Murdoch Tavern

In response to comments on my blog about Tavern opening hours and happy hour, here is the official information.

Tavern opening hours have been posted on the website and any changes will be posted there. Currently they are Monday to Wednesday – 11.00AM -8.00PM & Thursday to Friday- 11:00AM – 9:00PM. These hours may be extended if the tavern has functions booked. Currently trade does not justify the tavern being open later.

The Tavern manager is currently looking into the most appropriate time to run happy hour. Live music has been asked for by the Guild Secretariat , and as the tavern settles into normal trading patterns, everything should fall into place.

I hope that answers everyones questions, if not please comment below.

In case the link doesn’t work, the tavern website is : http://guild.murdoch.edu.au/services/outlets/guildtavern/

2007 Guild survey

After several IT disasters, including the server crashing and the entire survey being lost, the 2007 Guild survey is finally here. Whether you are a financial member or not, whether you like the guild or hate it, please take time to complete the survey. Only by telling the Guild your concerns can we try to do something about them . This survey will go a long way in making sure next years Guild is the type of Guild you want.

You can access the survey here or at http://guild.murdoch.edu.au/surveys

Update on Murdoch tavern

Due to the large amount of interest in my post on Mad Thursdays, I am going to give a quick update on whats been happening. Most of you have no doubt noticed most if not all of these changes.

• Regarding the hours, the tavern will be staying open till 8:30/9:30 depending on business.
• The Plasma TV has arrived thanks to the quick work of the Guild Manager and the University
• The new chairs have also arrived, with tables on there way

Reasons Not to Legalize Gay Marriage?

I have a number of gay friends and I believe the treatment they recieve from the Howard Government is disgraceful. In support of my friends I am posting the following reasons why Gay Marriage should not be legal (note the sarcasm please)

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Australians always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, liposuction and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in Australia

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans…

repost if you believe in legalizing gay marriage!

GWB’s Best Moment–In His Own Words

Reading about George Bush’s current visit to Australia for APEC ( or OPEC as GWB calls it) reminded me of something I read a few months back.

May 10, 2006
GWB’s Best Moment–In His Own Words
Filed under: Uncategorized, Ethics in Goverment, General Commentary, Energy & Sustainability — Shel @ 6:45 am

It’s not some flaming leftist saying this. George W. Bush himself, according to the Reuters newswire, told a German paper,

“I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake,” he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Pretty sad. An administration so disgraceful, so scandal-ridden, such a failure in both policy and operations that even the president can’t think of anything he’s proud of.

Georgie, my boy, let me prod your memory a bit–I can think of at least a few proud moments:

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, you made a conscious and I believe sincere effort to distinguish between the terrorists and ordinary Muslims and Arabs. Of course, that didn’t stop various government agencies from coming down very hard on those communities, imprisoning people on spurious grounds, etc.
In one of your State of the Union addresses, you advocated hydrogen cars–a good thing, if designed in ways that foster sustainability and independence from the big oil companies. I think that was the same year your State of the Union speech honored Rosa Parks, who was in the audience.
And finally, in the very recent past you’ve said we must end our oil addiction. I’d like to think you’re sincere about that, and that you’ll follow up that statement with a significant infusion of R&D money into solar, wind, geothermal, even biodiesel (but not nuclear, for heaven’s sake). In the nearly two years left in your administration, you could go down in history as the president who solarized America–a rather better legacy than catching a fish!
Your real legacy to date, however, is a lot less positive. To bring up just a handful of the many, many low points:

Lying repeatedly to get us into a stupid, stupid war in Iraq
Leaving New Orleans to drown
Doing nothing to prevent 9/11 even though evidence strongly suggests the attack was widely known, in advance
Overseeing an administration dogged by corruption, mismanagement, venality, yes-man-ism, and unwillingness to listen to critical voices
Turning over public resources for private gain
Squandering both the reservoir of international good will following 9/11 and the considerable surplus you inherited
And on and on it goes–this list could continue for pages. We’ve had presidents who were outdoorsmen before, including both Roosevelts and Ronald Reagan, among others. But never a president who felt his best moment in office was catching a fish!

Where have MAD Thursdays gone ?

It is a question I have been asked by numerous students. The loss of mad Thursdays has even spurred some students into student politics, some planning to run for possible election on the grounds they would work to bring the old Murdoch tradition back. However the issue is not as simple as it seems.

There are two reasons why MAD Thursdays have not been continued at the new tavern. Firstly the huge amount of legal ramifications that come along with hosting the event. Certainly there were legal ramifications when the event was held at the old Tavern, but the proximity to South St and the open nature of the new location has further highlighted these. Its these legal ramifications that have forced almost all universities to stop theme nights at their own taverns.

The second reason is that the university is completely against the event. The vandalism and security risk contributed to past Mad Thursdays have led to university to believe they are far to dangerous to hold. To a degree I am inclined to agree with them, certainly the guild has received more then one large bill due to the event.

So what can be done to save this old and to some people sacred Murdoch tradition ?

Some solutions were discussed at a recent guild secretariat meeting. The understanding reached was that the culture of the tavern needed to be changed to reflect a more sensible but still highly enjoyable atmosphere (Yes the two can go together). The outcomes that came out of the meeting included ;

1. Tavern needs to be open till late – 11:30 pm
2. A plasma TV show FOX sport is to be brought for the tavern
3. Live music needs to play at least once a week

I would love to hear what other people think and what other suggestions people have.

* More chairs and tables have also been brought so people have a place to sit.

The cost of Education

Some University degrees now cost about the same as a average Australian mortgage according to 2008 Good Universities Guide.  As the average Australian mortgage is far more then $100,000 clearly the Prime Minister didn’t mean  there wouldn’t be any higher than $100,000 when he said;

“The Government will not be introducing an American-style higher education system. There will be no $100,000 university fees under this Government.”

.Last year 60 courses cost more than $100,000. Maybe he was practicing for his next big election promise – low interest rates anyone ?

As for Howard’s successor , Costello seems quite happy to compare us to the USA ;

The Treasurer describes the present system as “generous” and has pointed out that in the United States, students forked out more than $100,000 and rely on banks to lend them the money.

The USA education system wasn’t good enough for Howard in 1999, but seems to suit Costello fine in 2007. As the USA features near the bottom of world education affordability and standards rankings personally I don’t think its good enough and doubt other students do either.  If the treasurer and wannabe prime minister insists on comparing Australia to the USA he should  remember that the USA government spends more on education than the Australian government. Though apparently not very efficiently.

The Howard Government has maintained that students only contribute one-quarter of their course costs. However in this proportion the government includes its own funding to universities unpaid HECS debts. Most students will pay this money back to the government making students’ contribution to the cost of their education , on average, 40 per cent. For law students, it’s 84 per cent.

In fact Law students sharing the top HEC’s rates with medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, often pay more than the actual cost of their degree. I doubt many Law students find that possibility very surprising, after all anyone seen the Legal equivalent of high-tech medical equipment in a law school ? Makes me wonder where my yearly $8333 is going.

Labor has promised to phase out domestic full-fee degrees at public Universities commencing 1 January 2009 in order to ensure ” access for all young Australian students based on merit, rather than financial mean” . This raises the question how Labor will compensate financially stricken universities for the lost student revenue.

Labor’s new education spokesman Stephen Smith says only that “HECS relief” would be done in a “financially responsible way”, presumably by taking money from other programs or from a budget surplus.

Hopefully ones of those other program won’t be public health. I doubt even Peter Costello would willingly compare the Australian health system to the USA one.

More information

THE AUSTRALIAN

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

STEPHEN SMITH – MEDIA RELEASE – UNI DEGREE COSTS AN AVERAGE AUSTRALIAN MORTGAGE – 14 AUGUST 2007

JET childcare assistance campaign

On June 25th the Guild held a Media Conference and Forum on the changes by the federal Government to JET. The forum was organised by Womans officer Clare Middlemas and Murdoch student and single parent Peta Miller. JET is a program which provides childcare assistance for single parents that are studying by paying most of the ‘gap fee’ not covered by Child Care Benefit for the hours of care needed to do approved activities. . Childcare is extremely expensive and often unaffordable for single parents who are studying.

Last July the federal government made changes to program, making parents studying courses which exceed 12 months not eligible for any childcare assistance. This change in legislation is very discriminatory. It gives extra support to single parents, that are studying a short course, that will accordingly get them into a menial, low paid job. It traps many single parents and their children in a cycle of poverty.

The Forum was well attended by students, politicians, union bosses and the media, including Rachel Siewart, Greens Senator, Jock Ferguson, Secretary of the AMWU, Louise Pratt, ALP MLA, and Pendo Mwaketele, Chair of Women’s at Curtin.

As a direct result the government announced they would henceforth relax the policy a little and give all single parents, regardless of their entire course duration, 12 months worth of assistance.

However, though this is a great victory, it is far from being sufficient. Under this change single parents will only be covered by JET for a twelve month period, after which they will once again find themselves back in the exact same situation they were in just weeks ago.

The ALP has publicly stated it would look to ensure in its pre-election policies that JET would be sorted to provide appropriate childcare subsidies for single parents to stay in and complete their education. Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has spoken about the issue in parliament .

If you are a single parent or are simply interested in the issue please contact me on basha.stasak@gmail.com and I can put in touch with the relevant people.

The guild in the semester break ….

While all the students have been away, the guild has been busy making changes and preparing for semester 2. I personally was unhappy with how the guild performed in semester 1.

The guild achieve a number of great outcomes in terms of administration and policy changes, only a few of these outcomes however provided tangible benefits for students. Even if the tangible results did occur very few students knew about them. As a result of these problems the major focus over the semester break has been in increasing benefits for students and increasing communication between the guild and the student body.

Firstly the guild has a few new and improved services for students:

Guild Tavern
We have a new guild tavern which many of you have probably seen. If you haven’t it’s the big new building on the lower half of bush court, next to the sport and recreation center. It’s opening in the first week of semester 2. Enjoy

MUGS café
Little Walters is gone and has been replaced with MUGS café in the library. MUGS has inside counter, so now you can drink your coffee in the library. There is also a outside counter for if you want to grab a coffee before class. All financial guild members get a 20% discount on coffee.

Students without Borders
Many of you have no doubt heard of this program last semester. The guild will be launching Students without Borders on 0’day. SWB is a community outreach program which gives students the opportunity to do work experience in the community. SWB has a office on Bush court and there will also be a website with online registration which I am currently working on. I will post more information and the website link as soon as its done.

Activities & Events
The guild has hired a new activities officer so there will hopefully be numerous new activities and events coming your way in semester 2.

The lack of communication is a little pet issue of mine, you will no doubt read about it in the next Metior. However instead of just whining, I have been working on a few ways to increase the communication between the guild and students. There is still a lot of work to be done but hopefully a few of these new measure will help.

Metiorite
I think everyone will agree the meteorite was pretty dull looking . So we have upgraded it into a proper guild newsletter with upcoming events, articles on guild and university issues, reports from guild office bearers, polls and other fun stuff. I have added in a website alternative so you don’t have to upload it in your email. The current release date is week 2 of semester.

Survey
One of this guild’s biggest mistakes was not releasing a survey in semester 1. Especially as it is actually guild policy that we do a survey each semester. The guild survey will be out in the second week of semester. So please get online and tell us what you want from your guild. If you have any suggestions for questions please email them to me or post a comment below.

Thursday Stalls
Last semester the guild held weekly stalls on Thursdays up and Bush court. We will continue to do that in semester 2 . So come talk to us…

Clubs & Societies
Clubs and societies are an important part of this campus and a great way of getting students involved with the guild. I will be holding a general meeting for all clubs and societies in the early part of semester. So if you are in a club please get in contact with me.

So that’s all the changes I can think of. The only other piece of news is that I attended the Education Conference in Adelaide , I will post my thoughts and a report of the event sometime this week.

Now that bit of self-promotion is out of the way, please post your thoughts and suggestions.

Labor’s backflip on VSU ?

Seems the labor party has done a back flip on VSU, I cannot say I am surprised. Stephen Smith’s office has also ruled out a Hecs style system for Guild fees.

I also made it clear at the National Conference, and this was acknowledged by a number of delegates, that it wasn’t appropriate for Labor, and Labor would not be able to go back to the pre-Voluntary Student Unionism world and that was accepted by the Conference and accepted by delegates.

Labor’s priority here is to do two things as outlined in the Platform: Firstly, to ensure that students, if they so choose, can voluntarily organise themselves into representative organisations. Secondly, and more importantly, that all students have access to decent amenities and services, whether that’s sporting facilities, cultural facilities, child-care facilities and the like.

The funding of those services has been a matter of conversation between me and the Universities. I believe that the Commonwealth, the Government of the day, has a responsibility, together with the Universities, to fund those services and of course it’s also appropriate for students, if they so choose, to make a voluntary contribution to those services, or indeed to be charged a fee if that is appropriate when they use those services such as sporting facilities, gyms and the like.

When the Government moved to the Voluntary Student Unionism approach it said it would effect transitional arrangements to ensure those services were secured. Now you only need to speak to Vice Chancellors and students at campuses to know that those services are now declining. The so-called transitional arrangements effectively saw the Government give some capital grants to rural and regional Universities or for sporting facilities.

I am not against VSU, I think it forces Guilds to be more effective and therefore better serve students needs. However, isn’t the Labor parties argument basically; we are better then the Liberals. Smith is seems to me to be saying “we are going with the same strategy as the current Liberal government, we are just going to be better at implementing it ” . Do I see remnants of the old Beazley strategy, “yes Howard’s policies are bad, but we are going to copy them anyway “ . Whats the point of having two parties when they say the same thing.  There are two sides to every coin, seems in Australian politics we only every see one.