By Nick Everett
SYDNEY — The January 27 police raid on the University of Technology Student Representative Council and Breakout, the printer of its student handbook, was politically motivated, said speakers at a March 3 public meeting. The SRC was heavily involved in student action over education cuts last year.
While legal advice suggests that charges over the handbook are unlikely to stick, the SRC faces further disruption from legal proceedings. The raid followed a state government decision to ban the handbook because it supposedly violated drug laws.
The handbook contained only three pages on drugs, taking what education officer Jad McAdam described as a "humorous, relevant, partly tongue in cheek" approach. On February 19, NSW Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) assistant commissioner Ray Donaldson said that while he was dismayed by the contents of the handbook, it was not illegal.
However, the media worked overtime to sensationalise the matter, says SRC president Lisa Brockwell. After a February 19 story in the Telegraph Mirror, "we had everyone from Ron Casey to Derryn Hinch to A Current Affair onto the case. The Telegraph Mirror set the parameters of the debate. There was no way there was ever going to be anything discussed apart from 'students are being encouraged to become drug addicts'."
The following day police minister Ted Pickering ordered an investigation, and on February 27 six members of the DEA raided the office with a warrant for documents connected with the handbook. Staff were detained for two hours, and people entering the office were threatened with charges of hindering police. The cops removed personal notes and files as well as official documentation.
The underlying issue is the independence of student organisations, says Brockwell. "Greiner was on the radio at 7 a.m. when the story broke talking about the need for voluntary student unionism because student organisations were allegedly doing irresponsible things."
The UTS Centre for Independent Journalism expressed concern that the raid amounted to a new attempt to extend censorship. Journalist Wendy Bacon points out that one of the police warrants was signed by detective Jan Krawczyk, a former member of the now disbanded Police Special Branch, and criticised by a board of inquiry for his role in the Ananda Marga frame-up.
Breakout was also the printer for much of the material published by the Campaign Exposing the Frame Up of Tim Anderson.