Day three of NatCon: merging 2048 blocs

Quorum was finally met at NatCon today when, at long last, a deal was reached between SAlt, Unity and NLS.

Aidan O’Rourke walked out onto the conference floor holding a piece of paper, to Unity and NLS members chanting “ULS” together.

The deal signed was to make concessions to SAlt’s demands and stop the lock-out preventing them from taking any executive positions. SAlt confirmed that they were given the positions of Education Officer and Queer Officer. With a deal made, SAlt members who were pulling quorum outside began to enter, quorum was reached, and proceedings could begin.

One of the first procedurals passed was to ban filming on the conference floor, which was unanimously voted up across all factions. “With that, comrades, if you’re caught with a phone you’ll be asked to leave,” O’Rourke said to the student media contingent.

It was a slow day of working through motions, even with many motions being amended into large blocs. In total, we got through 109 motions out of 419 in the policy book, a little more than a quarter. One of those motions was withdrawn, 6 failed, and 102 passed.81 were put into blocs of varying sizes. The smallest blocs held 2 motions each, but the largest bloc was formed in the evening, during chapter 4, Education, with 30 motions being merged into one bloc. An anonymous member within the conference took a photo and posted it to X.

Urgency motions about Palestine were amongst the first to be discussed, sparking a heated shouting match between the factions. SAlt was tireless in their denunciation of the Labor factions. All urgency motions were passed. 

“The greatest crime of our generation, the decimation of Gaza, will go down as being aided and abetted by the Australian Labour Party,” Renee Deakin (SAlt) passionately voiced. Similar sentiments were repeated by SAlt throughout other motions. 

The NUS also moved to motion 2.26, acknowledging the Student Media Association, which was formed earlier this year at the Student Journalism Conference, held from the 15th to the 18th of August at the University of Sydney.

The Tert would like to recognise UOW’s own SAlt delegates Tidus Funaki, WUSA Ethno-Cultural Representative, and Alexander Thorning, Education Officer and Assistant Secretary, for standing with and supporting the motion. We see you and appreciate you!

On the other hand, members of New South Wales Labor Students got up to speak against the motion, with former USyd SRC President Angus Fisher condemning Honi Soit and calling them a “#shitrag” on X. Hanzel-Jude Pador, former WUSA President and WUSA General Secretary, could also be counted amongst the detractors of the motion. Every member of “YEEHAW for WUSA & NUS” and “MORE BEERS FOR WUSA AND NUS” in attendance voted against the motion. This includes  WUSA President Caitlin Veigel, Treasurer Daniel McClelland, and General Representative Logan Kerr. Ultimately, all delegates except those from NSWLS and Forge voted in favour of the motion.

Going through various blocs and motions, several procedurals were passed, some facetious and some concerning, such as a procedural for BizCom to not tear up procedural papers (preventing intents to do so as @Mwahintrouble had urges to “munch on procedural papers”) or to rename BizCom to Big Chungus. We’ll let you decide which one is a genuine issue. Motion 4.67 was targeted for obvious reasons, with synchronized “6,7” chants heard amongst Unity and Student Left. 

A lone Liberal delegate, Anthony Ma, also delivered memorable opinions, such as “opposing mass migration is not far right, it’s common sense”, “the monarchy is a symbol of our glorious colonial legacy”, and “there is no genocide”. Ironically, this united all factions, as Ma was drowned out by everyone, including the Unity members he’d been sitting with.

However, factions upheld the common tradition of yelling within the conference. 

Many speakers were continuously disrupted by heckles and shouting from other factions. Regardless of whether this was a deliberate strategy or simply impulsiveness, it was effective only in delaying proceedings further and further until the evening wrapped up at 10:46pm.

All in all, NatCon Day 3 was a scar on our psyche, a trauma we’ll always remember. Hopefully, Day 4 will more closely resemble a conference.