QUT Guild Student Representative Council Meeting – October Coverage
Welcome back to Glass’s coverage of the QUT Student Representative Council (SRC) meetings! This is our coverage of Thursday the 22nd of October, with the meeting taking place at Kelvin Grove, in Room E-259.
All current students are welcome to attend SRC meetings. If you want to see change on campus, we encourage you to put forward a motion to the SRC.
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.
Secretary, and temporary Chair, Samuel Hulls opened the meeting at 6:08 PM.
Roll call confirmed the attendance of the following officers:
Secretary – Samuel Hulls
Welfare Officer – Isaac Oliver
Engagement Officer – Miles Hirst
Clubs and Societies Officer – Geoffrey Latz
Education Officer – Georgie Dobbs
Environment Officer – Yuanyi Tham
Women’s Officer – Keely McConnell (Online)
Queer Officer – Lauren “Ren” Johnstone (Online)
Disability Officer – Felix Park Weir (Online)
Engineering Faculty Councillor – Joseph Wilson
Business & Law Faculty Councillor – Emmett Morrison
Business & Law Faculty Councillor – Elisabeth Kaptain
Health Faculty Councillor – Ethan Johnstone (Online)
Health Faculty Councillor – Sophie Reukers
Science Faculty Councillor – Rajit Bhargava
CIESJ Councillor – Elowyn Gampe
Treasurer – Matthew Bloder
The following officers were absent with apologies:
International Officer – Rajinder Singh
CIESJ Faculty Councillor – Lucas Gordon
Postgrad Officer – Vaibhavi Bisht
First Nations Officer – Mimi Lewis
Science Faculty Councillor – Connor Lowe
President Caleb McGiffin was also absent.
There were no reports from any of the collectives, and the position for Engineering Faculty Councillor remained vacant.
There were no motions with notice for October’s Meeting, so the SRC moved onto motions without notice. The right to a ten-minute intermission was waived.
MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Condemn the industrial relations and other legislation amendment bill (2026)
The first motion without notice was to ‘Condemn the industrial relations and other legislation amendment bill (2026)’, moved by Clubs and Societies Officer Geoffrey Latz.
“Ever since the LNP came to power in Queensland in 2024, we have seen a hostile attitude towards unions. Their latest attack goes to the extreme. I believe unions should be able to exercise their right to protected industrial action without government intervention,” Latz stated.
“I think the Guild should not stand by while the government attacks unionism because we know student unionism will be next under their radar.”
A student observer also spoke for the motion, stating “I think this is clearly an attack by the LNP on workers’ rights as an active attempt to stifle any sort of union movement within Australia, which is already on the low.”
The motion passed unanimously.
The QUT Guild condemns The Greens Political Party for abandoning Ukraine
Secretary Samuel Hulls moved the next motion which aimed to condemn Greens Leader David Shoebridge for stating that Australia should not send military aid to Ukraine.
Hulls stated that “earlier this month, we saw some pretty disgusting comments out of the Greens Leader David Shoebridge saying that Australia should just stand by and not send any military aid to Ukraine. We should stand by military aid to Ukraine and actually support democracies in setting up for their rights.”
2027 president-elect Emmet Morrison seconded the motion, stating that “If we want to preserve democracy across the world, then it is quite obvious that to do anything but support a country that democracy is being threatened is to do a disservice to all the Ukrainians who have died and suffered in this conflict fighting for their freedom.”
Education Officer Georgie Dobbs spoke against the motion, and stated that they, and all other members of Socialist Alternative, will be abstaining from the vote.
Dobbs said that although they don’t endorse Shoebridge’s position, they “don’t think that Shoebridge’s position is like this monstrous thing. And I think like it’s a bit cynical to point it out as this is somehow like Shoebridge, like basically having some kind of pro-war position or abandoning the Ukrainian people. It’s more just he’s under a mandate from his party. And I do think like it is a bit cynical for some students in this room, members of the Labor Party, in fact, to talk about the right to self-determination.”
“And I also do think like, it’s a bit cynical because I also don’t think the Labor Party are these bastions of anti-imperialism either. Like the Labor Party are not sending Ukraine arms out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s all about shoring up important strategic alliances with other countries.”
“So, I think there’s just a bit of a double standard that is being presented here,” said Dobbs.
Welfare Officer Isaac Oliver similarly spoke against the motion, stating that “it’s a political points scoring motion because none of the action points actually do anything to support Ukrainian students besides “stand with them”.”
The motion passed.
Labor’s new migration plan a capitulation to far right racism
The next motion was moved by Environment Officer Yuanyi Tham.
“Over the past month, what we’ve seen the federal Labor government do is attack international students, single them out and attack them, and actually point them out as the cause for all of Australian societies ilk.” Tham said.
“This is a move of the Labor Party’s rank opportunism. They think basically that instead of actually taking a principled stand against racism, that it’s actually worth trying to win over racist One Nation voters who vastly agree with the racist project of One Nation.”
“We need to call this out as a racist capitulation. And yeah, actually stand in solidarity with all the international students who have been unjustifiably targeted by the federal Labor government,” Tham stated.
This motion was seconded by CIESJ Councillor Elowyn Gampe, who asked, “How do we politically counter the growth of far-right racist politics in Australia, where the vast majority of One Nation voters cite as their reason for being anti-immigration, the erosion of Australian culture? Not economic grievances, not concerns about housing or anything like that.”
Welfare Officer Isaac Oliver spoke for the motion, explaining the importance of standing with international students at QUT, who experience visa hikes and limited access to healthcare compared to domestic students.
Education Officer Georgie Dobbs similarly spoke for the motion and called for other members of the SRC, particularly those who are Labor members, to discuss the issue.
There were no other speakers for the motion, and the motion moved to a vote.
Dobbs called it “embarrassing”.
The motion passed unanimously.
The QUT Guild reaffirms its affiliation to NUS
Dobbs moved this next motion to reaffirm the Guild’s support to the National Union of Students, the peak representative body for Australian higher education students, and its annual national conference.
The motion called for the Guild to continue to send elected delegates to this year’s conference.
“The NUS is a very important body. It’s about linking up student unionists from all over the country. And I think it’s about launching national campaigns and fighting for students’ rights on a much bigger scale than any one of us could just simply do in our own university,” Dobbs said.
Secretary Samuel Hulls reflected on last year’s conference and asked whether Dobbs and other members of Socialist Alternative (Salt) would be planning to attend the entire 2026 conference or pull quorum again.
SAlt members laughed at this question, which Matthew Bloder rejected on account of the amount of money spent to send SRC members to the conference.
Dobbs simply said that they will be attending the conference.
Queer Officer Ren Johnstone spoke against the motion stating “they don’t pay their disability officer, and they don’t pay a very decent chunk of their office bearer candidates, but they do pay others.”
“I just don’t really understand how you can see value in it and also be okay with it excluding a lot of different people and a lot of different minority groups,” said Johnstone.
The motion passed.
Solidarity with the student protests in France
Health Faculty Councilor Sophie Reukers moved the next motion, speaking to the importance of student unions supporting global student movements.
A student observer spoke for the motion:
“The inspiring thing about the student protests in France, though, is it doesn’t just take up the question of education reform. It takes up wider political issues.
“It actually does take up the fight against the far right, pushing against like the racism like the government has consistently opposed forward onto the ordinary people – the fact that students can see what this is and that to fight for their rights, to fight for better quality of education, you actually have to take up all these issues,” they said.
CIESJ Councilor Elowyn Gampe also spoke for the motion, stating that “we can take some pointers and say, if we’re wanting to fight against the growing military budget in Australia, fight against the rise of racism, we can take a wonderful few lessons from the book of students in France.”
The motion passed.
Oppose the WA uni-merger
Elowyn Gampe moved the next motion, which called for the Guild to stand with students in their fight against the merger of The University of Western Australia, Curtin, and Murdoch University into one institution.
“It’s a massive attack on the rights for students to get an education in what they want to study, and it’s a massive attack on the quality of education for our staff.
“I think it is actually quite embarrassing that this is the situation that the WA government has found themselves in, somehow being outflanked by the disgusting right-wing pro-business liberal party on the question of attacking workers’ rights,” said Gampe.
The motion was seconded by Education Officer Georgie Dobbs who said “let’s not pretend this has anything to do with making education better. It’s basically just making it more and more cheap and education around the interests of specific sectors such as mining and the military, which are huge industries in WA.”
Welfare Officer Isaac Oliver spoke for the motion, and moved for an amendment to be made to the motion, adding a point pledging to release a statement on social media in support of the campaign against the merger.
The motion as amended passed.
The QUT Guild acknowledges Pride Month in Brisbane
Kai Robinson, who has been elected as Treasurer for 2027, moved the next motion. The motion encouraged QUT students to join the Queer Collective at the ‘Pride Outside’ event run by Magandjin People’s Pride.
“I think it is so important that the Guild is posting about it, affirming their support and making it really clear that we are standing with Queer people no matter what and encouraging them to attend events such as this,” Robinson stated.
Disability Officer Felix Park Weir seconded the motion, speaking in favour of attending alternative events to Brisbane Pride, for its stance on having police at their parades.”
Queer Officer Ren Johnstone also spoke for the motion, relaying what occurred when the Brisbane Pride Fair Day was rained out in 2022:
“Instead of cancelling any of the corporate tents that were to be at the Brisbane Pride Fair Day, they cancelled nearly every single one of the community organisations. And I really think that that says more than enough about Brisbane Pride and what their priorities are.”
Welfare Officer Isaac Oliver spoke for the motion stating that “the message of Magandjin People’s Pride is: we will always be inclusive of all of our communities within the queer community.”
The motion passed.
The QUT Guild stands against mandatory QUT YOU units
Engagement Officer Miles Hirst moved the next motion, which called for students to have the freedom to choose whether they enrol in QUT YOU units or not.
Education Officer Georgie Dobbs moved an amendment to the motion, adding a point that the implementation of QUT You was a “cost-cutting measure by the University administration and a direct attack on staff and student conditions”.
“Talk to any single student: most of them think that it is a garbage way to run a university course and a degree. I think we should advocate for the entire abolition of [QUT YOU subjects],” Dobbs stated.
CIESJ Councillor Elowyn Gampe seconds the amendment stating, “I think it’s actually pretty crazy that we accept this low-quality bar for education.”
Welfare Officer Isaac Oliver spoke against the amendment:
“These units have been specialised and created by people from these faculties to show students what the other faculties are doing while they’re learning their degree, and to give them the skills that other faculties are learning.
“You cannot get rid of [QUT YOU] because you’re then making students lose access to vital knowledge that they should be learning about within their degree and learning vital skills that will actually make our careers and our future work multidisciplinary.” said Oliver.
Mover Miles Hirst made a point that “the very nature of making QUT YOU non-compulsory would be giving students themselves the vote over whether it’s abolished or not, because let’s be honest, QUT is run as a corporate institution and if no one’s enrolling in it, it’s not going to make sense for them to keep it around.”
Georgie Dobbs used their right of reply stating, “I actually do think the more left-wing stance as a student union would be to advocate for a higher level of education around these kinds of subjects.”
Dobbs also pointed out that cross-course collaboration is not specific to QUT YOU subject and that there are many shared classes.
Oliver made a point of information, asking whether the SRC would be in support of adding specialised multidisciplinary units to all degrees.
Environment Officer Yuanyi Tham stated that they are in support of allowing students to pick electives across degrees and faculties that align with their interests.
Once moved to a vote, the amendment to the motion was not carried.
Student observers spoke in favour of the original motion: they spoke to the restricted ability to complete a second major or minor whilst doing QUT YOU units, paying double the price of their core units, and how to have a cross-faculty connection without it.
The motion passed.
Closing
Treasurer Matthew Bloder presented the 2026 Year in Review, sharing the SRC’s annual finances.
Bloder summarised what the SRC did with their $140,000 allocated budget and subsequent student engagement. They shared that there were many initiatives which SSAF money was budgeted for but did not actually happen. They also commended the SRC for some successful events and initiatives.
“This is going to be increasing a lot next year. It’s important for us to remember that it’s $5 millions of student money and there’s this idea that the [Guild Professional Staff (GPS)] is troublesome but without the GPS, how could we ever justify getting this allocation?
“It should be a lot better. If we’re trying to justify that we’re capable of running a student organisation that gets funded $5 million next year, it’s pretty rough,” Bloder stated.
There were no questions with or without notice. Secretary Samuel Hulls closed the meeting at 7:57PM.
See you next time Glassies xoxo
