By Sarah Peart
SYDNEY — The National Union of Students NSW state conference at the University of Sydney on November 23 heard reports from the outgoing elected office bearers, elect new officers for 1997 and amended the NUS State Policy and Regulations document.
Factions present included Unity (Labor Right), National Organisation of Labor Students (Labor Left), Liberals, Left Alliance, Non-Aligned Left (NAL) and Resistance. There were not many new activists from the campaign against education cuts this year.
Thomas Michell, a Left Alliance member who has been heavily involved in the education campaign at Macquarie University, was elected education officer. The new NUS state president is Andrew Bourke from NAL.
The conference failed to discuss perspectives for the education campaign or how to draw more people into it. The most contentious issue was a motion from the United Secondary Students Union for financial and joint political support from NUS for USSU's campaign against the attacks on high school students' democratic rights and education.
Paul Howes from USSU addressed the conference and was heckled and jeered by Unity. The motion was vehemently opposed by Van Badham, a member of NAL from Wollongong, who dismissed USSU because it didn't have a constitution.
Marcus Greville from Resistance commented, "The argument used against the motion to support USSU was grasping at straws. How can you be seriously interested in fighting for the rights of students against the Liberal government's attacks, and in the same breath deny high school students the support they need to campaign?"