BY AMIE HAMILTON

PERTH — On September 17, the University of Western Australia Student Guild decided at a special council meeting to hold a referendum on October 22 on whether or not UWA should be declared a refugee safe-haven.

The Student Guild decided by a large majority that it was incumbent on it to hold the referendum because more than 200 students had attended a student general meeting which voted overwhelmingly to hold the referendum.

However, instead of carrying the referendum out over four days, as the initial motion had stated, the guild council decided to hold it only over one day, claiming that it would cost too much money to hold it over four days.

More disturbingly, the guild council voted in favour of removing question 7 of the referendum which asked if students agreed the guild should donate $2000 to the underground sanctuary network for escaped refugees. The question was replaced with one asking if students agreed that the guild should assist the UWA Refugee Rights Action Network (UWA RRAN) in raising money.

The two main justifications for this change given by councillors was that if the motion was passed it could get the guild into legal problems and that the motion did not “directly affect the student body”.

“The guild's own legal advice stated clearly that there were a number of ways that the guild could easily avoid legal action”, UWA RRAN member Fred Fuentes told Green Left Weekly.“And to argue that the issue of refugees — one of the biggest political issues facing Australian society today— does not affect students is not only ludicrous but racist. Tell Arabic and Muslim students or anyone who is not white that the issues of refugees and racism do not affect them!”

From Green Left Weekly, September 25, 2002.
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