Welcome back to Glass’s coverage of the QUT Guild’s Student Representative Council (SRC) meetings! This our coverage of the meeting held on Friday the 27th of February at Gardens Point campus.
COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
You can find a link to the minutes from the meeting on this page once published, and you can read our live coverage on threads.
AND WE’RE OFF!
The February 2026 meeting of the QUT Guild SRC commenced at 6:10PM, chaired by the newly elected Michael Pendergast.
Roll call confirmed the attendance of the following officers:
President – Caleb McGiffin
Secretary – Samuel Hulls
Treasurer – Matthew Bloder (Online)
Welfare Officer – Isaac Oliver
Engagement Officer – Miles Hirst
Clubs and Societies Officer – Geoffrey Latz
Environment Officer – Yuanyi Tham
Postgrad Officer – Vaibhavi “V” Bisht (Online)
International Officer – Rajinder Singh
First Nations Officer – Mimi Lewis
Queer Officer – Lauren “Ren” Johnstone
Disability Officer – Felix Park Weir
Engineering Faculty Councillor – Alex Bradbury
Health Faculty Councillor – Ethan Johnstone
Health Faculty Councillor – Caitlin Brennan
Science Faculty Councillor – Connor Lowe
CIESJ Councillor – Elowyn Gampe
Education Officer – Georgie Dobbs
Engineering Faculty Councillor – Chan Nguyen
Women’s Officer – Keely McConnell
The following officers were absent:
Science Faculty Councillor – Rajit Bhargava
Business & Law Faculty Councillor – Georgina Marmol
Queer Officer Lauren Johnston made a point of order regarding the absent councillors, as these are their second unexcused absences. Chair Michael Pendergast censured them: if absent next council meeting without apologies, there will be a motion to remove them.
MOTIONS WITH NOTICE
Amend QUT Guild Regulations regarding training for members of the SRC
The first motion of the night, moved by Clubs and Societies Officer Geoffrey Latz, called for proposed training for members of the SRC to be discussed and approved by the SRC Executive Committee during their monthly meetings. Proposing that the SRC will be able to work out whether the student body will find the training valuable, this would entail adding a new regulation.
Latz cited the low attendance by SRC members to recent training led by Founder of Campus Consultancy Josh Farr.
“We had a wonderful, some would say, three-day training session with him and a lot of the SRC couldn’t make it and a lot of blame was put on members of the SRC from other people. And so, I believe that bringing it to executive committee meetings…this would ensure that the SRC can confirm or deny whether it’s a good use of funds, first of all, or if they can make it to the training.”
Seconder and observer Kai Robinson waived their right to speak. The motion moved to a vote and passed with a majority. Education Officer Georgie Dobbs, Environment Officer Yuanyi Tham, Engineering Faculty Councillors Chan Nguyen and Alex Bradbury, Science Faculty Councillor Connor Lowe, and CIESJ Faculty Councillor Elowyn Gampe abstained from the vote.
MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
The QUT Guild SRC approves of the current draft of the constitution
The first motion without notice was moved by President Caleb McGiffin.
“I’m moving that the SRC approves of the Constitution and sends it to the board for approval. We’ve been undergoing constitutional reform for over a year now,”
“It’s at a point where we have overspent on this. It’s at a point where our budget this year has been significantly impacted by the spending on this initiative from last year. It’s continuing to take money out of the initiatives budget, which we use to fund things like $5 meals…our drives and we’re not going to be able to fund those if we keep losing money on the constitution and the regulation reform.”
Caleb spoke to how the draft establishes the SRC as a body in the Guild and a decision-making body in which “it reserves the powers, it basically gives the SRC residual power in the sense that all things that aren’t, making sure the Guild doesn’t go bankrupt, making sure the Guild doesn’t break the law, are the responsibility of the SRC and that’s said in the Constitution.”
At this point, the chair gave a reminder to explicitly name the movers and seconders on the meeting agenda as they had to ask the room who is the seconder for this motion.
Secretary and seconder Samuel Hulls reiterated Caleb’s points that the constitution should be passed as is because it will improve governance of the Guild and it’s “a massive drain on the budget.”
Education Officer Georgie spoke against the motion, stating there are still “significant problems” with the constitution.
“As part of the socialists here, we actually just can’t in good conscience vote for anything that still enshrines the board in the constitution. I think the board is still a total drag on democracy and acts as a barrier to true student unionism,”
“Socialist Alternative (SAlt) has continuously put forward that we need to be agitational against the board. I think that this body has actually in the past proved to actually hinder the efforts of the true SRC in order to actually, you know, run itself in a way that is independent and is democratic and in the real interests of students. We think that the student union, the Guild, should be a totally independent body,”
Caleb exercised their right of reply to state that this constitution gives the Guild more freedom, and that the Board is a democratic body with a student majority (of which they sit on as President). They added that the board is required for the Guild to be part of the Australian Charities Commission.
The motion moved to a vote. Treasurer Matthew Bloder, attending online, asked a question clarifying that the vote is not as to whether or not there will be a constitution but to the approval of the current draft made through the CPR Group with $5,000 in student funding. The chair confirmed that they were correct and called that the vote had been passed ten to seven.
In response, Health Faculty Councillor Ethan Johnstone raised a point of information questioning whether the vote actually passed. The chair verified that they had miscounted, and the President confirmed that the minutes show 17 voted for the motion and five against. Therefore, the motion passed.
Ethan Johnstone raised a point of order that pursuant to a motion passed in the January SRC meeting, everyone was supposed to have adjourned for ten minutes to read and discuss the motions without notice before reconvening. Ethan had acted as chair in that meeting and Michael had been unanimously elected as the SRC’s chair although they were in Japan at the time.
The chair called the adjournment; however, it lasted for twenty-three minutes before reconvening at 7:04PM.
Condemn the human rights violations committed by the Iranian authorities
International Students Officer Rajinder Singh moved the second motion without notice which called for the Guild to publish a formal statement on social media condemning Iranian authorities and expressing support for Iranian students, to work with these students to raise awareness, and request that the University sends communication to all students acknowledging the situation.
Rajinder described issues with Iran’s economy, living conditions, and currency devaluation due to authorities “mismanaging access to essential services,” and subsequent nationwide demonstration demanding fundamental change.
“Iranian students at QUT have been going through a tough time. This is not fiction. This is what’s been happening with the Iranian students at QUT and across Australia and other countries. It has gotten worse because of misinformation and limited support for the students. This university hasn’t shared any information or given formal acknowledgement.”
Seconder Caleb McGiffin stated that “we as a student union owe a duty to the students here to speak out when they are suffering. The lived experiences of Iranian students at QUT are real. We as a Guild have an obligation to grant them a platform and support them in raising awareness of what’s going on in Iran.”
Environment Officer Yuanyi Tham spoke for the motion.
“I just think it’s important to call out the brutal violence the Iranian regime has laid out upon striking workers and protesting students, who at the end of the day are actually fighting for a world that is free from dictatorship, a world that is free from tyranny,”
CIESJ Officer Elowyn Gampe also spoke for the motion and expressed that SAlt supports total independence for Iranian students from American imperialism, the Iranian clergy, and all other forms of “disgusting” oppression.
The motion passed unanimously.
At this point, Treasurer Matthew Bloder stopped attending the meeting online and was absent from the vote but physically walked into the meeting room during speeches for the next motion.
Motion to Advocate for Gender Diversity within Guild Stalls and Guild Events
Women’s Officer Keely McConnel moved the next motion, starting their speech by clarifying that it is not a criticism of anyone but just an observation.
Keely cited their recent work at the Guild’s Block Party, where it became their responsibility to give out free period underwear as the only woman present at a merch stall.
Keely states that the purpose of this motion is so that any person-facing initiatives “try to have sort of a balance of people who are like women presenting or gender non-conforming and then also people who are like men presenting or stuff like that, just so that we can have a variety of options for students to come up and talk to because we want to be trauma informed. We want to be culturally aware. Some people are only going to want to talk to certain people depending on their gender identity or gender presentation.”
Felix seconded the motion, stating:
“All these students have particular reasons for who they want to talk to at these stalls. It’s not for us to question that. I think this is a really good balance of representing students in the way they want and getting better engagement,”
First Nations Officer Mimi Lewis spoke for the motion.
“Women’s business is obviously very important to a lot of mob around Australia and keeping women’s business separate from men’s business…it’s very important that we have more women at things like the period product stall because First Nations women feel a lot more comfortable and, in some cases, can only speak to women about these issues. So, if we have more women, we have more engagement,”
This motion passed unanimously.
The chair announced that they had just received a motion to amend the previous motion, the motion to condemn the human rights violations committed by the Iranian authorities. They declared that it will be treated as a separate motion to be read later on.
Schools Out! Strike for Palestine
Education Officer Georgie Dobbs moved this motion, actioning that the Guild will endorse and promote the March 11 National Student Strike in protest of the Australian government’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide and QLD LNP’s attacks on free speech in banning phrases such as “from the river to the sea”.
Student observer Inara Rus seconded the motion:
“Student unions are a place of activism. It’s one of our pillars. The Guild needs to be actively supporting and posting it on their social media rather than just passively saying we support this.”
Engineering Councillor Alex Bradbury and Education Officer Elowyn Gampe spoke for the motion, each conveying the deteriorating situation in Palestine and the importance of taking a political position against the genocide by skipping classes.
The motion passed with Postgrad Officer Vaibhavi “V” Bisht abstaining. Treasurer Matthew Bloder later stated that upon reflection they opposed the motion and don’t believe in endorsing students to walk out of class.
The QUT Guild opposes the LNP state government’s proposed laws that intend to criminalise pro-Palestine slogans, including the chant: “From the river to the sea.”
Environment Officer Yuanyi Tham acted as mover and spoke to new hate speech laws proposed by the LNP; Yuanyi argued the Guild needs to publicly oppose these laws and support students if targeted for saying pro-Palestine phrases such as ‘globalise the Intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’.
Science Councillor Connor Lowe seconded the motion, expanding on the points made by Yuanyi.
“That’s what this student union is for – to take stances like this against draconian, Orwellian, dictator-like laws, right? The phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ is about peace. The whole movement is about peace. We all need to make a defiant stand against these authoritative laws.”
CIESCJ Councillor Elowyn Gamp spoke for the motion.
“I don’t trust the people in power who constantly prioritise racist beat-ups against those who are the most victimised in Australia. And I don’t actually trust the Australian government to not prioritise their personal interests of redirecting the blame of their actions instead on left wing people, migrants, the poor, Indigenous people and the left in general.”
The motion passed unanimously
The QUT Guild reaffirms its commitment to digital accessibility
Queer Officer Ren Johnstone moved this motion, calling for accurate captioning and descriptive alternative text to be made mandatory on official Guild and Guild-related social media and websites for any video, audio, and image- based content.
Health Faculty Councillor Caitlin Brennan seconded the motion, stating:
“I don’t know if any of you have ever opened your phone to the place you work at and can’t access the content they’ve posted, but that was my experience this morning. I opened Instagram and immediately the post that we had put up as the Guild was not captioned. So, I couldn’t access it. And I’m here as a voice that you all listen to. Think of how many more students don’t have that voice,”
“There is no way for me to access any part of this Media and I’m on the team. My disappointment is immeasurable.”
Disability Officer Felix Park Weir spoke for the motion stating the reason for this failure is because accessibility is not required.
“It just gets to a certain point where we can’t be nice about it at all. If they are not showing respect to disabled people by making things accessible when they have the choice, we do have to force them.”
Health Faculty Councillor Ethan Johnstone also spoke for the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
QUT Guild Stands with Working Queenslanders
President Caleb McGiffin moved this motion and called for the Guild to make a social media post celebrating the success of the union rally on speakers’ corner last month.
Caleb emphasised that the Guild should condemn attempts by the LNP to roll back the working conditions of Queensland workers.
Secretary Samuel Hulls seconded the motion, stating that it is “disgusting that the LNP is willing to kill workers so building companies can get marginally higher profits.”
First Nations Officer Mimi Lewis spoke for the motion.
CIESJ Councillor Elowyn Gampe also spoke for the motion but claimed it is missing important points by seeming to claim that the LNP is the primary force currently attacking Australian workers.
“It’s actually important to be extremely critical of not just the Liberal Party, though they are deserving of total, total outrage, but also of the federal Labour Party and the state Labour Party for their continued attacks on workers.”
Health Faculty Councillor Ethan Johnstone raised a point of order regarding rule 6.12 of the regulations in relation to SAlt members chanting ‘shame’ while Elowyn was speaking and interrupting.
Elowyn stated that it wasn’t an issue, but Chair Michael Pendergast disagreed on account of accessibility. The chair asked that everyone not speak or interrupt while a person is already speaking.
The motion passed unanimously.
Michael gave another reminder about interrupting, citing rule 6.7 of the regulations, threatening to name people if it persisted.
The room then adjourned for ten minutes to read and discuss the next motion.
QUT Guild Stands with Iranian students
Education Officer Georgie Dobbs moved the final motion of the night.
The motion seeks to condemn the Iranian Regime and Monarchy for their oppression of the Iranian people, and to support students and workers. It also calls for the Guild to oppose US military intervention into the region.
Science Faculty Councillor Connor Lowe seconded the motion, stating that “it’s incredibly reductive and racist to just assume that people in the Middle East don’t deserve liberty and to live under a democracy and for self-emancipation.”
Engineering Councillor Alex Bradbury spoke for the motion.
“The incredibly inspiring struggle of the people in Iran against their oppressive government is very much a struggle on its own terms. It’s not a struggle for Western powers to come in, swoop in and put in a dictator straight out of the 1970s, a dictatorship that was very comparable in its violence to the dictatorship today. And when it comes to supporting the people of Iran in their struggle, it needs to be support for their struggle against all repression,”
President Caleb McGiffin also spoke for the motion.
“The Iranian people deserve nothing less than total self-determination and total sovereignty.”
The motion passed unanimously.
CLOSING
The SRC moved through question time sans questions, the collective’s reports were tabled as read, and the meeting was closed by Chair Michael Pendergast at 8:12PM.
Chair Michael Pendergast gave a final reminder to improve motions, notices, and the meeting agenda next time.
That concludes Glass Magazine’s coverage of the February SRC meeting for 2026.
See you soon Glassies xo
