Since its first season in 2017. AFLW has grown to 14 clubs and will continue to expand with all 18 Clubs to have an AFLW team by 2023. Over 1 MILL fans have attended live AFLW games and crowds and TV viewing numbers continue to grow. The female participants rates across the country have risen to over 17%. There is very little coverage from media outlets. We want this to change. Representation is important.

Candidates for the election should commit to ending legalised queerphobia against students and young people. This can be done through three policy changes. 1. The religious discrimination bill was introduced into government in 2022 and passed the House, despite universal opposition from LGBT+ people. It is currently indefinitely suspended in the Senate. This bill should never be considered before parliament again, since it allows religious people and groups to openly discriminate against queer people under the guise of religious beliefs. While queer school students have been often discussed in relation to this bill, many university students are also in a religious environment. These students don't deserve to be discriminated against when they are simply trying to learn. Any attempts at a re-introduction of this bill must be opposed. 2. Conversion therapy must be banned on a federal level. It is ineffective and leaves lasting harm on survivors. There is little research on this practice in Australia, but evidence from UCLA in the US suggests that around 50% of survivors are under the age of 18. Victoria, the ACT and Queensland have already banned this incredibly harmful practice, but this is not enough. Without a federal ban, LGBT+ youth will continue to be put in danger by this practice. It is unconscionable to say that banning human rights abuses is a matter for the states. The federal government must also take action. 3. A legislative duty of care will ensure that queer university students are subject to the same protections as high school students. This is a key ask of the NUS's It's Time For Change campaign and is highly relevant to queer students. Having a duty of care would mean that universities would be required to provide gender neutral bathrooms, to act against queerphobic rhetoric on campus and to take action against sexual assault, which disproportionately affects queer students. It would mean that university administrations are required to make life better for queer students.

The Honours component of an arts degree is an essential portion of many students' educational experience and career progression. It serves as the foundation for post-graduate education and provides students with research skills needed to undertake high-level positions in their chosen field of study. The alternative degree suggested by Monash, the Master of Arts (Research Training) is unacceptable as an alternative for a number of reasons including: - It is a two-year course, as opposed to the one year traditionally required for honours. - Entrance to the degree requires completion of a number of specific and niche undergraduate units, meaning many students must make dramatic changes to their study plan in order to be eligible for the degree. - It requires completion of a thesis that is up to 10,000 words longer and significantly more complex (something the university openly admits and brags about on the website advertising the degree). - It provides significantly less academic supervision and support. - It is explicitly catered towards industry experts that lack an academic background, not recent undergraduates. Thus, the program is not fit to be a replacement for an honours degree.

The recent IPCC report clearly states the urgency of acting on climate change, both at global governance and local institutional levels. Notably, the report advises that unless immediate, rapid and broad-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are achieved within the next decade, the chance of limiting warming to 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius will likely be beyond reach. Australia, and neighbouring Pacific regions, are already experiencing the intensifying impacts of climate change. In the last couple of years alone, our country has been subject to record-breaking heat, droughts, and bush fires which impacted hundreds of thousands of people and cost our country billions of dollars. It is clear, then, that continuing to invest money in fossil fuels is both financially and morally irresponsible. We therefore call on the University of Adelaide to immediately freeze any new investment in fossil fuels, and to divest from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds. Recent enquiries made under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that the university holds over $7 million in such shares. Companies listed include BHP-Billiton, Rio Tinto, Chevron, Woodside, Exxon-Mobil, among many others—all of which have set back climate action in Australia (and globally) by waging concerted deny & delay campaigns via lobbying, biased economic modelling and political donations. The University of Adelaide has a moral responsibility to make sustainable investments for the future and to take strong and immediate action to address climate change. Our investments in science and renewable technologies cannot be taken seriously as long as we continue to invest money in fossil fuel industries that, according to scientific consensus, contribute disproportionately to the climate and ecological crises we’re currently facing. In Australia and across the world, the divestment movement is gaining ever-increasing support from educational institutions and a host of other organisations who recognise the severity of the climate crisis we’re in and the urgency to act, as per the best scientific advice available. In making a public commitment to divest from fossil fuels, universities are taking a position consistent with the values of academic rigour and scientific integrity held in such high regard by our institutions. A significant number of universities across Australia have already committed to full or partial fossil fuel divestment: University of New South Wales, La Trobe University, Queensland University of Technology, Monash University, Swinburne University, Australian National University, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne and University of Tasmania. These include over half Go8 universities, of which UoA is a member. The University of Adelaide is clearly lagging behind in this nationwide trend toward fossil fuel divestment; there is therefore no excuse for further delay. Finally, our student population overwhelmingly consists of young people who will bear the enduring consequences of climate change. Fossil Free UofA believes that our university has a social responsibility to terminate its investments with companies involved in the extraction, processing and export of fossil fuels, and from any comingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities or corporate bonds. We believe that the institution that has provided us with a future-facing education should not be supporting unethical industries that negatively affect our futures and the future of the planet.

The NSW Government and rail workers have been in negotiations for 9 months. But in a dramatic escalation on Monday, the NSW Government cancelled all train services and locked out its own workers from doing their jobs. Rail workers turned up ready to work on Monday. But the NSW Government is using an aggressive and unnecessary negotiation tactic - cancelling all train services and blaming the workers. This doesn’t just hurt rail workers; it hurts every commuter and causes gridlock and chaos. Rail workers are negotiating to stop the privatisation of services, and to ensure a safe and clean rail network. The government could address these simple requests. Instead they decided to use this dangerous tactic to try turn the public against rail workers. Sign the petition to send the NSW Premier a message: his attempt to manipulate public opinion by cancelling train services has failed.

The University must act now. It is abhorrent that in preparing students for their future, they are complicit in the destruction of our future. We demand that: 1. That the University ceases any new investments in fossil fuels, 2. That the University commits to divesting its existing investments from fossil fuels within 5 years, and 3. The University instead invests in companies that have committed to mitigating their impact on climate change.

The proposed operating model will kill commuters, it will traumatise Drivers, Guards, Station Staff and other commuters unnecessarily when we have a good current operating model that relies on teamwork as per the Kembla Grange derailment where the Guard excelled in his duties. This will increase culpability on the rail operators and result in more lost time injuries to staff.

Almost 40% of women report being sexual harassed at their workplace. And only 17% of women feel they are able to report this harassment. The Sex Discrimination Commissioner's Respect@Work recommendations made clear what needed to be done. She recommended that the Sex Discrimination Act be amended to include a positive duty on employers to take reasonable measures to eliminate sexual harassment at work. Tragically, an average of one woman each week is murdered by a current or ex-partner. Access to paid leave is a real barrier to women being able to escape family and domestic violence. There is only one way to make sure all women have this workplace right. Morrison could act today to legislate for 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave for all Australian workers, but once again he has walked away from doing so. Women deserve better. Australia deserves better. Tell Morrison he can’t walk away from women.

Workers at Honey Birdette deserve a workplace that’s free from bullying, harassment and sexist standards. In 2015, Honey Birdette workers launched the Not Your Honey campaign and won a WorkSafe investigation into the sexual harassment and bullying at Honey Birdette. Seven years later, harassment and bullying at Honey Birdette boutiques is as bad as it has ever been. Employers have a duty to provide a workplace free from sexual harassment and gendered violence but clearly Honey Birdette’s Directors are providing an environment that enables sexual harassment.

There is a high population of students from a variety of ethnic and migrant backgrounds who deserve a safe space to feel supported and validated in their time on campus. The introduction of a safe space for the Ethnocultural Collective would allow students of colour the chance and space to discuss, dissect and reflect on their experiences by connecting with other students who face similar barriers and difficulties. This would also allow space for students of colour to raise awareness among students and pointing them towards processes of resolve in the face of discrimination and utilise the complaint system that is currently existent, but not particularly accessible or efficient. Thanks

In 2021 only 4 people utilised the support services provided by UTS for survivors of sexual assault and harassment. Based on information gathered by the UTS Women’s Collective, the number of students who had undergone sexual violence in 2021 is much higher than this number. This means that students are, not aware of, distrustful of, or unable to access the support services provided by the university. Student survivors petitioned in 2021 for greater supports and for Respect.Now.Always to stop trivialising their experiences through insensitive fruit puns, however these concerns were not met with any response. The university is not fulfilling its duty of care to these students and it must listen to do better.

These proposed laws seek to entrench discrimination and vilification of LGBTQ people, as well as women, people with disabilities, and single parents, on the pretext of religious freedom. The bill will: 1. Override state laws to allow any person making a ‘statement of belief’ to discriminate against queer people, women, and people with disabilities. 2. Allow religious schools to discriminate at the point of enrolment against queer students, and continue to discipline and fire queer teachers - under the guise of 'religious freedom'. 3. Prevent public health services from ensuring patients aren’t discriminated against by health practitioners exercising ‘religious freedom’. 4. Prevent universities from requiring students to meet professional standards if they object to them on religious grounds Federal Labor has made only the mildest of technical recommendations to reform the current draft of the bill, failing to address some of the most damaging aspects of the legislation. As Labor members, we are asked to finance, volunteer for, and otherwise fight with our MPs for our rights as working people. Our party is failing to stand up for our values, and for vulnerable communities, by supporting this bill.