LEFT RIGHT CENTRE

LRC 90.1

1. The recent detention of world-famous tennis player, Novak Djokovic raised questions about Australia’s long-term detention of 32 immigrants / refugees in Melbourne’s Park Hotel. What is the way forward for Australia in processing refugees in a more ethical way? 2. Do you believe vaccination should be made mandatory for all students and staff at the University of Adelaide? 3. What is your take on the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 and the ability it has afforded schools to exclude students, based on their sexuality and gender identity (if they identify differently to their biological sex)?

Greens Club

1. The first thing we would like to stress here is that the best thing the Australian Government can do for refugees is stop creating them by aiding and abetting countries like America, Saudi Arabia, and France in their destructive military and economic crusades, primarily directed against innocent people in Africa and the Greater Middle East. Additionally, Australia’s climate destruction is creating climate refugees. When it comes to future refugees, Australia needs to finally turn away from its deeply racist and fascistic policy of indefinitely imprisoning refugees on hyper-exploited tropical islands. 2. Yes, baring legitimate medical exemptions. This is an unfortunate reality of the State Liberal Government’s importation of COVID-19 from interstate to please wealthy donors. Other people’s right to safety and security in their place of learning is not trumped by anyone else’s pseudo-scientific choice to compromise their health. 3. The fight against religious discrimination is an important one, particularly for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other religious minorities here in Australia. However, it does not take precedence over the right of other groups to not be discriminated against, particularly the LGBTQI+ community, which is rightfully concerned and who already face significant stigmatisation. The fact that this has already led to discrimination by religious private schools against students shows that this Bill ought to be scrapped and re-written entirely. Organised religious institutions already have too much power and not enough accountability. This Bill, in its current form, is a Trojan horse for hate.

Socialist Alternative

1. Djokovic may have returned home to his mansions, but refugees continue to languish in torturous conditions. This is the outcome of a deliberately cruel and racist policy of mandatory indefinite detention championed by both the Liberal and Labor parties. All refugees imprisoned in the Park Hotel and detention centres such as Manus Island and Nauru should be freed immediately and given full citizenship rights. Capitalism relies on war and militarism, cultivating nationalism and enforcing borders that are open for profit and commodities, but not for ordinary people. Activists shouldn’t support a slightly more “ethical” processing regime, but instead oppose the entire detention industry that flows from this barbaric system. We are inspired by the inspiring resistance of refugees themselves, despite years of imprisonment. Let’s free the refugees and fight for a society that no longer creates them.

2. Mandates are proven to increase vaccine uptake and are an important workplace safety measure. Why should students and staff on campus, and our friends and families, be exposed to a serious disease because a tiny minority of people refuse a basic act of social solidarity - getting vaccinated? Of course, vaccines are not enough on their own. Universities must commit to prioritising a safe work and learning environment by adopting other health measures including density limits, adequate ventilation and filtration systems and paid pandemic leave for staff. 3. The Religious Discrimination Bill is a bigoted reaction by religious right-wingers seeking to undermine the progressive gains of the 2017 marriage equality campaign. Far from preventing “religious discrimination”, this Bill seeks to enable bigots to exclude LGBTI people from employment, education and other services with impunity. To challenge this offensive, we should look to the inspiring example of students at Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College. Faced with a discriminatory enrolment contract, students kicked up a fuss and gathered over 155,000 signatures on an online petition, forcing the school to retract their policy. This shows that bigoted ideas can be defeated by challenging them head on.

Labor Club

1. Australia’s refugee processing facilities fail to ensure minimum standards of treatment. Detaining people for indefinite periods of time is having devastating impacts on their mental and physical health, due in part to the lack of robust legal framework. Although the Hobart city council voted to resettle the Park Hotel refugees, hundreds of others remain trapped in ad hoc detention where isolation, abuse, and the contemplation of time is used as a terror-torture tactic. The way forward requires ending mandatory minimum detention and enabling dignified living conditions for all refugees, including the right to work and access to social security. 2. It’s a no-brainer. Vaccination is one of the most effective public health strategies in the world for saving lives. Experts are now recommend ing more booster shots to keep herd immunity high, and unless the anti-vax crowd miraculously come to their senses, vaccine discourse will only become more chaotic. Better the University lean into the curve and give itself extra time to prepare. Vaccine mandates have been around since the 1700s and there are much bigger impositions on liberty than getting vaccinated (such as paying taxes to fund the RATs no one can actually buy). 3. The Religious Discrimination bill came about in the wake of the same sex marriage vote. Conservative law makers evidently felt threatened by the queer, secular left and wanted to put the movement in check. The recent case of a Christian school in Brisbane that issued anti-LGBT contracts to students demonstrates the kind of bigotry that the bill aims to shelter. Yet the special privileges granted under the bill permit religious organisations to go even further, and undermine existing laws about conversion therapy, access to female healthcare, and racial vilification. This also affects the hiring and firing practices of hospitals, disability services, and charities, as well as schools.

Liberal Club The Liberal Club did not provide a response