1 National Union of Students 2012 National Conference Policy Volume Contents Chapter 1: Administration............................................................p3 Chapter 2: Unionism...................................................................p29 Chapter 3: Education..................................................................p45 Chapter 4: Welfare.....................................................................p64 Chapter 5: Women’s...................................................................p81 Chapter 6: Queer......................................................................p104 Chapter 7: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students.........p133 Chapter 8: International Students............................................p139 Chapter 9: Ethno-cultural Students...........................................p144 Chapter 10: Environment..........................................................p150 Chapter 11: Small and Regional................................................p164 Chapter 12: Miscellaneous........................................................p165 Chapter 13: By Laws Changes....................................................p187 2 CHAPTER 1 - ADMINISTRATION ADMIN 1.1: Increase potency and power of the NUS Preamble: 1. NUS is an important organisation. 2. At the moment there are many challenges facing students and unions in general. 3. This means the student union needs to work towards being stronger and more encouraging of participation than ever. 4. One of the most important challenges facing the NUS and student unions is student apathy and the demise of processes that lead to participation and genuine debate. 5. To benefit both the NUS and students in general, the Union needs to increase active participation and interest in the Union’s goals and activities. 6. Active participation of and debate amongst the widest possible constituency is essential to empowering the NUS. 7. If the members NUS are both many and active, NUS will become potent and able to effect change. Platform: 1. NUS believes a strong union key to its effectiveness in influencing policy. 2. NUS believes an active member base participating in open and respectful debate and decision-making is the most important element in ensuring a strong union. 3. NUS will endeavour to stir up interest and participation in political and Union activities amongst the student population of Australia. Action: 1. NUS office-bearers and members will organise events at campuses of educational institutions around the country in order to raise awareness of issues which NUS supports and the importance of joining and participating in a union. 2. NUS office-bearers and members will endeavour to make the activities of the Union and its importance as visible to the general public (including the broader student body) as possible, one of the initiatives to help facilitate this will include the creation of a network of artists and creative students (e.g. graphic designers, photographers, etc) by the office-bearers to help with designing and running of NUS campaigns in a way that they have the most impact. 3. More participation by members in activities of the Union will be encouraged by office-bearers. 4. Communication between office-bearers and members will be frequent, open and comprehensive, in order to keep members up to date on the activities of the Union. Moved: Frida Komesaroff (Monash University Student Association, Clayton) Seconded: Ali Majokah (Monash University Student Association, Clayton) ADMIN1.2: Keeping the NUS Moving: Annual/Biannual Internal Review ADMINISTRATION 3 Preamble: 1. While the NUS passes many motions each year as to what actions it will carry out and which motions it will move, many of them often remain policy only on paper and nothing actually gets done about them. 2. A structure is needed which provides more certainty, as well as an incentive, for policy to be enacted upon. 3. Office-bearers are primarily responsible for the enactment of policy and should therefore be held to carry out their assignments properly. 4. For NUS to be potent and effective, it needs to be able to act. Platform: 1. NUS will endeavour to be always more active and effective through decisive action on its elected policies. 2. NUS believes its office-bearers have a responsibility to enact the policies voted in by the national representatives of Australian students. 3. NUS believes it is representative of Australian students and as such presents a face of students to the rest of the population. In so doing, it has a responsibility to show that students are powerful and active through enacting elected policies. Action: 1. NUS will elect a group of members to conduct an annual/biannual review of achievements of the office-bearers. 2. If the NUS adopts a policy and it doesn't get done, the review will aim to discover why not and how the problem can be remedied. 3. The possibility of sanctions in the case of systematic inaction can be discussed. Moved: Frida Komesaroff (Monash University Student Association, Clayton) Seconded: Ali Majokah (Monash University Student Association, Clayton) ADMIN1.3: Why are we here? A Discussion on the Usefulness and Aims of the NUS Preamble: 1. There are many different influences vying for the attention of students over the course of their studies – such as political, family, relationships, work and of course study. 2. As much of the decision-making structures are changing around us, with many of the changes designed to distance decision-making from the student body, student unions and especially NUS need to be clear about their role. 3. Real relevance of the NUS can only be achieved through open discussion and the true participation of the student body. 4. The world is constantly changing, and if the NUS does not change to it will become obsolete. ADMINISTRATION 4 Platform: 1. NUS recognises the importance of changing with the times and needs of students in order to remain relevant to students and to Government policy-making. 2. NUS believes that real relevance can only be achieved through consultation with Australian students. Action: 1. NUS will provoke an open debate about the role of student unions in Australia today. This debate will be open to all students to participate through different media. 2. NUS will hold a conference, open to all students, on the relevance and future of student unions in Australia. Moved: Frida Komesaroff (Monash University Student Association, Clayton) Seconded: Ali Majokah (Monash University Student Association, Clayton) ADMIN 1.4: Engaging Affiliates With The NUS Website Preamble: 1. As a national union, it is imperative that NUS is able to better engage its affiliates in campaigns and initiatives, to ensure they are able to participate in NUS projects and thus foster collectivism within the broader student movement. 2. In order to attract potential affiliates, it is important that regularly updated information is made available on NUS’ activities to ensure the case for affiliation is made clear to student organisations considering affiliation. 3. Considering many student organisations pay substantial amounts in affiliation fees to NUS, it is important that the NUS office-bearers are kept accountable and that there are means to track their work throughout the year. 4. In the digital age, it is clear that each of these considerations can be addressed by ensuring that sufficient information on NUS’ activities are made available on the NUS website to affiliates and interested parties. Platform: 1. NUS recognises that affiliates and potential affiliates are more likely to become engaged in projects of the national union if they are able to easily access information pertaining to specific initiatives run by NUS. 2. NUS acknowledges that it is important to ensure that affiliates are able to access reports written by NUS National Office-Bearers to ensure transparency and accountability is present within the organisation. 3. NUS recognises that the NUS website, if utilised appropriately, can become a powerful tool to both empower affiliates and potential affiliates and allow them to analyse the operation of the national union. ADMINISTRATION 5 Action: 1. NUS directs all NUS National Office-Bearers and NUS State Branch Presidents to ensure that their respective departmental page on the NUS website is updated monthly, with information pertaining to campaigns, initiatives and other projects being run within the department. a. Further, NUS directs the National General Secretary, in collaboration with the National President, to ensure that each National Office-Bearer and NUS State Branch President is able to make changes to their respective departmental pages by providing individual National Office-Bearers access to the Content Management System (CMS) used by the NUS website and information on how to utilise the CMS appropriately. b. In the alternative, NUS directs that any appropriate revisions to respective department pages by National Office-Bearers and NUS State Branch Presidents that are submitted to the National General Secretary are made within one week of being submitted. 2. NUS directs the National General Secretary, in collaboration with the National President, to ensure that National Office-Bearer and National State Branch President reports to NUS National Executive are uploaded to the NUS website within one calendar month of each National Executive meeting. a. Further, NUS directs the National General Secretary to provide copies of National Office-Bearer reports to National Executive