybody ever get him on the phone? Bryant Apolonio investigates It’s SRC election time at UTS and were unelected. Questions were raised is back, involved in campaigns at both tion he heard about Master Shang was they’ve got everything you’d expect from as to how Shang and his associates were UTS and UNSW through the Overseas vague at best and “based on what [peo- student politics: factional bickering, def- funding the venture. Student Association (OSA) – the ‘on- ple] heard rather than what they know.” amation, coloured shirts, Facebook sta- NLC was accused of intimidatory campus’ network of his state organisa- According to Grassroots Presiden- tuses. At UTS, as with USYD, you have practices. According to The Australian tion. tial candidate, Andy Zephyr, Shang had to approach these things with the right Shang allegedly threatened two rival But, the question remains: why? called the UTS Returning Officer (the attitude. The people hassling you aren’t international student organisations in Shang’s motives are opaque. Is this an person who oversees the electoral pro- doing it for money. Sometimes they do Victoria with legal action – the Aus- actual concern for the welfare interna- cess, takes complaints etc. etc.) about his it because they genuinely care about tralian Federation of International tional students married with a by-what- intentions. The current President of the student issues and student-run organi- Students (AFIS) and the Federation ever-means-necessary attitude? Is it a UTS Student Association also became sations. Sometimes they don’t but that’s of Indian Students of Australia – if hatred for the organisations themselves? aware which led to mass hack panic. okay. The hack following you to class they ever operated under those names Whatever the answer, more Australian Zephyr told Honi that Shang called might be annoying but they’re probably outside the state. NLC, an AFIS rep- universities followed the example of him for four hours negotiating a prefer- not evil. Probably. resentative was told, had already incor- NUS in 2009 and refused to recognise ence deal – the OSA would support his Enter Master Shang. NLC as a legitimate representative body presidential bid if Grassroots gave OSA In 2008, Chinese businessman and (some even going as far as to ban Shang the balance of power in the SRC. from their physical campus, Sydney Uni- millionaire, Master J. Shang, became In September, emails were sent to club versity and UNSW included). Michael Chairman and Public Officer of the executives at UTS warning them not Coutts-Trotter, the former Direc- National Liaison Committee (NLC). to provide Union membership details tor-General of the NSW Department Formed in 1986, it was the highest rep- to OSA representatives. UTS security, of Education told the Sydney Morning resentative body for international stu- according to Zephyr, has also been Herald that he refused to have Shang in dents in Australia. told to stay on high alert. Because of his office again, after speaking to him. He claimed that international stu- this scrutiny, the OSA’s failure to nomi- The rabbit hole is deep. dents were treated like “cash cows” in nate their candidates on time, and their this country and suggested that violence Vertigo, the student publication at UTS ostensible absence around campus, their against international students was one funded by the SRC, intended to run a campaign has not built traction. How- of the main reasons why he initially story on his actions but were forced to ever, given the strength of international drop it after a heated phone-call from the campaigned for the position. A screenshot from NLC’s website student vote at UTS, it is still likely they man himself. Lachlan Bennet, a Vertigo In 2009, NLC was forcibly disaf- featuring Master Shang, bottom right will get elected. After that, who knows? editor, told Honi that there was talk of filiated from the National Union of Shang himself – legend and enigma – porated that name in NSW. It did not a coalition between the student political Students (NUS). It was argued that its could not be reached for contact. go to court. factions to hinder the OSA’s success. He executives couldn’t represent the com- Flash forward four years, and Shang also told Honi that most of the informa- @bryantapolonio munity they purported to given that they

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NETIQUETTE Law students aren't just OPINION heartless, capitalist demons Love 2.0 Nick Gowland writes about the mental health issues facing a huge chunk of law students If the television show Suits actually tal illness. stress is the expectation, how can we When it comes to relationships on wanted to accurately depict the practice I would suggest that one answer may be possibly expect to know when a healthy Facebook, it's not all that compli- of the law, then everyone would have systemic. Law is the study of the means motivator has transformed into a clini- cated, writes Thomas Murphy smaller foreheads and the vast majority by which society seeks to process what it cal problem? This ‘my problem’s not of each episode would depict the charac- deems morally and ethically reprehensi- serious enough’ mentality is only exac- ters reading vast oceans of texts. Also, a ble, and in such a context confrontation erbated by countless first week house- third of the characters should be experi- and disillusionment seem unavoidable. keeping lectures which callously joke encing some sort of clinical depression, Couple this with stupidly high course that, while special provisions are avail- and a fifth should have severe problems entry barriers, the gladiatorial shitfest able, you better be in your death throes with alcohol abuse. of clerkships, and an adversarial legal before looking for one because they’re It is almost a cliché these days that legal system which demands winners and los- not given out lightly. education and practice have a severe ers, and you clearly have a recipe for a Mental illness is obviously not the Let me begin by saying: I’m in a rela- problem with mental health among its hyper-competitive big-fish-small-pond exclusive preserve of law school, and it tionship, but my boyfriend and I aren’t ranks. The reality is that mental illness scenario where there will always to be is simplistic to attribute the development in a relationship on Facebook. We’re exists in the system, and although it is those whose dreams are unattainable. of mental illness entirely to the idiosyn- just in a relationship in real life. Our absolutely treatable, its systemic ori- But there is something more subtle crasies of high-intensity degrees. But in real friends know that we’re in a real gins and effects are yet to be adequately at play, and it is by no means isolated the battle against student mental illness, relationship. If some of my Facebook addressed. On September 24, the Syd- to the study of law. You only have to one-size-fits-all solutions won’t cut it. friends don’t know that I’m in a rela- ney University Law Society hosted a look at one of the endless ‘XYZ school We have to look at the unique charac- tionship, then they aren’t real friends. forum on mental health issues in legal memes’ Facebook pages to realise that teristics of a students’ study (as well as Nor do I contact my boyfriend education, panelled by former Direc- certain courses see hair-tearing stress those of the student themselves) if we explicitly on Facebook. Maybe a link tor of Public Prosecutions Nicholas and caffeine-fuelled nights in the library are to ever adequately address the causes to an interesting article or video, but Cowdery AM QC, Jordan Hammond as humorous clichés. When exceptional of mental health problems within uni- very infrequently. Why? Because how of reachout.com, Marie Jepson of the versities. While the ability of academic you express yourself on social media Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation, staff to monitor the stress levels of is essentially public, that’s why it’s and Paul Menzies QC. The panel’s their individual students has been cur- social. Something that you put on discussion did stress that progress is tailed by funding cuts and increased social media should only be some- being made, even though Nicholas workloads, one positive step might be thing that you would be willing yell in Cowdery emphasised the need to ‘de- to dedicate a lecture in all introductory all directions, standing in the middle stigmatise’ mental illness in the legal courses to industry mental health in of a crowd (minus the mental insta- profession. Yet while Marie Jepson order to establish psychological well- bility that is normally associated with noted that 43% of law students will being as a degree priority. that act). Therefore, you should prob- suffer levels of anxiety sufficient to It’s no secret that law school, and ably only be saying things on Face- warrant clinical attention sometime in indeed most forms of intensive ter- book to your partner that you would their degree, nevertheless the discus- tiary education, are conducive to high willingly say amongst and also to your sion merely flirted with the question levels of stress. The toll that this stress friends. No one likes the couple that of why law students in particular seem can take on the mental wellbeing of to suffer such staggering rates of men- Sydney Law School: a house of sorrow just sits in the corner at a house party students should not be a secret either. and plays with each other hair (that’s a thing, right?). In that case, you prob- ably shouldn’t be doing the same thing Department of Corrections online. John Gooding puts on his Hazmat suit and wades through Rupert Murdoch's Twitter feed And why would you bother being cutesy on Facebook or Twitter any- “Huge lack of balance in UK media they write for is, then the Australian lia Needs Tony” possible in such a hos- way? You don’t get the joy of having with 8000 BBC left wing journalists far media industry must be very unbalanced tile climate? the physical intimacy with them as outnumbering all national print journal- indeed. Could it be that the editorial focus of well, just a pale comparison, trying to ists.” Researchers from the University of the a newspaper is not decided solely by the be compensated by scattering emoti- Last week Rupert Murdoch, the CEO Sunshine Coast (USC) polled journal- views of the rank-and-file? cons. If you want to do PDAs, it needs of News Limited, casually dropped that ists across Australia and found that vast As an example of another relevant fac- to be with footsies, eskimo kisses and bombshell in his Twitter feed. “BBC majorities at the ABC, Fairfax and News tor, the research by USC also found that any other physical act so sickly sweet massive taxpayer funded mouthpiece Limited declared that they intended to senior editors were more likely to favour it would make even a Japanese Girl for tiny circulation leftist Guardian,” he vote for either the Greens or Labor in the Coalition than the reporters they Group blush. Don’t do anything by continued in a later tweet. managed, and had political views halves, save your PDAs for the real This man runs a company which that were more in line with the world. prints over half of all newspapers Australian public. These employ- Aren’t there enough forms of com- sold in Australia. ees also have far more control munication for you to contact your To tell the truth Murdoch is over what agendas and issues the significant other? Aside from seeing probably not that far off in his paper pursues. them in person, texting, Skyping, call- jab at the BBC, though where he Answering the question of ing, FaceTiming, do you also have to plucked the figure from is a little whether an entire nation’s media tweet, Facebook, Instagram or reblog mysterious. Journalists are in gen- is balanced or not is hard to do in their tumblr? eral more left-wing than average. No, entire research papers, let alone Twitter’s the federal election this year In saying this, though, the best way the problem is instead with the word 140 characters, and you certainly can’t to keep your relationship fresh is to ‘balance’ and how Murdoch chooses to And yet, somehow, despite having work it out by pointing out the politi- snapchat your partner. Turn the dial define it. three of the biggest news producers in cal leanings of the individual reporters. the country beset on all sides by hordes up to 10 seconds if you’re feeling At heart, Murdoch’s claimed measure Murdoch’s generalisation about employ- of leftists, almost every major metro really adventurous. Just make sure you of balance is either mind-bogglingly ees of the BBC demonstrates nothing, newspaper endorsed Tony Abbott and send it to the right person. ignorant or an incredibly cynical lie. even if true. Yes, collectively their jour- the Coalition. How are front page gems If a poll of journalists’ political views nalists are probably left-wing, but so are And definitely don’t contact your like “Kick This Mob Out” and “Austra- partner via Grindr. indicates how balanced the publication his.

8 If you hang around the table with the dips all night go to 15, if you hang around the table passing judgement, go to 5. www.honisoit.com news

Rerouting the march of progress OPINION Achieving change doesn't have to be a grand battle, argues Rebecca Wong What bothered me most about the struggles faced by disabled communi- tive parent that coddling their disabled private schools are exempt from work- Steubenville rape case was the way it ties. There are the occasional archetypal child may well cultivate an inferiority place legislation outlawing discrimina- fit snugly into the archetype of apro- "villains" – doctors who ridicule dis- complex, limiting their opportunities tion on the basis of sexuality, and all we gressive cause. Entitled, chauvinistic abled patients for seeking sexual health and undermining their future prospects? can talk about is same-sex marriage and high school footballers, a defenceless, advice (because, lol, there are people What do you do when the enemy is pity? rainbow crossings. Much of this politi- intoxicated teenage victim, and of out there who would touch you?), hate The progressive answer to this is cul- cal grandstanding is designed for the course the hero, online hacktivist net- mail sent to the mother of an autistic tural change. Feminists in particular have gratification of privileged progressives, work Anonymous, whose timely inter- boy in Canada, the neglect and shocking embraced the meticulous, ongoing task who are afforded the luxury of pursuing vention garnered international attention physical abuse of care facility residents of dissecting sexism within pop culture forms of engagement that are to their and prompted universal condemnation at the hands of workers. It's so easy to and institutions. Whilst invaluable, this liking. In our preoccupation with attend- of rape culture. The lurid details of the be angered by this behaviour. But often practice lends itself to political solutions ing visible rallies, linking interesting articles, crime spread quickly, along with the there are no villains, only the implacable which are neat, glamorous and largely and uniting around iconic symbols and 16-year-old girl's name, which Anony- reality of having to negotiate a world ineffective. Really though, it's all about ideas, we are forgetting the central ques- mous (amongst other media outlets) designed for the able-bodied. Assis- complementing that grand narrative. tion: "will it work?" For so many, politics failed to redact from its transcript of the tive technology is prohibitively expen- is not an intriguing pastime, but a daily In the 18 months following the 1981 trial. The defendants were convicted. sive, many occupations are unsuitable struggle for dignity, security and even NSW sexual assault law reforms, police The victim received death threats. for people with particular disabilities, survival. The attention of the public is acceptance of reported incidents rose Anonymous was lauded for ensuring and only 5% of literature worldwide is finite and fleeting; progressives market- from 53% to 78%. Admittedly, reword- justice was served. accessible to the blind. These are not ing their causes should take heed of this, ing legislation is dull and thankless work, issues which the adversarial narrative and direct their energy in more fruitful On a discursive level, demonising not like crusading against Tony Abbott arc of progressive causes is designed ways. Tony Abbott is inextricably bound up for crass remarks about sex appeal. to accommodate. Nor does it address with securing same-sex marriage. Pro- However, we mustn't conflate expres- There is no Abbott-esque antagonist persistent attitudes of well-meaning, choice beliefs, a bulwark of feminism, sions of support for political change to spice up the tale of disability policy but ultimately damaging condescen- are defined in opposition to the old, with political change itself. Currently, reform, only compassionate ignorance white men and religious institutions sion. How do you convince a protec- and the slow crawl of technological who would invoke the law in their bid progress. Installing access ramps is no to control women's bodies. What pro- one's idea of a grand political statement, gressive causes rely on, even more than but I guarantee that every day they will a victim, is a villain. Liberal ideas of make someone's life a little easier. The change are constructed around righting overriding narrative of political change historical injustices perpetrated by privi- is just that – a story, romanticised and leged oppressors, and minorities whose simplified. Let's rewrite it. narratives deviate from this trope are Rebecca Wong studies Arts/Law, and is rendered invisible. blind. Through personal and anecdotal @rw_93 experiences, I've come to appreciate the The original rainbow crossing. Photograph: Victoria Baldwin ADMIN USYD and the administration of gender SHRUGGED The University needs to respect students' rights to determine their own gender, writes Anonymous I received the email at 3:45 on a zero problems for anyone. governed by the law of the state or ter- Reassignment Act 2000 (WA) refers to a Tuesday afternoon: “The Student Quite the opposite, actually; rather ritory in which they reside. ‘medical or surgical procedure’, enabling Centre was recently requested to con- than having to deal either with a tutor I was born in Canberra. The ACT the High Court to find in a 2011 case firm details of a number of personal passing around the roll with that bother- requires the “alteration of a person’s that hormone therapy, as a medical John Gooding puts on his Hazmat suit and wades through Rupert Murdoch's Twitter feed details changes that were made this some ‘F’ beside my name (thereby out- reproductive organs” for an official procedure, may be sufficient grounds year. Reviewing the birth certificate ing me to the class), or having to rush to change of gender. For most people for recognition of the affirmed gender. you provided, it showed your name front of the first few tutorials to make assigned female at birth, this means That case was also decided on the WA as *MALE NAME*, and sex: Female. sure the tutor would do no such thing, a hysterectomy; for most of those Act’s reference to ‘gender characteris- As a result we had to change your (thereby outing me to my tutor), I was assigned male at birth, this would seem tics,’ defined as the ‘physical character- recorded gender (back) to female. … able to stroll in, sit down and not worry to mean a vaginoplasty. Not only do istics’ of a person that identifies them as To update your gender on your stu- about the emotional, mental, social and these procedures range in cost from male or female. dent record, the University requires an potential physical safety ramifications $7000 to $30 000, but they also result The specific wording of the WA Act updated birth certificate...” of being outed or outing myself. in the sterilisation of people who might means the wider legal implications of "Reviewing the birth I wonder if the University is aware, otherwise wish to have biological chil- the WA case remain to be seen. There in asking trans* students to have their dren, and can involve long periods of may be grounds for similar appeals in certificate you provided, gender officially changed on their birth recovery. other states, though again, this would be it showed your name as certificates, that they are asking us to This is broadly the same in other a costly, time-consuming, and no doubt gruelling undertaking. *MALE NAME*, and sex : engage in a baffling, invasive, expensive, states and territories, though the lan- and emotionally taxing administrative guage varies, and there is anecdotal evi- In light of these legal requirements, Female. As a result we had process that requires most of us to (a) dence that suggests that, in New South the University’s email amounts to a to change your recorded undergo a procedure that would render Wales at least, there is room for admin- politely stated refusal to recognise us sterile, and (b) be unmarried (god for- istrative and medical discretion. In some a trans* person’s gender unless they gender (back) to female.... bid an existing state-sanctioned relation- instances this discretion works in favour undergo expensive, invasive, often med- To update your gender ship be allowed to subsist if it’s going to of trans* people, whilst in others, it ically unnecessary procedures that pre- on your student record, be officially, rather than de facto, queer). doesn’t. In the case of the latter, a trans* clude the future possibility of biological person may have to ‘shop’ around dif- children, and, in the case of married the University requires an In Australia, each state and territory has its own Department of Births, ferent health and service providers to trans* people, that they divorce their updated birth certificate..." Deaths, and Marriages, with its own set find those who are willing to generously partner. of legislative criteria for governing offi- interpret the language of the act – a If the federal government, a body for It’s a little unexpected since, so far, cial changes of gender. For Australian- costly, time-consuming, and emotionally whom I have very low expectations, can the fact that I’d ticked the ‘male’ box born individuals, this means that the law and mentally draining process. recognise a person’s (“preferred”) gen- on the change of personal details form in their birth state or territory governs The other exception is Western Aus- der, I fail to see why the University of when informing the University of my them; for those born overseas, they are tralia, where the wording of the Gender Sydney can’t follow suit. official change of name has caused

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feature @honi_soit The realities of violence Domestic violence in LGBTIQ relationships is more pervasive than it’s made out to be, writes Georgia Behrens Additional research by Madeleine King

It’s a scene we all know well. We’ve lence occurs in gay and lesbian relation- According to Sarah*, a queer-identi- are followed by “honeymoon” periods seen it in government ads, in sad mov- ships at almost exactly the same rate as fying Sydney resident, glitter and Mardi that allow abusers to regain control ies. There’s a man. He’s smashing his it does in heterosexual relationships: Gras are all very well, but can come at over their victims. fists on the locked bathroom door and about one in three. Among relation- an unforeseen price. She worries that More alarmingly, though, abusers in howling threats through it. Broken ships that involve at least one transgen- the emphasis that LGBTIQ advocacy queer relationships often use their LG- plates and a shattered lamp lie at his der or intersex person, the statistics are groups place on promoting a positive BTIQ status to control their partners. feet. In between his screams, we can much, much higher. Why, then, is this image of the queer community can Tragically, abusers are readily able to hear someone sobbing from behind the still such a marginal issue? mean that its more problematic ele- rely upon their queer partner’s assump- bathroom door, pleading quietly. Look: For the past fifty years, LGBTIQ ments can be swept under the carpet. tions of societal heterosexism and the lock is splintering now – it’s only a Australians have been fighting battles Some time ago, Sarah’s relationship homophobia as means to isolate and matter of time before it breaks open. on virtually every front. Today, thou- disintegrated when her girlfriend as- manipulate them. The threat of “out- It’s a scene we all know. But something sands of LGBTIQ Australians are still saulted her while they were in bed to- ing”, for example, is regularly used as here is different. Behind the bathroom waiting on the rights to marry, to adopt, gether. a devastatingly effective tool for exert- door hides another man. He’s tall, fit, and to not be described as “immoral, “It was late, and I was wondering and looks as though he’d be perfectly unnatural and abnormal” by the lon- what she was doing afterwards,” she capable of holding his own in a fight. gest-serving member of the NSW State says. But he’s just been beaten up, called a Parliament (cheers, Fred Nile). Given “I said something like ‘It would be faggot, and heard death threats from the person he loves the most in the In 2013, evidence suggests that domestic violence occurs world: his boyfriend. Right now, his muscles are no good to him. And the in gay and lesbian relationships at almost exactly the same door breaks open. rate as it does in heterosexual relationships [...] Among Domestic violence is a problem that relationships that involve at least one transgender or intersex has been on the feminist agenda for person, the statistics are much, much higher. decades. Since Carol Hanisch declared that “the personal is political” in 1969, good to know what’s happening.’ Next women’s rights advocates have worked this history of institutionalised dis- thing I know, she was pummelling her tirelessly to ensure that men who com- crimination and demonisation, it’s un- fists into my legs, [and she said], ‘I want mit acts of violence against their wives surprising that the LGBTIQ commu- to hurt you.’” or partners are not shielded from state nity has gone to extraordinary lengths Sarah ended the relationship then and retribution within the privacy of their to present a positive image of itself to there. own homes. And, thanks to movements society at-large. Events such as Mardi “I have a line,” she says. “When it such as White Ribbon Day and the “Vi- Gras and the Sydney Pride Festival are happened the first time, I just knew it olence Against Women: Australia Says designed to (among other things) pro- would happen again.” No” campaign, most of Australia is mote a happy, fun, fabulous image of “I think [this sort of thing] happens now well aware that “wife-beating” is LGBTIQ relationships, lifestyles, and quite often, but I don’t think people both illegal and abhorrent. But, in 2013, communities. take as hard a line as I did. But violence we’re becoming increasingly aware that Meanwhile, organisations such as in a relationship is just not acceptable.” not all domestic violence victims are Australian Marriage Equality and Get- According to Sarah, more substantive wives, and not all abusers are husbands. Up! place great emphasis on the loving measures need to be taken within the In fact, not all perpetrators are men, and committed nature of LGBTIQ re- LGBTIQ community to address the and not all victims are women. In 2013, lationships in their fight for same-sex widespread occurrence of violence in evidence suggests that domestic vio- marriage rights. relationships such as her own. “Let’s stop pretending we’re all hav- ing the best fun ever all the time,” she says. “We need to get real and discuss strategies to look after and protect each other better.” “Getting real” about domestic vio- lence in LGBTIQ relationships is a long and confronting process. In many Cartoon: Rose McEwen ways, the patterns of domestic violence ing control, a recent study from Gay in queer relationships mirror those seen and Lesbian Health Victoria found in abusive heterosexual relationships. that 16% of LGBTIQ Australians still Abusive behaviours common to both fear having their sexuality discovered (a queer and heterosexual relationships figure which grows exponentially in re- include physical aggression, jealousy mote regional communities.) and possessiveness, withholding money Elsewhere, a study from ACON sug- or other basic necessities, and verbal gests victims are often told by their humiliation. Moreover, queer domestic partners that, if they report violence violence tends to follow a similar “cycle to the police, they will be betraying the of violence”, wherein periods of abuse queer community to its historical op-

10 If you’re a bit of a control freak go to 17. If your house is a sty and you couldn’t care less, go to 9. www.honisoit.com feature The realities of violence

pressors. Abusive male partners exploit help domestic violence victims. has continually reaffirmed its commit- signed to help them. the misconception that men are natu- In large parts of the queer commu- ment to working productively with the And then there are the drastic differ- rally violent, telling young or inexperi- nity today there still exists a suspicion LGBTIQ community, and has recently ences from heterosexual treatment, dif- enced partners that violent behaviour of mainstream institutions – such as introduced specialist Gay and Lesbian ferences that make no sense. Police and is inevitable in gay male relationships; the police and the courts – that, in the Liaison Officers at various branches courts, for example, regularly operate meanwhile, trans* and intersex victims past, have been responsible for the op- around the state. These efforts have under the assumption that any violence are told that society regards them as pression of LGBTIQ Australians. Al- been reflected in recent statistics from occurring in male relationships is mutu- freaks, and that, as such, they are lucky legations of serious assault by police Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria that al violence, rather than one-way abuse. to have any partner at all. officers at this year’s Mardi Gras, for suggest an improved police competen- There is thus an institutional tendency Unfortunately, though, many queer example, have exacerbated concerns cy in dealing with queer citizens: among to minimise the seriousness of queer victims of domestic violence struggle that homophobia is still prevalent in queer respondents to the survey, 56% male victim’s complaints, exemplified in to recognise the fact that they are in an the ranks of the Australian police force. said that they had been treated with the courts’ tendencies to issue AVOs to abusive relationship. The narrative of Many queer Australians have voiced courtesy and respect when reporting both members of a male relationship, concerns that, although the police force incidents; 54% said that they believe even when only one partner makes an no longer actively prosecutes the queer police had taken appropriate action in application. Meanwhile, women’s ref- community, they are unlikely to want to dealing with their report. uges have often been known to permit step in to assist them in times of need. But, according to ACON CEO Nich- queer female victims’ partners to seek Given that there are substantial barriers olas Parkhill, mainstream domestic vio- them out inside the shelters, in order to preventing even heterosexual victims lence service providers – including the apologise and persuade them to come of domestic violence and sexual as- police, the court system, and women’s home. If a man tried the same thing sault from reporting crimes and seeking refuges – need to do more to ensure with his female partner, the police help, queer victims’ suspicion of the in- they are equipped to work with queer would be called within minutes. stitutions meant to help them can com- victims. They key message here, Parkh- We think we all know what domes- pound their isolation and confusion. ill believes, is that “one size does not tic violence looks like. But, in the end, McKenzie Raymond is one of these fit all”. In an effort to avoid offending that scene we all know well – the man victims. After a night out at a lesbian queer victims of violence, mainstream hammering on a bathroom door while event on Oxford Street, she was sexual- providers often consciously endeavour a woman cries inside – is just one face ly assaulted by the woman she’d agreed to treat them in the exact same way as of the many-headed monster that is to go home with. “I’d decided I’d walk they do heterosexual victims. And, al- domestic violence in Australia. Men are her home. I should’ve just gone home though these efforts may be well-in- beaten by other men; women are raped myself, but she was an incredibly per- tentioned, inadvertently heterosexist or by women. And, around the country, suasive personality,” McKenzie re- homophobic behaviour – such as the men and women, queer and straight, counts. assumption that a victim arriving at a are being threatened, insulted, and de- “We started making out, and ended women’s refuge has been abused by a meaned. They’re having their money up in bed. I was overwhelmed with an male partner, and not another woman withheld, being isolated from their fam- unsettling feeling; something wasn’t – have the potential to “re-victimise” ilies, and experiencing ongoing emo- right. I said I had to go, [but] she didn’t those seeking help. The practice of tional manipulation. Their property is stop kissing and touching me. Then she treating everyone the same fails to rec- being destroyed, or stolen; they’re being held me down on the bed and told me ognise the difference in the types of is- told that they’re worthless. to stay,” she says. sues that people experience, and means In 2013, all of these behaviours are McKenzie believes she was forcibly that LGBTIQ people can often fall regarded as domestic violence, and all held to the bed for over an hour, but “it through the cracks of the system de- of them are illegal. felt like six.” “It took me months to forgive my- self,” she says. “I wish I could say I don’t think about that night, but I do. I still feel sick when people grab my wrists. I feel disgusting when I think back to how she looked at me.” Despite quickly realising that she had domestic violence that has traditionally been sexually assaulted, McKenzie says been constructed in the media is almost she never considered reporting the in- exclusively heterosexual, which makes cident to the police. it difficult for women to see themselves “I have absolutely no faith in the po- as abusers, and for men to see them- lice force as a whole,” she says. “I know selves as victims. The result is that the how average police are at responding majority of queer victims of domestic to homophobic abuse and assault, let violence stay in abusive relationships alone sexual assault.” for long periods of time, unaware of This is a common accusation lev- the fact that they are being abused, and elled at the police force, and one with unaware or afraid of the institutions, which it has been trying contend for programs, and systems that exist to over a decade. The NSW Police Force

You are your own party. Deal or No Deal marathon then Chat Roulette then chain-smoke in the bath. 11 ARTS & CULTURE

Tangerine trees, marmalade skies and freaking the fuck out Anonymous writes about their bad trip

Drugs were, at a time, a part of my looking at me suspiciously, like I knew It was nothing like I had predicted. The life. I had started smoking pot some something they didn’t. I could hear them scariest part was how lucid everything time late in Year 10, and it was never talk about me without moving their lips. was. Nothing was hazy, so I remember it a gateway to depravity, it was never The conversation became faster, until well. I wish I couldn’t. There were times obstacle to my dreams, it didn’t destroy I realised it was just one person talking when I felt so low in this bad trip that my family. about me, inside me. I felt like killing myself. I saw a knife in Years later, I took LSD. It was I got up to walk around the giant back- the kitchen, and picked it up. I heard the incredible. Nothing could compare yard so the feeling would go away. I went cars outside and felt like running into to the feeling of watching the sun back to the table and sat down. I realised the traffic. emerge out of a rainbow while your it hadn’t gone away, so I went back to the What stopped me was wondering brain was getting fried on a combina- yard, and then back to the table. I started how people would react. As stupid as it tion of acid and Funkadelic’s ‘Maggot to run between each location. My friend sounds, I didn’t want to give LSD a bad Brain.’ Acid made you see things in a said to another: “He’s having a bad trip,” name. I didn’t want to be one of those different way. There was no life chang- and that’s when it hit me. deaths you heard about on TV. ing moment, but it was fun: my friend I ran back to the yard, freaking out. I I put down the knife. I went to bed. started to look like a mix of Buddha lay on the grass to feel grounded, a bet- I had to get used to it. I lay there, look- and Chairman Mao, the table looked ter sense of being in my body. I didn’t. I ing at the wall, at the hallucinations that like a screensaver, and chilled grapes wondered if I was dead. I thought I was danced casually in front of me. Soon, I tasted really good. dead. fell asleep to the sounds of the others That was the first time. The second I tried to solve maths equations. Maths still tripping and having a good time. time was different. was logic, and logic was real. Made I felt fine the day after, but melan- Eight hours on one tab – LSD was a up numbers and signs started appear- cholic. It was a disturbing experience; full work day. Someone passed a bong ing in front of me, moving towards me one I wish I never had. I had flashbacks around and I took a drag to kick it on. and crashing into my skull, exploding. I for months after, not of any particu- I was having a great time, chatting, lis- started to walk around again. lar hallucination, but of the feeling of tening to music. We were comfortable. I remember going into the house to detachment from the world (known as It was a nice house. collect myself. I looked at the TV, and The “depersonalisation” or “derealisation”). Gradually I felt like my head was fall- Simpsons was on, and Sideshow Bob was Whenever I smoked marijuana after ing, and then I’d bring it back up, only laughing maniacally. this, paranoia and dissociation would for it fall again. It was happening in “I have to get out of here.” return. I had to stop. I’m not against a loop. I didn’t know what was going drug usage, but they’re made for some I kept telling myself it was the drug, on, and I kept looking to my friends and not others. Drugs are no longer a but this wasn’t the drug I had imagined. to see if they were reacting. They kept part of my life.

Image: Bryant Apolonio and Lucy Watson www.honisoit.com culture

Forget Froyo, gelato has the Klout REVIEW Matilda Surtees has the scoop on Gelato Messina It’s a Tuesday afternoon, but there’s ger for constant novelty. a queue snaking through the doors of A firm dedication to using only ‘real’ Gelato Messina’s store and onto the ingredients – there are no numbered fla- Crown St pavement outside their Surry vours at Messina – makes creating new Hills store. This would be an odd state specials both more remarkable and more of affairs for your average ice-cream challenging. “Sometimes we have these shop, but Gelato Messina is hardly great ideas, but trying to source the real vour before it disappears off the specials ing their Darlinghurst store in 2002, another vanilla scoop shop. stuff… it can require a lot of tweaking,” board. The quick turnover is, in turn, a they now have stores in Surry Hills, They have 30 000 Facebook fans and says Nick Palumbo, the Gelato Messina result of the rapid pace of social media. Bondi, and are on the verge of unveil- rotating specials that veer from experi- founder. The popularity of certain ingre- “In the old days we used to make one ing two new locations. One will be in mental – a ginger and sake sorbet was dients eases the pressure to constantly special a week, leave it in the cabinet for the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. a recent offering – to explosively popu- figure out how to use new ones. They a few weeks before people tried it and The other will be in Hangzhou, China’s lar, like ‘Robert Brownie Jr,’ which was keep at least one peanut butter flavour would freak out,” says Palumbo. Now, fourth largest city. a milk chocolate gelato with chunks of in the specials rotation at all times, and “a week is an age in social media,” and For many companies, this sort of chocolate brownie and fudge sauce. “anything that has peanut or salted cara- to keep pace Messina are introducing a prolific success would be followed by ‘Robert Brownie Jr’ has 2856 likes on mel just walks out the door,” according special every other day. a sense of fatigue in their customers, Instagram. to Palumbo. Originally the Facebook page was which Gelato Messina understandably The Messina specials, which are There is a direct link between social peripheral to the business, and it took wants to avoid. In a world infested with always creatively named, photo- media and their sales, beyond the nor- them a year to scrape together a thou- froyo stores and franchises, the bou- graphed, and uploaded to social media, mal publicity boost. The number of likes sand Facebook likes. By the beginning tique feel and relative uniqueness of the are a driving force behind their success. a flavour receives is a sure indicator of of this year they had about 15 000. In Messina experience is a huge drawcard. There are 5-6 specials at any one time how well it will sell – the fast rotation the past six months, that number has Palumbo acknowledges this, explain- and they outsell the 35 fixed flavours, means that an upload will quickly bring doubled. They now have a business part- ing that they see themselves opening 15 appeasing the paradoxical public hun- in customers specifically seeking that fla- ner who primarily looks after their mar- stores at the most within Australia. keting and runs their Instead of saturating the local mar- Facebook, Instagram, ket, they plan to grow internationally. and Twitter accounts. Starting with China, Palumbo outlines Palumbo says that an ideal future that entails two or three they don’t have a busi- stores in the US, another two or three ness plan as such – in London – they are currently explor- the phenomenon that ing a potential East London location. By is Gelato Messina is 2015, “we’ve got it locked in our minds apparently “just a group that we want to be in Williamsburg or of guys with their own Brooklyn,” he says. specialities.” If they lack If our fervent devotion to Gelato a business plan, then Messina is any indication, the residents they must have incredi- of Hangzhou, New York and London ble commercial acumen. may soon be packed into their own Messina has grown fast, lengthy queues, ready to receive Messina and isn’t slowing. Open- with open wallets, hungry mouths, and Photographs: Eliza Waterhouse iPhone cameras at the ready. A Knightess of a night PREVIEW Phoebe Moloney previews the Women’s Collective’s annual performance night Artwork by Madeleine Pfull Knightess is a showcase of creative As Julia Readett, one of the event them into only talking about ‘women’s wom*n at USYD. The second perfor- organisers, describes it: “Knightess is issues’. Plays performed contain an mance night to be run by the Women’s an opportunity to celebrate women in abundance of dynamic male roles and Collective, this year’s Knightess will the arts and to raise awareness about the few female roles of no real importance. feature over 15 acts across a range of under-representation of women in all A token female role relegated to orna- performative genres as well as visual- facets of artistic contributions: poetry, ment, mother, or whore.” arts pieces, all created by Sydney Uni- performance, music, comedy and art. It’s Furthermore, Ktenas-Karver main- versity students with lived experience as also just a great chance to just sit and lis- tains that the visibility of women-iden- a woman. ten and begin a conversation about what tifying artists is imperative to shifting these performers are actually doing.” societal attitudes. Unfortunately, Australia is a nation “Wom*n must enjoy equal representa- where the occasion to enjoy wom*n’s tion in the arts now so as to encourage creativity is not offered enough. A state- change. If art and culture informs youth ment released last year by the Australian on equality, it will be that much easier see this with the recent Honi Soit cover, Council for the Arts reported that the tomorrow to demolish the sexism which the Vagina 101 images and the well- numbers of women in creative leader- pervades our society today.” ship positions have fallen since the 80’s known Vagina monologues. These sorts Jena Ye, visual artist and Knightess and 90’s, dropping to below 30% in 2010. of creative productions direct atten- coordinator also sees the incorpora- tion to the female body with a strong Stella Ktenas-Karver, one of the per- tion of the “female gaze” into artistic feeling of female agency that has been formers featured in this year’s Knightess, representation as necessary to encour- absent for so long. This is one of the says that underrepresentation is an issue age productive discussion surrounding reasons why I’m so excited to be a part that extends from the inherently sexist feminine identities within a space where of Knightess.” attitude that underlies creative industries. woman has been historically relegated to Knightess is an event open to people of “Unfortunately sexism remains quite artistic subject or muse. all gender identities. The concert will begin a a common component of the arts. “This public discussion is becoming 7.30pm at Hermann’s Bar with entry by dona- Females are stigmatised, we regulate more often in Western society. We can tion.

If you believe that you only live once, go to16. If you believe you live twice – the second time eternally – go to 20. 13 culture @honi_soit 1 Porny Soit 1 Anonymous writes about her Saturday night, when she stayed home to watch porn for the first time

I recently bought myself a vibrator puts hand on woman’s thigh, oral sex, worried that no one suggested using off the internet because I was drunk then penetrative sex, but thankfully no protections, which makes me pleased and wanted an orgasm. It arrived a few anal. Then she tells him she wants the that I’ve internalised the dangers of days later. I got my boyfriend to help job so she can fuck him every day. This STDs. me figure out how to operate it and I raises a few concerns about the patriar- I’m watching this the same week used it for the first time a few days later, chy but nothing really new, so I’m not that I saw the Sydney Theatre Com- while watching Game of Thrones. I read overly distracted. pany’s production of Romeo and Juliet, on the Internet while idly Googling that Halfway through I’m watching but a play which is related to the reason you know if you’ve had an orgasm, and pausing every now and then to check I have never watched porn before. I that it feels a bit like needing to go to Facebook, because it’s pretty dull. always thought that my love of Shake- the toilet. I think I know that I had an I decide to try to get more actively speare, Austen and Richard Curtis had orgasm with my vibrator the second involved, so I take off my underpants given me unrealistic expectations of the screen, and then he’s just about the time I used it and a few times subse- and get out my vibrator. I try to sync the romance, and that porn would subtly penis. He mumbles his lines so his char- quent but because I only think I know vibrations of the clitoris-stimulator bit alter my expectations of the choreog- acter remains inchoate. The woman, on I’m not really sure. All I can be sure of of the vibrator with the man’s thrusts. raphy of sex – and then my interac- the other hand, does most of the talk- is that it felt way better than sex does I’m getting more excited, but I think it’s tions with the opposite sex would be ing (mostly about her pussy but occa- and that I feel gipped that my boyfriend just solely due to the vibrator. The porn permanently ruined and inauthentic. sionally about the job she’s applied cums every time we have sex but that simply isn’t that interesting. In fact, the Perhaps this might have been the case for), and develops as a character simply I never do. It’s not because he’s inat- because we see her face for most of the tentive (he’s the opposite), I think it’s film. Perhaps this is so a heterosexual just me. The porn doesn’t make me feel man can objectify her more easily, but better about this situation because the I just find myself connecting with her. woman cums three times, but I’ll get to What’s more, while she goes down on that later. him a few times, he also gives her oral That is all by the by, because this arti- sex and she constantly rubs her clitoris, cle is about my experience as a female and it’s not like female pleasure is com- in her early twenties watching porn for pletely absent. In fact, as I already said, the first time. As I write it, I’m drunk she cums a lot, and the poor guy just on my bed with a just-used vibrator takes forever to cum. next to me wearing quite a conservative The capitalist in me wants to buy a dress but no underpants. I’ve just snap- camera and start making porn. I don’t chatted a picture of my vibrator sitting know where I’d find a guy with a penis on a computer to my friend because I that big but otherwise the materials are wanted to not write this thing. I’m lis- easy to source and the production costs tening to Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’ are low. Sex sells. The anti-capitalist in over and over again. me sees the film’s plot as an example My friend picked the video for me. of how capitalism exploits women, and It lasts 33 minutes and 45 seconds, I worry that porn probably features a which is far longer than I expected. disproportionate amount of low-SES It’s a stellar bit of interracial pornog- actors. raphy hosted by youjizz.com and fea- Overwhelmingly, the video remains turing an actress by my mother’s name. boring, even when everything is cli- When I texted her to let her know she maxing. I would honestly much rather shared her name with a porn star, she sit on Facebook, pressing refresh, than replied: “That was me a couple of years watch more stuff like this. I think Game ago.” It was funny, but also quite weird of Thrones is more titillating. I’m torn because it means I’m thinking of her as prospect of having sex with a penis that if I’d started watching porn before I’d between two interpretations: I’m just I watch the video. I wonder what the size is frankly terrifying. And some of started having sex, but I have a few not that sexual a human, or the sex I actress’ mother would think if she saw the positions look like you could only long-term relationships under my belt have is just way better than this weird her daughter baying like a cow as she do them comfortably after going to the and at the moment I probably have “this tight pink pussy has been a very gets fucked for half an hour by a giant gym consistently for a while. The guy sex about ten times a week. It’s just bad pussy” shit. I know I’ve already black dick. I also think about how my also has a PhD – pretty huge dick! I too late for my sex life to be ruined. said that I don’t orgasm during sex but mother would feel if she was watching know that if I were in her position my In fact, watching it is probably good I still enjoy it. I don’t need to feel bad me watch this film – either appalled or about myself just because I don’t like amused, but I can’t decide which. “The porn simply isn’t that interesting. In fact, the prospect a stupid video. Only once have I had sex with someone who was basically a The plot is simple. Woman applies of having sex with a penis that size is frankly terrifying. And for job as secretary, interview proceeds stranger, and I can’t really remember it with innuendo for a few minutes, man some of the positions look like you could only do them – the other times have been with peo- ple I was either in love with or affec- comfortably after going to the gym consistently for a while.” tionate towards. Sex that doesn’t end with a whispered “I love you” is alien vagina would be aching and raw and that for me, as I now have a few good tips to me and seems more like an exer- I’d be worried about having my internal on how to deliver a pleasing blow job. cise in endurance than a fun activity. I organs ruptured. I also just don’t find I’d expected to have more feminist would never ask someone to cum on the sight of sex organs that appealing. objections to it than I do. I feel sorry my glasses. For one, I don’t wear any so At one stage, the camera lingers on her for the man, who starts off wearing a that would just be my eyes, but I’d also anatomy. Her gaping vagina looked like burgundy velvet jacket. After his first just rather my partner cum inside me. Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’. I’m also few lines of dialogue his face leaves There’s something beautiful about that.

14 Renaissance party, Renaissance party. Bring a knight and a damsel because it’ll be poorly attended. Nerd. Look, you’re old enough now to be sick of drugs and drinking and conversation. The food is where it’s at, right? Why not take some home? Have a Tupperware party. www.honisoit.com culture USYD Bushwalking Club to CAMPUS CULTURE release nude calendar Members of SUBW bare it all and donate proceeds to a wilderness charity, reports Mariana Podesta-Diverio N The Sydney University Bushwalkers there’d actually been a previous [calen- in some adventurous circles (SUBW), a USU club, will release a nude dar] in the early ‘90s,” said Tim Vollmer, of the population. Stephen calendar for 2014 on November 20. The a SUBW member. “So it seems we’ve Gough, a British ex-marine, calendar will feature unclad members of unknowingly re-ignited a club tradi- made international headlines the club posing for the different months tion!” when he walked the length of of the year, including group photos and Although the proceeds from the 2013 Britain (from Land’s End to some shots of individuals. calendar went towards funding the John o’ Groats) in 2004, wear- When the club released a nude calen- club’s gear, the club’s committee intends ing only footwear and, occa- dar last year, they subsequently discov- to donate proceeds from the 2014 calen- sionally, a hat. Gough was ered that members of the club in the dar to the Colong Foundation, an advo- arrested numerous times for ‘90s had also done so. “We found out cacy group that fights to protect areas not wearing clothes during his from some old-timers in the club that of the Australian wilderness. Colong’s unclad year-long pilgrimage. campaigns include fighting Interestingly, public inde- The cover of the 2014 official nude calendar against hunting and horse rid- cency laws specifically dealing member, has never been on an official ing in national parks. with nude hiking in countries such as nude walk, but prefers to get naked SUBW organises nude bush- Switzerland mean that this activity was “when the natural surroundings are walks on approximately a outlawed altogether in 2009. Of course, just too good to be experienced fully monthly basis, particularly dur- this is emblematic of the social stigma clothed.” ing the year’s balmier months. surrounding naked bodies in many soci- eties. “You gradually get accustomed to it, “The first formally organised and realise everyone’s bodies are beauti- nude bushwalk the club did was So how do SUBW members feel about fully flawed,” Bronkhorst said. “There is probably only 18 months ago,” going bare in front of others in nature? nothing to be self-conscious about.” said Vollmer. “And they’ve hap- “It is a reminder that there is no per- pened semi-regularly in the fect body, just an endless collection of The calendars will be available for purchase warm summer months since unique forms.” said Vollmer. “It makes online at www.subw.org.au/calendar. then.” me more comfortable with myself, and Commemoration Day, 1937 with others.” Courtesy: State Library Nude bushwalking has a sig- @mapodi nificant degree of popularity Chantal Bronkhorst, another SUBW Can I get a side of drugs with that? Georgia Kriz gives us a guide to shops on King Street that don’t appear to have any customers yet manage to pay exorbitant rent anyway I’m only saying it because I know Drug seller A: Yes good idea. Maybe everyone else is thinking it: if the fol- if we call it “Happy Herb Shop”, then lowing shops aren’t drug fronts, I’ll eat people will think we are joking about my hat. selling marijuana and then we won’t get caught selling marijuana. Buzzzbar Café – 349 King St Drug seller B: Yes! Rightio, that will These guys can afford cinema adver- confuse them. V. stealthy. tising and live plants, yet they don’t have any customers - need I say more? The Granny Square – 47 King St Although I have heard on the grapevine Although it poses as a knitting shop, that their baklava is good, baklava is this place is obviously the octogenarian probably just a codeword for heroin. community’s answer to Silk Road. Don’t Crispy Inn 24 Hour Bakery – 203 be fooled by the gorgeous window dis- King St play and impressive variety of materials and supplies - I’m told inside a bundle I like my pastry as much as the next of wool is the perfect place to stash a person with tastebuds, but I fail to stash, and those needles are obviously believe that anyone is peckish for a designed to come in handy if a deal cinnamon scroll at 3.30am. A 24 hour goes south. kebab shop I might understand, but this place screams “SUSS” louder than Nixie Ocean Food Restaurant – a gluten-intolerant’s groans the morning 480 King St after a bread binge. We all knew this place was a front Happy Herb Shop – 347 King St from the moment they stuck a picture of a tits-out mermaid over the entrance. I reckon this is one of those “hide in The “Ugly and Tacky Branding Exer- plain sight”, reverse-psychology moves. cise” is a classic move to try and dis- I can imagine the conversation: suade customers from coming inside, Drug seller A: What should we call and boy has it worked. Thanks to Ariel, our brand new marijuana shop on King there’s no one around to see what the Street? scallop special is, or what exactly is hid- Drug seller B: Defs something v. ing underneath the soft-shelled crab’s stealthy so we don’t get caught. bed of baby rocket.

Look, you’re old enough now to be sick of drugs and drinking and conversation. The food is where it’s at, right? Why not take some home? Have a Tupperware party. 15 culture @honi_soit pretendING to be an immigRation The first meet official: The video game Anonymous met a lot of creepy people. And then joined them. It’s an odd-looking pub, you notice. Samantha Jonscher reviews a gut-wrenching video game With a drab exterior, situated just near ing more and more towards articulat- the train station, it looks slightly circum- ing moral significance (I’m looking at spect. But it’s packed with after hours of- you Bioshock I and Fallout), Papers, Please fice workers. really is a step forward. While both of You walk in, nervously, hands those games feature and reward moral scrunched into your pockets. behavior, Papers, Please is concerned with Immediately you notice the sign exploring the tension between pragma- – laminated, shiny and on a pedestal. It tism and ideals. While other games have directs you upstairs, a narrow, winding, begun leaning towards a didactic story spiral staircase next to a crowded, beer- to complement and enhance the game’s smelling bar. Pub food wheels around story, Papers, Please uses the game to you as you slowly saunter through the complement its moral quandries. crowd, finally climbing the stained steps On its surface Papers, Please appears to The player sits on the precipice be- upward. be a creative variation on the traditional tween ‘The Man’ and ‘The People’ and You’re immediately greeted on the sec- puzzle game. Its interface is familiarly in many ways is encouraged to remain ond floor by two sets of beaming smiles. Talking intensely, he finally stares at low-tech and its premise seems utterly loyal to both entities. But in Soviet era “Hi!” you. “So, what do you think?” banal, but lurking beneath the surface Arstotzka, that is not possible. The game “Welcome!” they say, hands stretched You pause, aware that every second is a truly unique game with literary po- is heart-wrenching and takes an emo- out with gloriously white smiles. This is of hesitation casts your commitment to tency. tional toll, something that isn’t spoiled a little better, you think. These people the cause into doubt. “Um, yeah. That The game centres on the day-to-day by its early NES style graphics. Denying look … normal. Sort of. makes sense.” work of an immigration official in the person after person entry, especially after They thrust paperwork in front of That seems to make the man happy, fictitious Soviet nation of Arstotzka. they beg, is difficult. It quickly becomes your face. You’re a bit overwhelmed, and and he smiles, grinning, clasping your The idea is simple enough: the player apparent that the only people you can you skim over it, feeling slightly flustered shoulder. He talks about how much tal- must examine the paperwork of migrant break the rules for are those that can af- by all the attention. You sign it, hand ent you have, how much promise you hopefuls and determine if they are eligi- ford to bribe you. over the money, and are ushered into the have, how you’re going places. You begin ble to enter the country. Basic game play Designed by an American game de- party. to wonder – how can he know all this revolves around catching bureaucratic signer, it is hard to imagine this game The first thing you see is that everyone from a mere 30 second conversation? anomalies and dismissing individuals outside the context of modern Ameri- is talking. People are spread out across As the night drifts on, you have the with invalid paper work. can immigration rhetoric, or outside of the room, chatting away. You get the same conversations time and time again. At the end of each day, the player is current asylum seeker discourse in Aus- impression some important people are You begin to experiment. To vary your awarded a commission for each migrant tralia. By placing the player in the shoes here, but you aren’t quite sure who they opinion. Whenever you do, people nod, processed (you are penalised for making of the enforcer and not the victim nor are, or what they look like. they listen to you. You begin to feel like mistakes). You must pay for rent, heat- the policy makers, it humanises the en- Immediately two smiley, happy-clappy a leader. ing, food and eventually medicine for the tire narrative of immigration. types approach you. “Hi!” they say, in al- As the night draws to a close, you feel extended family, all of which is almost The game forces you to feel true com- most perfect unison. a little bit bewildered. Did they actually impossible to cover at once. passion and responsibility for the failed “Hello,” you say nervously, your hands agree with you? Did you actually change As relations between fellow nations in migrants that you must turn away; they clutching the inseam of your pockets. their views? Or is this a group that lacks the surrounding eastern bloc deterio- are not ‘queue jumpers’, ‘boat people’ One of them grins that plastic smile conviction, that is afraid to confront you rate, you are expected to look at more or generic foreigners. They each present again, and slicks back his hair. He rattles with their true beliefs? and more detailed pieces of paperwork their own stories; each pixelated bundle off some big title, it goes over your head You’re not sure. But you agree to come and to go through increasing levels of of documents represents a human being though. His hair is wispy, thin and he to the next one, anyway. inspection, all the while trying to process that you are inclined to help but pressed seems very … ‘keen’. Yeah, that would This could be about a cult, a politi- enough migrants to feed, heat, house to turn away. It injects humanity and be the word. He begins chatting about cal party or a particularly bad family re- and medicate your loved ones. subjectivity into an issue in sore need of why he first joined up, all the benefits of union. We’re really not sure. While video games have started mov- both. being involved, and grabs you a beer. Punched in the vagina: hospitality experiences TOP 5 Lucy Hughes-Jones discusses the industry that so many students must work in to pay the rent When service becomes servitude: Lately the ‘family friendly’ restaurant I work at has come to resemble a crèche, where you literally have to wade through 5 children to serve food. So there I was last Sunday, not 30 seconds into my shift and carrying two hot plates of parmy, when a young boy decided to use my most private of parts as a punching bag. Yes, I was punched in the vagina by a 5-year-old while his parents did nothing. Usually I can deal with pram traffic jams, spa- ghetti wars and up to seven women breast-feeding at once, but not this. Now I generally don’t mind kids – I fully intend on making a few of my own some day – but until then I want them nowhere near my vagina, and in that moment I felt like punting the little fucker.

Shitting where you eat: I know a couple that got together at the Christmas party, and shared a romantic co-worker courtship where fingertips touched for an 4 instant as they both reached for the same beer tap. Lunchbreaks were taken together, and things got caught on CCTV. That same pair six months later now need to be rostered on at different times to avoid seeing each other. Many of us have that ‘what was I thinking?’ moment with exes, but in hospo it’s like a regret you have to revisit on a daily basis once things turn sour.

Cash-in-hand jobs for the ‘link: Youth Allowance is one testy mother, but definitely worth getting assaulted in the line at Centrelink every now and again, and 3 if you can earn some extra cash on the sly while you’re at it, it becomes that much more lucrative. It takes me back to the days of my first café job when I got paid $9 an hour, and my pay came each week in a crumpled brown paper bag with my name on it. Since then I’ve found myself working in the shiftiest bars and clubs in Sydney, all in the name of the cash money flow. When managers are your mates: Memories of this industry will rarely include the obnoxious and drunk customers, but those behind the bar. With the right 2 colleagues, work can be like a Disneyland where there is no currency at all: you swap beers for the chefs with a delicious steak, you cut cake slices too big and even it up bite by bite, you turn your staffies drink into a staffies bender. As long as the boss doesn’t see, the world is yours. Just for now: Whether it’s lime juice in paper cuts, the depressing locals, or just the sheer volume of vomit, we are able to endure the highs and lows of hospo 1 in the belief that it won’t be permanent. For most of us, this is but a rite of passage that is only a temporary, gritty and exciting speed bump in our otherwise illustrious careers.

16 Nudist party. Onesies, you’ve always said, are for children. www.honisoit.com

No Money?!?

The first meet Broadway and Marrickville shopping Having not much money is a fact of life for many students. Talk to an SRC Debts The SRC Legal Service helps people centres will charge around $3-$4 for a caseworker about what options you have to make life a bit easier. with negotiations on outstanding debts. meal instead of the usual $6-7. Just be Just ring our office to make an appoint- careful of food kept out of the fridge Phone back). You could also investigate avail- or heating for too long. ment for some advice. It is possible to buy a handset cheaply able scholarships. www.usyd.edu.au/ Food There are lots of other organisations or ask a friend to give you one they no su/fin_assist/. that offer cheap meals. SRC casework- The SRC and the Union offer free longer use. It is easiest to control the Fun ers have a list available for the inner food from time to time to promote costs by using prepaid accounts. An The Union offers a large range of Sydney and Sydney areas, eg, Hare various campaigns and events. These online phone service like Skype might social activities that you can attend that Krisna’s van outside Newtown Neigh- are advertised in the Bull and Honi Soit. also make it cheaper for you. are mostly free. They also give away bourhood Centre every evening. Some Union clubs also offer a regular Transport prizes at trivia nights and other social Bringing food/drink from home is meal for a one-off joining fee plus a Where possible travel off-peak, using nights that may get you to the movies, few dollars extra (eg, the Vegetarian often a lot cheaper than buying lunch see a band or even an opera. There are on or off campus. Even better would pre-paid tickets (metro 10 bus tickets, Club). The University also serves food weekly train tickets) or just walking a few festivals that happen throughout at all the graduations ceremonies. It be to have some meals at a friend or the year throughout the city and sub- relative’s house. some of the way. However, consider would be very naughty of you to go the “cost” of your safety too. Some- urbs. Keep an eye on the local papers. Housing there when you’re not really attending times it is a good idea to splash out and Keep in mind too that the Union sells the ceremony, so if you’re hungry and Cheap housing is quite tricky in take a taxi. discounted tickets for the movies and you’ve got no money, please do not go some other places. You could also try Sydney. Look on café noticeboards and Furniture to these ceremonies and pretend you telegraph poles for share housing ads contacting small or local newspapers belong so you can eat their sandwiches. or try applying for a place at STUCCO, Cheap furniture and kitchen stuff and ask to review films or bands. can be bought from op shops. Search The SRC runs a food co-op on level the student housing cooperative Health for them on the internet. Keep an eye 4 of the Wentworth Building that has (http://www.stucco.org.au/). The Uni- out for stuff that’s being put out for If you are an Australian citizen or lots of very cheap food (like dried fruit, versity has a few cheap accommodation council pick up. The more “posh” the permanent resident and on Centrelink rice crackers, chocolates, rice, grains, options. They are very limited so apply area, the nicer the stuff. payment or if you are on a low wage etc). Bring your own container. If you early. There is also a University Accom- ($497 per week as at July, 2013) you Loans do a shift there you will even get a modation Data base at http://sydney. may be eligible for a Health Care Card. discount. edu.au/current_students/accom- It is only a good idea to get a loan This gives you reduced prices on most Many places on King Street in modation/ which is worth looking when you have the intention and the prescription drugs (about $6), discount Newtown offer you a discount with through. The Department of Housing ability to pay it back. The SRC offers tickets at the movies (although it is a student card or Access card. Places have a scheme called Rentstart, where an emergency loan (interest free) of up cheaper to buy movie money from the that have pre-prepared food tend to they give you an interest free loan to to $50. The University has a Financial Union), free ambulance coverage in charge less per serve nearest to closing cover your bond. Of course there are Assistance Office that has interest free NSW, cheap glasses, free hearing aids time. For example the food courts in conditions, but this is definitely worth loans of up to $1500 as well as some and access to free dental care. checking out. bursaries (loans you don’t have to pay

they should be allowed 11 semesters. Ask Abe However they had to do a previous degree, eg, Bachelor of Science, which International Hi Abe, takes 3 years or 6 semesters. That leaves 5 semesters or only 2.5 years to Students be able to get paid. Well that prem- Did you know you may be able Centrelink want to cut me off my payment because ise is actually WRONG. Medicine is to apply for a “holiday credit” on they say I should have finished my degree by now. a special degree, because it is a nor- your health insurance for the time Do you know anything about that? mal entry requirement to complete a you are not in Australia? Bachelor’s degree. Therefore previous For those with coverage from PD. Bachelor study should not count. If OSHC Worldcare you need to be Centrelink tell you otherwise, it might out of Australia for 30 days or more, Dear PD is not dependent on whether you have be worth appealing this decision. I and be able to present your passport, helped a student with this last semes- boarding passes or travel tickets. What you’re talking about is called received a payment for all of that time ter and he received a back payment of This credit cannot be paid out until the Maximum Allowable Time for or not. If you have been studying lon- more than $5000. the end of your degree. Completion. It affects lots of stu- ger than the Allowable Time come If your coverage is with another dents. The basic principle behind and talk to a SRC caseworker as they Abe. can advise you if you can get that time company call them to see if they it is that you are allowed to get paid have a similar arrangement. until you have exceeded the amount extended. You may have been part The Ask Abe column has been a feature in Honi You must of semesters it would take for most time in an earlier semester but they Soit since 2001. During that time, Abe, the SRC’s have counted it as full time or you may welfare dog has provided advice to students apply within people to ordinarily complete their about Centrelink problems, academic appeals, 30 days of have not passed a semester for reasons accommodation situations, shortages of money, degree plus one extra semester. Some- returning, so beyond you control. University procedures and a variety of other times it’s plus one year, but that’s only situations. hurry. when your subjects are a year long. We have found some Austudy stu- Unfortunately on 21st June, 2013, Abe died. He was a few months short of his 18th birthday, and So if you’re doing an Arts degree dents doing Medicine degrees who had lived a grand life, full of adventure and love. that’s 3 years plus 1 semester full time have been told that the time they have While the SRC is sad to have lost such a wise and insightful canine, we will continue to produce this equivalent. Remember that this tells spent doing a previous degree should column in his memory. If there are any questions them when you should be cut off. It count. So medicine is 5 years long, so you would like to ask send an email to: [email protected].

It’s a Sims party. Everyone is “dressed as themselves” but you locked all the bathrooms and sit in the corner watching the chaos. Now there’s a ghost. 17 SRC @honi_soit

Hello readers! Like other weeks, the editors of Honi Soit do not control the content of pages 17, 18, and 19. President’s Report [email protected] David Pink argues for reform of the National Union of Students The state branches of the National do in a vast geographical landmass like Sydney University would allow not just Union of Students are generally Australia – it would be very difficult delegates and factional hacks, but also regarded as mere ‘paper tigers’: for a National Officer to fly around give regular students from metropolitan organisations that have in place complex, the country and visit enough campuses Sydney the opportunity to attend and bureaucratic structures, plenty of office that they could substantatively organise determine the democratic direction of bearers, but no real capacity for general the student body in a way that would an organisation which they could see co-ordination of the activities of be meaningful. Campus visits are in a concrete sense and identify with. student unions in their respective states. valuable, but organising requires There is already provision in the NUS In NSW we have a state branch which weekly, sometimes daily, contact Constitution for State Conferences, so has plenty of potential and plenty of with the constituency – and that is this is something perfectly legitimate. enthusiastic office bearers, but no real unfortunately impossible for one NUS NSW State Branch should have capacity to contribute to the student person. No trade union would adopt funding. In times past, 33% of each movement. this model – if we compare affiliate student union’s affiliation fees went I should preface this: this has been campuses to workplaces, it would be directly to state branch. This meant that by far the NUS’ most productive year recognised as impractical for a single the state organisations could afford since I began my involvement in the national organiser to be responsible for to rent office space where the state student movement. The National organising every section of the union at exec could organise from, sometimes President and National Education every workplace. employ secretarial and policy staff, Officer have taken an active effort to I believe that the solution is in have a serious discussion about the publish newsletters and have money organise grassroots student campaigns geography: we should empower the relative merits of stripping the vast they could use to run campaigns. against the higher education cuts, and state branches. majority of National Officebearers Obviously, since Voluntary Student of their stipends (minus, of course, the huge demonstrations we’ve seen The first step is to give them back Unionism, there is far less money in the President, Education Officer and in Melbourne and Sydney have been their funding. Before Voluntary Student student unions. General Secretary who perform the largely driven by a revitalised NUS. I Unionism (when, admittedly, the NUS How could we concretely move essential work of a national student have nothing but respect for Jade Tyrrell had a lot more money) at the very least forward? If the SRC at USYD agreed union), and adopting an area-based and Clare Keyes-Liley, and I applaud the State Branch Presidents were paid to give temporary occupancy to the organising model with a paid organiser their moves away from how the NUS a half-time stipend, which gave student NUS NSW state branch of an office in each state. used to operate. At times it used to seem organisations a local representative of in the SRC complex, I believe that as a like NUS was just a handful of people the NUS who they could rely upon We should also bring back State first step there would be the beginning who sat in an office in Melbourne and to actively co-ordinate cross-campus Conference. of state-wide co-ordination of student wrote press releases. The ‘bad old days’ education campaigns as their job. National Conference is problematic: union activity. This is an idea that are over. Australia is too big a place for the it exists as the peak representative body should be considered. Secondly, the I do see serious problems, however, National Officers to micromanage a for student issues to be debated, and major student unions in metropolitan with the NUS’ focus on a top-heavy national day of action, so it makes sense it fulfils this purpose, but it is usually Sydney (UNSW SRC, UTS SA, USYD organising model, which relies on a sole for responsibility to be delegated to a far too expensive for most students to SRC) have the financial capacity several National Officer to be the one person dedicated organiser in each capital city. travel down to Melbourne every year thousand dollars each to the NUS state with responsibility across the country A case study is the NUS West for up to two weeks just to have their branch. As a one-off grant this would for organising NUS campaigns in their Australian branch, which has a stipended voices heard. Bringing back a two-day ensure that NUS NSW would cease to divisional issue (Education – Welfare – State President. NUS West is a vibrant NUS State Conference would be a very be a ‘paper’ entity – it could in a very Queer – Women’s – Disabilities, etc.) organisation, which, unlike NUS NSW, interesting experiment in participatory real way resource itself and begin to There is necessarily a limit to how much has a very real role in co-ordinating democracy. In the case of NUS NSW, organise NSW students against an organising a single National Officer can student activists in that state. We should holding it at somewhere like UTS or Abbott government. Disabilities and [email protected] Carers Officer Report Sarah Chuah lets you know what’s happening in Carers Week This week is Carers Week, a time to main campus, where we also launched day and fantastic opportunity to get our raise awareness and celebrate the 2.6 our booklet that was based on survey message out to key figures. million people in Australia who devote data collected earlier this year. Access & We are extremely encouraged by the their time to looking after a loved one Inclusion: Carers in Higher Education enthusiasm that was been expressed to who couldn’t manage without their is targeted towards decision-makers, us from stakeholders across the coun- support. Student carers are at a consid- equity and student service providers at try – we look forward to seeing what erable disadvantage when it comes to Australia’s 39 universities, and aims to comes out of this project and pushing participating in higher education, with raise awareness and push for support on further with our campaign for stu- only 4 % of 18-25 year old primary car- for student carers in higher education. dent carers’ recognition and support. ers remaining in education compared We have also been working alongside For a copy of Access & Inclusion: with 23% of their same-aged peers. Australia’s peak organisation for car- Carers in Higher Education or for more Disabilities & Carers Officer Yaz ers, Carers Australia, who generously information, contact me at disabilities. Camdzic and I have been extremely provided funding for our booklet, and [email protected]. There is also busy leading up to this week, prepar- Young Carers NSW who we shared a a PDF version available online at www. ing for our student carers campaign to stall with at Carers’ Day Out on Tues- srcusyd.net.au/disabilitiesandcarers. be heard at a national level. The week day, the country’s largest event for car- began with a Morning Tea for Carers on ers held in Martin Place. This was a fun

18 It’s your high school reunion. Some doors are meant to stay closed. www.honisoit.com SRC Education Officer’s Report [email protected] Casey Thompson explains potential changes to tertiary education under the new Government The recently elected Abbott-led a tertiary institution can charge an you will be repaying a much greater Liberal/National Coalition government individual for a degree – they place a ‘cap’ amount as interest has been added. A will dramatically restructure education on the fees we can be charged. Abbott Bachelor of Arts graduate currently policy. Whilst Abbott’s final policies has suggested he wishes to remove this takes almost a decade to repay their have not yet been announced we have a so that universities can charge students debt; this timeframe will be extended reasonable expectation of the nature of as much as they desire. The costs of as the debt is ever increasing. This, these policies due to Abbott’s, and other subjects has already been increasing coupled with the deregulation of fees, Coalition members’, comments on their however, in the past, it has had a level will lead to an American-like education education policy intentions in the past. it could not exceed. The Coalition will system where students are graduating 1. The Coalition has stated it will allow students to be charged more for a with $100, 000+ worth of student uphold the Labor Government’s $2.3 less high quality degree. This will make debt. Many American graduates are stated in an ABC LateLine interview on billion worth of tertiary education university education inaccessible to unable to afford basic life necessities July 16 2012). Pyne has in fact stated cuts (which were intended to fund the those who are not wealthy. after university as the majority of their that he intends for our education system Gonski review that Abbott, however, 3. The Coalition has indicated it will income is dedicated to repaying their to have less teachers and that at least will not fund). (As reported by Stephanie very likely privatise the Higher Education student loan. 43 000 Australian educators should be Peatling in the Sydney Morning Herald on Contribution Scheme (HECS). This will 4. Christopher Pyne, the current sacked (as reported by State School April 22, 2013). It has been estimated by mean your HECS loan will no longer be Minister for Education, will not Teachers’ Union of Western Australia). USYD management that these cuts will provided to you by the government but structure funding and policy in a way The Education Action Group (EAG) translate to the removal of $50 million instead by a private capital firm. Unlike that will attempt to improve the quality meets each Tuesday at 2 pm on the New worth of annual government funding to the government, these firms have as their of education. When commenting on Law Lawns and is currently organising a Sydney University. primary interest profit maximisation, and school education Pyne has claimed that campaign in opposition to the Coalition’s 2. Abbott has indicated he will likely thus HECS loans will become subject to he does not believe that large class sizes education plans. Please feel free to deregulate fees for tertiary education, the same treatment as all personal loans are a barrier to quality teaching and has come along and share your thoughts. seeing an expected 25% increase in – repayments will include a market-set said that attempting to reduce class You can also find out more about costs. The Government currently interest rate. This will mean that if you sizes to improve the staff to student us on Facebook at www.facebook. regulates the maximum amount that are charged $2,500 for a subject today, ratio would be a “waste of money” (as com/SydneyUniversityActionGroup Women’s Officer [email protected] Report Emily Rayers explains the implications of Zoe’s Law for women’s reproductive rights Lobby, Family Planning NSW, Com- on the lives of women in NSW. munity Legal Services, National Rape - The amendment is unnecessary and Domestic Violence services. There - The bill establishes personhood for has been a lack of consultation about a foetus The current legal frameworks are the bill with experts and the community sufficient. The amendment to the leg- (in particular the women’s sector, com- This would be the first legislation islation, implemented in 2005, allows munity, legal and health organisations). It introduced in NSW that draws a distinc- a charge of Grievous Bodily Harm is particularly concerning that MPs have tion in personhood between a woman against a mother to be brought against not been given the full opportunity to and the foetus. This has been used to an offender who causes the harm or hear from these sectors before making a set a precedent in other jurisdictions, destruction of a foetus. This can carry conscience vote. such as in the United States, to pros- a sentence of up to 25 years. The legis- The foetal personhood law named ecute women who have acted contrary lation has subsequently been reviewed “Zoe’s Law” was originally proposed by to the interest of the foetus. It creates and found to be sufficient (by the On Wednesday October 16, Dr Linda Fred Nile against the wishes of Brodie legal rights for a foetus separate from Campbell Review). This is not to say Atkins, an obstetrician and gynaecolo- Donegan, the woman who the bill was the mother and can allow these rights that the sentencing brought against the gist who specialises in ultrasound and inspired by. Donegan was hit by a car to come in conflict with those of the person responsible for Zoe’s death are prenatal diagnosis, is set to speak on which resulted in the loss of her preg- mother. This is sufficient reason to adequate, however the offender was not campus about the impending “Zoe’s nancy. The death of Donegan’s unborn believe this bill is an infringement on sentenced to the full penalty available Law” – a bill that is currently under daughter, Zoe, was categorised as an women’s bodily autonomy and agency, under current laws. debate in NSW Parliament. This bill is act of ‘Grievous Bodily Harm’ and the and even a step towards ending wom- If you would like to hear from a the first of its kind, aiming to give legal person responsible for the car accident en’s right to choose abortion. medical professional on this issue, recognition of foetuses after 20 weeks. was let off with a light sentence. What or have questions, come along to Dr Atkins will be speaking out against Ms Donegan went through was a trag- - The bill has the potential to under- Linda Atkin’s talk on Wednesday 16th the Foetal Personhood Law. But Atkins edy, and I am terribly saddened by her mine women’s reproductive rights October 5.30pm-6.30pm (venue TBA – is not the only one – the Campbell story. However, countless organisations check the Facebook group ‘USyd Wom- Review made recommendations against in the medical, legal and social services As abortion is in the Crimes Act in en’s Collective’ or event page, check the changes to pre-existing laws and the Bar are speaking out against the revised bill NSW it is in a precarious position. Giv- blog at usydsrcwomens.blogspot.com. Association wrote a letter expressing which Ms Donegan helped to shape. ing personhood status to a foetus may au or email usydwomenscollective@ their condemnation. Numerous groups There are several unintended conse- affect the lawfulness and accessibility of gmail.com to find out). Debate on this have also spoken out against this Bill, quences of the bill being debated cur- abortion in NSW, particularly for proce- bill continues the next morning, Thurs- including NSW Women’s Electoral rently, which will have serious impacts dures carried out later in a pregnancy. day October 17.

Get Kafkaesque! Your party’s weird, the mood is grim, the games are in your mind, and you get arrested for no reason (kidding, you broke the neighbour’s window). 19 puzzles @honi_soit fin

down Paps ACROSS QUICK CROSSWORD 1. Chic (6) 1. Houses of artefacts, etc. (7) 4. Buildings used to house soldiers (8) 2. Preliminary version; kind of beer (5) 9. In short supply (6) 3. A thing of sacred significance, eg. baptism (10) 10. Cantilever, project (8) 5. Dispositions; instrumentations (12) 12. Partly (2,2,1,5) 6. Goes bad (4) 13. Stalk; staunch (4) 7. Love affair (9) 15. Kind of cavalry sword (5) 8. Become angry or covered with water vapour (5,2) 17. Factory where employees are exploited (9) 11. Collection of principles by which a state is 18. Narrow design in cloth, usually for suits (9) governed (12) 19. Tree associated with Canadians and pancakes 14. Motivated; aroused (10) (5) 16. A platform for performing musicians (9) 21. Bottom (4) 18. Workable; artificial (7) 22. Lacking good mental judgement; eating (3,2,5) 20. Manifest; evidence (7) 25. Entrance (8) 23. Of medieval Norway or Scandinavia (5) 26. Pulsing (6) 24. Pale or greyish is colour (4) 27. Assisting with a golf match (8) 28. Materialisation; edible kind of calendar (6)

Find a word MPD A-maze-ing (featuring maize)

Start

Finish

Across Down Paps CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 1. Deprivation dies; sis snoops (13) 2. I’m devout – NOT (7) 10. Pah - returned before wharf is more glad! (7) 3. Rewarded and suffered (4) 11. Ambiguous roundabout (7) 4. Dr. Flow Upon (7) 12. Building top heard hound’s voice, perhaps (4) 5. Expelled and put out (7) 13. Will witness die in chain of islands? (4,6) 6. Deer country embraces sluggishness (10) 15. Mitigate bum rest (7) 7. Ancestry found in I, Signor (7) 16. Editor back-assesses and finds intolerable (7) 8. Small incision is a quicker route (8) 18. You are energy after divided tortoise mal- 9. Ruler of Mount Olympus used zebra treatment (7) parts… (4) 21. Inflated and went sailing, perhaps with life- 14. … plus lion autism for imitation (10) boat head (7) 17. The dregs said “I meant phonetically” (8) 23. Male reproductive fluid heard to precede ves- 19. Engrail to change position (7) sel and boat-handling skills (10) 20. Common Era following German food 24. Gloomy, Low, Unhappy, Melancholy (4) concentrate (7) 26. Everyone’s entitled to their scrambled onion 21. Swift and breast meat (7) pie, I’ve heard (7) 22. Waratah tackled oat peel (7) 27. Sovereign brooch of a bigwig (7) 23. Posh boutique (4) 28. Unwitting linen nutation (13) 25. Invalidate Ctrl+Z (4)

20 It’s a god party! Bring your best religious garb and an open mind: the house wine is literally blood. fin INSIDE THIS WEEK: THE EXCLUSIVE WE LITERALLY FOLLOW UP OUR INVESTIGATION INTO THE DEMISE OF SMispronounced by pretentiousOIN undergrads since 2013 LANGUAGE us government shutdown continues to fuck everything “AS WK ”, saYS LEADING SCHOLAR Attempt to fast track migration back to Australia!

Tensions have risen dramati- shut that whole thing down.” have coordinated an insur- initiative between the govern- cally after the recent U.S. Fed- gency utilising a sophisticated ment and Monsanto seek- eral Government shutdown The forced shutdown has code of chirps and whistles. ing to reverse engineer their that has left thousands of gov- not gone without unintended Similarly, roving gangs of biol- hardy, desert-tolerant genes. ernment workers furloughed hostility though. Violence has ogists have taken over zoos Worst of all, the International and many public services broken out in educational and sent a direct message to Space Station, once relieved unfunded. The first in almost institutions across the country Republicans by vindictively of the funding that keeps it 20 years, House Republicans as academics take advantage burning all the elephants in afloat, fell out of orbit directly refused to pass funding mea- of the lack of security by defi- effigy. Revenge attacks by GOP over New York City, crash- sures until the Democrats antly occupying museums, sympathisers have targeted ing into the Freedom Tower delayed the implementation zoos, and national parks. The their efforts on donkeys, prov- in an unforgettable tragedy of the Affordable Care Act. typically tranquil exhibits at ing their loyalty by continuing that has been latched onto by This follows close to 40 sepa- the Smithsonian have played to beat the animals long after the Obama administration as rate attempts made by Repub- host to looting and vandalising they’ve died. clear justification for interven- licans to repeal Obamacare, with militant squads of palae- tion in Syria. which went into effect at the ontologists armed with pick Effects of the cutbacks on start of this month. axes and tiny brushes taking the nation’s top defence, Compromise between Repub- hold of priceless specimens. space, and aeronautics instal- licans and Democrats is yet to Constitutional scholar, Michel Andrew Greenwald, recently lations were even more dra- be reached, with only empty Rosenfeld, described the situ- unemployed spokesperson for matic. 97% of NASA staff was promises made by each side. ation as a typical reaction the Smithsonian, pleaded, “If cut, coinciding with the clo- Republicans have agreed to when a major party tries to you want to go see million- sure of a local graphic design increase the debt ceiling only force its ideology over the year-old, white fossils, don’t business that had flourished if Democrats agree to rein- consent of popular opinion loot the museum, go to Capi- for almost 50 years. Area 51 force it with a glass ceiling, and prevailing law, adding, tol Hill!” lifted its borders, resulting in and Democrats have agreed “from what I understand, if the escape of millions of Mex- to keep public schools closed it’s a legitimate impasse, the In the country’s national icans who had been secretly only because doing so has Constitution has ways to try to parks, militant birdwatchers experimented on by a joint dropped gun crime rates pre- cipitously.

USYD COLLEGES FLY UNDER RADAR FOR ENTIRE SIX MONTHS, AWARDED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE [@THE_SOIN] 21 THE SOIN This week’s Soin once again intentionally failed to byline the work of Ariel Castro-Martinez, Cameron Smith, BOY AND BEAR CANCELLED AFTER BEAR MAULS BOY Fans of Australian indie The cancellation of also faced a significant group Boy and Bear were left performances due to backlash from fans, following devastated this week after problems arising from revelations that not a single the band’s management anthropomorphism is not member of the band had ever were forced to announce the an uncommon event in the actually given birth to a wolf. cancellation of the group’s music industry, with rap latest national tour. Sources legend Snoop Lion similarly With insurance premiums have indicated the move having to cancel a recent now expected to rise was taken in response to an charity performance after an significantly for all future incident at this year’s Falls abnormally large number of animal-themed indie bands, The bear in question... Festival where a young boy’s people in safari-suits turned only time will tell whether the spleen was reported missing up to his show. Wolfmother visibility, with friends Vampire now infamous grizzly bear following an altercation with Weekend stepping in to fill and his self-titled side project the band’s lead guitarist, these gaps. The cancellation will be forced to return to a 12-foot North American of the tour will come as a his niche performances as grizzly bear. major relief to the support a panda impersonator at act, given reports that the cheap zoos. One thing that is Citing similar safety two groups were constantly at for certain though, is that a concerns, the support act for each others’ throats, following name change for the band is the ‘Wolf and Cub’ tour had a mixup wherein Boy and Bear in order, with fan suggestion previously called off a number inadvertently consumed a ‘Bear and Carcass’ being the of performances during zebra carcass stored in Wolf most popular option so far. periods of heightened lunar and Cub’s ice box. ... and the boy PARLIAMENTARIANS TO UNDERGO COMPULSORY ETHICS TRAINING IN CANARY ISLANDS In an effort to stamp out Former Italian Prime widespread abuse of taxpayer Minister Silvio Berlusconi will funds, the Parliamentary be running the seminar. Standards Committee is requiring all MPs and Senators Meanwhile, Prime Minister to attend a conference on Tony Abbott has announced the ethical declaration of a new immersion scheme personal expenses. to assist in the creation of asylum seeker policy. The conference will be held in Canberra in November, with “All the Government all attendees flying via the frontbenchers are going to go Canary Islands and staying on one of those P&O luxury there for over a week in order cruises around Australia for a to attend the christening of a few weeks,” Mr Abbott said. baby they all know.

“It’s kind of a walk in This hands-on method of the asylum seekers’ shoes tackling political issues is exercise. It’ll help us develop also being employed at a state an idea of what these people level, with the NSW branch of are really up against, and the Labor Party organising allow us to create even more an anti-corruption seminar policy informed by empathy that will be compulsory for all and heartfelt consideration.” members to attend.

22 shorten decides at eleventh hour to back self in ballot for labor leadership [@THE_SOIN] THE Georgia Kriz, Thomas Murphy, Neha Kasbekar, Nina Ubaldi, Mariana Podesta-Diverio and Nick Rowbotham SOIN

PUBLIC SERVICE Agony Aunt I’ve had so much fun in my first year of uni; I’ve gotten to know so many ANNOUNCEMENT wonderful, caring people over the year Ted ‘Painbringa’ Stevenson, President of the Drug through my classes, the EU, sports clubs, you name it! I feel truly blessed Organisation and Promotion Entity (DOPE). to be at Sydney Uni. But a small, silly part of me wonders whether I should be There has been a lot of doing something that will help me get coins in your piggy bank, a job after I graduate. Should I trans- concern coming from local ride your bikes through fer into law? Thanks in advance! :) Aussie drugdealers that the parks amongst nature, - Tiffany

Silk Road was taking their fresh air in your lungs and Advice for first years from a fifth year who believes one business, but fortunately, day she will shatter the glass ceiling but will instead be the sun shining on your Kid, I’m going to give it to you suppressed by it with its shutdown, we can face, in order to go get straight: no. First year or not, no go back to having a drug your heroin from your local one describes USYD as though torical questions are a predictable economy here in Australia friendly dealer, Spida. it were Narnia. You seem like and easily-mocked way of naming one of those inadvertent PR its semesterly events. By gradua- that creates local jobs, geniuses naturally suited to tion, making it to the next hit of local manufacturing, and Your local dealer is a pil- positive spin; the kind of person low-grade cocaine will represent local overdoses. lar of the community, he’s who’d hear, “Well, paedophiles your aspirational limits. are bloody awful, aren’t they?” the battler, the small busi- and say, “Yeah, but let’s not You’re better off jobless and broke Not only is it good for ness owner, the true Aus- forget that they always drive well with your current degree. Good our domestic economy sie. It’s about the quality under the 40 km/h speed limit luck. that junkies are return- of service you get from in school zones.” Try marketing, not law. ing to ‘bricks-and-mortar’ a local dealer: while an drugdealers, but it also overseas dealer might very Law is for the bitter and broken. I’m a 56-year-old would-be mature age is great for the health of impersonally hire a goon to It’s not something they ever list student. My 18-year-old son is just the community. Kids these come and kidnap your wife on the course progression guide, about to start up at uni. The problem is but each year of law involves a we’re both dead keen on doing Engineering days can lounge around if you haven’t come good fresh surrender of parts of your at USYD. My son is really embarrassed inside and order off Silk on the cash, ya dig, your soul. By year two, you’ll master by the idea of studying the same course Road very easily (through local dealer will provide dismissiveness and mild sociop- with me. What should I do? a complex series of IP athy. You’ll catch yourself telling - Barry the service himself, break- your sweet Christian boyfriend, diversions under the server ing your legs with his own “Complaining about a hard of Tor while navigating golf clubs, like the rustic Sudoko puzzle again? That’s like I feel for you. But, as you knew the economically complex tradition of generations data entry for dyslexics. I’ve just when this came up, you’ll either Bitcoin), but we want to finished a hundred and forty have to transfer to another univer- of his family. It’s that per- pages of reading.” By year four, sity or drown your son. This is one have a return to the good sonal touch, community you’ll have lost your faith. “Born- of the hardest choices a father has old days. The days where spirit that makes all the Again Christianity: the most ag- to make. Play your cards right, and you and your little friend difference. gravating form of identity theft only one of those choices ends without any penalty units under with you having a USYD testamur Billy would save up all your the Crimes Act?” you’ll sneer, as and being immortalised by Tracy the EU refuses to learn that rhe- Grimshaw. Choose wisely. BILL POSTERS FINALLY PROSECUTED After a decades-long search, that police and prosecutors and shitty nightclub nights. the writing’s finally on the wall have colluded to frame him. “It’s not a black and white for infamous fugitive Bill Post- According to documents filed issue,” explained local music ers, who faced trial earlier this in court today, Posters alleges expert Mala Informé, “like, week at a Sydney local court. that Detective Rock and Ser- in some ways knowing about geant Scissors beat him to a the events at Oxford Arts Fac- Posters originally denied all pulp while in custody. tory is cool, but then everyone charges but was nailed to the knows about them, and then wall by an extensive paper trail. After initially refusing to com- it’s not.” “The Crown Prosecutor just ment, Salamanderown Local cut him to shreds” reported Area Command released a Particularly devastated were one court observer, “Bill just statement that “on Octo- Bill’s aged parents; upon hear- Angry socialists protesting Posters’ prosecution outside the court folded under the pressure.” ber 12 an incident occurred ing the verdict his mother was Following critical admissions involving persons believed to visibly cut up, while his father “paper thin”. “I am confident on the stand, the prosecution be persons and a collision- crumpled to the ground. that these charges will not flattened an already wooden based escalation.” stick on appeal,” declared defence. Poster’s barrister has indi- Thomas Pompingdale-White The public is torn over the cated that they will appeal SC, with his characteristic Posters maintains that prosecution of Posters, known the decision, dismissing the lisp. “My client deserves to be he is innocent and claims for his support of local music evidence against his client as A 3 man once more.”

usyd arts students maintain rage in spite of end to strikes, skip class anyway [@THE_SOIN] 23 ELECTIONS 2013 Electoral Officer’s Report Student Representative Council, University of Sydney

I declare the following persons elected:

PRESIDENT: Jen Light Z Evil for SRC Nick Rowbotham HONI SOIT: Sex for Honi AA Activate for Cumbo Penny Noble NUS DELEGATES: 7 AD Grassroots for Social Justice Due to a claim for a recount by one of the Sonia Feng ** candidates the result for this ballot will not be AE Activate for Science finalised until mid November Evelyn Radunz AF Activate your SRC STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL: Hannah Smith ** 33 (By Ticket Order on the Ballot Paper) Clare Angel-Auld AQ Stand Up for Faith B Stand up for SRC Lewis Jackson Jen Light ** AT Grassroots for Recognition James Leeder ** Kyol Blakeney ** John Harding-Easson ** AV Stand Up! For a Safe Campus C Stand up Against Abbott Georgia Carr Harry Stratton AX Monorail for SRC D Stand up for Student Housing Pedram Mohseni Nikhil Mishra BA Grassroots for Queer Power F McDonald’s on Campus David Shakes Penelope Parker BB Stand Up! for Mental Health H Stand Up! for Student Welfare Philippa Specker ** Chiara Angeloni BK SEX for SRC I Refresh for Education Nicola Alroe ** Matthew Woolaston ** BP Activate for Int Students N Grassroots 4 Critical Thought Zhitong Liu (Emma) ** Kitty-Jean Laginha BR Grassroots for a Green Campus O Activate for Women Marco Avena Chloe Smith BS Grassroots for SRC Q Activate for Arts Amelie Van der Stock ** Liam Carrigan BT Grassroots for Equal Marriage S Stand Up! for Student Rights Anna Robinson Alexandra Roles CA Grassroots against the Cuts W F*** Off Tony Abbott Omar Hassan Kay Dook X Yolo for College Those marked with an ** were elected with a full quota. Patrick Mcgee Y Stand Up! for Fair Education Paulene Graham. Julia Robins

Authorised by P. Graham, SRC Electoral Officer 2013. Students’ Representative Council, University of Sydney, Phone: 02 9660 5222 www.src.usyd.edu.au