<p>Now that the National Union of Students’ (NUS) national conference (NatCon) has come to a close, we’re here to bring you up-to-speed with some interesting (and easily digestible) facts from the conference. The above graph shows you a timeline of NatCon— the amount of policy that passed, with notes attached to let you know when […]</p>
Now that the National Union of Students’ (NUS) national conference (NatCon) has come to a close, we’re here to bring you up-to-speed with some interesting (and easily digestible) facts from the conference.
The above graph shows you a timeline of NatCon— the amount of policy that passed, with notes attached to let you know when each policy area began, when quorum was lost and when scheduled and unscheduled breaks were had. As you can see, a total of 175 policies were discussed. Technically, there were 176 policy proposals discussed—that discrepancy is due to a rogue policy concerning graduate engineering jobs which brought proceedings to a halt and was never voted on. Of the 175 that were voted on, 166 passed, and nine failed. When factions are considered, the breakdown is as follows:
However, this graph does not tell the full story, as some factions submitted far more policies than others. Due to the fact that most factions only submitted policy proposals they thought would succeed, most of the policy proposals slated for consideration were successful. However, there remained a large number of policies that went unconsidered and most of the policies submitted by smaller factions, such as the National Independents, were not considered at all.In fact, Socialist Alternative were the only faction that had over 50 per cent of their policies considered, barring the Australian Union of Jewish Student (AUJS) which technically had the only policy they submitted considered and passed.
However, this does not show how little welfare or women’s policy were discussed— important sections considering the NUS’s campaign to tackle sexual assault on campus this year. Nor does it show that the miscellania and constitutional sections were not touched on at all. Some of the proposed policies that went unconsidered included proposals to allow filming at NatCon, safety on campus, making women’s spaces inclusive of non-binary folk and support for an Australian republic. The consideration status of each policy area is as follows:
“But Ed”, you say, “I really don’t care about any of this, I just want to know how many policy motions were eaten at Business Committee.” Well, you’re in luck, I tracked that too.