Guild Catch-Up: August 2023

Welcome back to the Guild Catch-Up series! As your Guild Executives are elected by students into a paid role, we find it important to provide as much clarity as possible to students and created this series to show you what your elected students have been up to. This is a monthly series, so stick around and hold your QUT Guild Executive accountable, and keep in the loop with what’s going on with our organisation.

All Execs were given 350 words and have been provided with Guild Catch-Up submission deadlines for the rest of the year, as well as reminders via email to submit.

Past Guild Catch-Ups: May 2023, June 2023, July 2023

President – Aamna Asif

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Aamna about what she has been up to, send an email to president@qutguild.com.

Treasurer – Usama Shafiq

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Usama about what he has been up to, send an email to treasurer@qutguild.com.

Secretary – Deepika Sharma

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Deepika about what she has been up to, send an email to secretary@qutguild.com.

Education Officer – Emme Muggleton

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Emme about what she has been up to, send an email to education@qut.edu.au.

Welfare Officer – John Longwill

Hi everyone,

I have recently taken some leave over the break, so I apologise I haven’t shared this information earlier.

To give a brief update on the work being done on our placement initiative; we were able hit our cap of 350 approved submissions towards the end of last semester. This is absolutely incredible. It provides us with valuable information to use to build understanding surrounding this problem. We know that students deserve way more, and we hope those that completed the survey appreciated the small token we were able to give them. I am now forming a small working group to assist in drafting an interim report, which will be available within the next few months. I am currently in the process of consulting and evaluating how we can improve the delivery of this initiative before rolling it out for this semester.

I would also really like to acknowledge the efforts of the GPS Staff, and specifically Holly Harman in the relocation of our foodbank. They have done an amazing job and I’m really excited by this step forward. There are also some changes that have been implemented to how our foodbank is operating, so keep an eye out for a more detailed explanation.

I have a few other projects on the backburner currently, and I’m excited to share them as the semester (and my work on them) progresses!

If you would like to ask John about what he has been up to, send an email to welfare@qutguild.com.

Clubs & Societies Officer – Madison Shepherd

Over the past few weeks, I have been actively engaged in various activities and responsibilities related to my role. I have dedicated time to meeting with clubs (around a dozen clubs in total), organizing and chairing the CSC meeting, addressing club grievances, conducting constitution reviews, managing the Major 2 funding round, planning the Club Awards Evening, discussing a Bhutanese Club with Moin and Stephanie from QUT, sitting on the SSAF committee and a few other miscellaneous tasks such as responding to Club’s emails. Additionally, I have been working on developing dispute resolution guidelines to assist in resolving petty arguments among executives within the clubs. I’m also working in a team to review the funding policy with a view to optimising it for a post-Covid environment.

If you would like to ask Madison about what she has been up to, send an email to clubs@qutguild.com.au.

Environment Officer – Isabella Foley

Since the last Guild Catch-Up series, I attended the National Union of Students Education Conference. Student unions across the country affiliate with the federal body and participate in these conferences each year. The key issues at this conference were the cost-of-living crisis and opposing the AUKUS alliance, plus Australia’s nuclear submarines. Students are struggling across the country as rents, bills, and tuition skyrocket, meanwhile, wages and welfare are going backwards due to inflation. The $368 billion that the Labor Party wants to spend on weapons for war is a slap in the face to those struggling as the cost of living goes up. Socialist Alternative as a national faction went to EdCon to argue we need to fight Labor’s attacks on students and workers.

At the conference, a vote was taken to have a national day of protest against Australia’s ongoing drive to war. The ‘Welfare not Warfare’ protest will be on August 9th in cities across the country. We’ll be demanding no money for AUKUS, no to universities collaborating with the military, and no nuclear waste dumps on Indigenous land! As the Environment Officer in the Guild, I’ll be hosting protest organising meetings at 1pm every Thursday on the GP Kidney Lawn. Anyone can come along to these catchups: if you want to see an end to Australian militarism, come help us organise our protest! Find out more by following the Instagram @qgenvironmentofficer

If you would like to ask Isabella about what she has been up to, send an email to environment@qutguild.com.

Women’s Officer – Sia Hills

Hi everyone, Guild Women’s Officer here, updating you on my activities for the month. It’s been a slow-ish month on the work front, but I have been working diligently. Part of that included attending the NUS Education Conference and helping out with the Semester 1 End of Semester Exam Support Stalls. The NUS conference was engaging and I valued the knowledge I gained by attending. It is with that in mind that I am happy to report that I will be working on a project that addresses Sexual Violence on campus. How this looks will be putting together an initiative and working party that focuses on addressing this very serious issue. I want to see action that moves towards addressing the problem and actioning a plan that helps combat it while raising awareness. Student safety is paramount. If you have any suggestions on how you would like to see this advocated, or have a story you want to share (with the utmost privacy and confidentiality) please email me on womens@qutguild.com. I want to hear from you. I think that’s all from me. Onwards into Semester 2!

If you would like to ask Sia about what she has been up to, send an email to womens@qutguild.com.

International Students Officer – Moin Rahman

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Moin about what he has been up to, send an email to international@qutguild.com.

Disability Officer – Harley Manley

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Harley about what he has been up to, send an email to disabilities@qutguild.com.

Post Graduate Officer – Aaron Bui

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Aaron about what he has been up to, send an email to postgrad@qutguild.com.

Queer Officer – Eli Spencer

I have joined the LGBTQIAP+ working party of QUT, I attended my first meeting approximately a month ago. I introduced myself and am now working with Paul Fenton on improving allyship training within QUT.

Pre – election, I conducted a survey that I released within the QUT community, asking for feedback on changes they’d like to see if I were elected. I presented the results to the council. I have now created a formal presentation of these results that is now being distributed amongst the university. The data is now also being used as statistics on queer people within QUT.

I have been creating a Queer safe services resource for the QUT Queer community. Students and staff provided feedback on the survey asking for a resource that provides a list of queer safe services within the general community. More specifically queer safe services that bulk bill / offer the Medicare rebate

I have been collaborating with the Queer Collective on potential events to hold during the semester. Collaborating on ways to make queer life at university safer.

I am working on re-introducing the binder drive in semester two as well as a get to know your queer officer event.

Collaborating with health degree coordinators to establish gender studies in courses such as biomedical science and nursing.

Working alongside the LQBTQIAP+ working party to improve in areas such as deadnaming, misgendering and trans/queer phobia.

If you would like to ask Eli about what he has been up to, send an email to queer@qutguild.com.

Engagement Officer – Zara Vaz

Did not submit. If you would like to ask Zara about what she has been up to, send an email to engagement@qutguild.com.

Glass Editors – Ciaran Greig, Celeste Muller, Ben Steele

Hi Glassies,

Issue 16 has ARRIVED! Our new mag is here, featuring incredible contributions from all of you. Grab your copy on KG and GP campuses next week, coinciding with the second Battle of the Bands event. Stay tuned on our socials for updates.

We must confess there was a cheeky error in the crossword – our apologies to the puzzle enthusiasts! We have the corrected puzzle on our website, big thanks to Ethan from the Queer Collective for his keen eye!

Battle of the Bands starts TOMORROW! Get ready to rock because Battle of the Bands is kicking off TOMORROW! While BoB is our baby, it has been nurtured by a team including John Longwill (Welfare Officer), Aaron Bui (Post Grad Officer), and Sia Hills (Women’s Officer).

Most importantly, it has been pushed down the birth canal (or c-sectioned??) by the amazing Guild Professional Services team who have brought this baby into the world – thank you so much Cass, Emily, Steph, Abbi, Paige and May!

Join us at Bot Bar at 6pm tomorrow, 25 July 2023.

Join our Cup Design Competition with Brewed Awakening. Submit your entries by 11:59 pm, Friday, 4th August 2023!

Glass Student Columnists Our columnist team is growing, and we’re excited to have a total of four talented individuals contributing regularly. Plus, we have another five columnists ready to launch soon! We’d love to have you (yes, you!) as a columnist. More info here.

We’re dedicated to promoting transparency at the Guild and holding elected officers accountable. Expect reporting on some developing stories soon. We’re working away behind the scenes. Good (reporting) takes time.

Stay updated with our Advocacy series, and enjoy the latest article on student unionism at QUT in the 90s, written by Guild great Shane Snow!

We’re working on upgrades to our website, making it more user-friendly and visually appealing. Internally, we’re streamlining operations with improved time and task tracking, and rostering.

With Student Guild elections approaching, we’re planning informative content about the election process and how you can run a ticket!

As always, your feedback and support are invaluable to us.

The Glass Editors xx