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Page last updated 13/6/2024.

Monash Socialist Alternative club deregistration 2014

Disclaimer: no guarantees of factual accuracy. Some claims are based on best evidence.

A long time ago, “Socialist Alternative” (SAlt) was a club affiliated with the Clubs and Societies (C&S) Council, a division of the Clayton-based Monash Student Association. The club was linked to the national Socialist Alternative organisation which maintains affiliate groups at many Australian universities. In this piece, “SAlt” refers specifically to the Monash Socialist Alternative club.

Students for Palestine was also a C&S club in the past. SFP is a brand linked to SAlt, and at Monash the group known as Students for Palestine historically and to now is a SAlt front. The SFP club became disaffiliated from C&S before the deregistration of SAlt.

Whilst there have been claims that the deregistration of SAlt was for antisemitism, there was no finding of antisemitism against SAlt made by the C&S Executive or C&S Council in relation to the incidents that directly led to deregistration. The complaint by the President of the Monash Jewish Students Society (MonJSS) that led to the deregistration did not definitely accuse SAlt of antisemitism, but did express a belief that SAlt racially and religiously profiled Jewish students, an accusation rejected by SAlt. However, the Australian Union of Jewish Students did label the incidents “antisemitic”.

There have also been claims that C&S was controlled by Labor at the time of the deregistration. Whilst the MSA was controlled by the Labor Left, C&S as a division is autonomous and nominally apolitical, and only the C&S Executive and the C&S Council made the deregistration decision. It is possible that the C&S Executive was controlled by Labor, however there is no clear evidence of that. In 2010, the C&S Council overturned on appeal a penalty of deregistration imposed on the ALP Club by the C&S Executive. The misconduct that the ALP Club committed was administrative in nature. The ALP Club was controlled by the Labor Left which also controlled the MSA, and the ALP Club President had also been the the MSA President. At the time of the SAlt deregistration, there is no evidence that the C&S Council, comprised of the presidents of all C&S clubs, was controlled by Labor and given its size and the independent elections of each club president a Labor majority would be highly unlikely.

The event

The descriptions below briefly outline certain facts which are not disputed. There are other details omitted that were contested. SAlt members claim that the Zionists were aggressive and intimidating and they themselves were polite and calm, those refused entry to the event claim that SAlt members were aggressive and intimidating and they themselves were polite and calm.

SAlt hosted a public lecture and discussion on 30 July 2014, which aimed to educate attendees on “Why you should support Palestine, a history of Israeli aggression”. The event was promoted through posters, flyers and social media, welcoming all anti-ractists. Attendees were asked to sign a petition in order to enter the event, with 40 people attending.

A group of Jewish students attempted to attend, but were denied entry by SAlt after they refused to sign the petition. SAlt members asked the Jewish students for their names, which were given, and which club they came from. A few of them then offered to sign the petition but SAlt continued to deny entry, declaring that the meeting was for supporters of Palestine. The Jewish students then left.

In a separate instance, a group of people waiting to enter the meeting were approached and asked if they were pro-Palestine, upon which one of them replied that they were pro-Palestine but anti-Hamas. They were later told that they should leave.

According to SAlt, about fifteen Zionists in total attempted to enter the event. The event organisers were concerned that attendees might feel intimidated and unsafe, especially based on incidents occurring at previous SAlt events relating to Palestine, so had arranged to use the petition as a requirement for entry. SAlt claimed that nobody was denied entry for the reason of being Jewish, and that the speaker was Jewish and there were several other Jewish attendees.

On 5 August, the President of MonJSS submitted a complaint of political and possible religious and racial discrimination to the C&S Executive. The complaint included three statutory declarations from students denied entry to the event, and claimed that at least five Jewish students and one staff member were denied entry.

The deregistration

Of the nine members of the C&S Executive, at least the C&S President, Vice President and two General Representatives at the time were linked to Labor. The C&S Executive is elected by the C&S Council, comprised of the presidents (or their proxies) of all clubs affiliated with C&S.

At a 2 September meeting of the C&S Executive, a hearing was held to consider SAlt’s misconduct charges. At the hearing, SAlt claimed that they made the petition a requirement for entry because they were worried that some attendees might try to disrupt the event, something they say occurred in past events. SAlt conceded that they had not considered contacting Monash Security before the event or asking event attendees to sign an agreement to not be disruptive. They also had not considered contacting C&S for advice.

The C&S Executive decided that the club had discriminated on the basis of political opinion against the students who had refused to sign the petition. By denying Clayton students from attending and participating in a public club event, SAlt had engaged in conduct “prejudicial to the interests of C&S”. In particular, the C&S Executive argued that as its resources and services come ultimately from SSAF funding to which all Clayton students contribute, clubs must act in the interest of all students. The C&S Executive claimed that staff time especially was being wasted on dealing with complaints and misconduct cases against SAlt.

As a result, the C&S Executive unanimously deregistered the SAlt club for misconduct under the C&S Constitution. SAlt had been a C&S club since 2010 and in the time since had received multiple penalties for misconduct. According to the C&S Executive, deregistration, the most severe penalty, was imposed on SAlt due to the seriousness of the conduct, its representatives’ unapologetic defence of their conduct and the fact that other penalties would not be effective for this particular club. SAlt did not rely on C&S financially and rarely, if ever, applied for grants, so restricting access to grants would have had no practical impact.

Following the C&S Executive’s decision, SAlt members reported victimisation, harassment and bullying by students.

In public statements, SAlt accused the C&S Executive of folding to pressure from the Australian education minister, a Liberal, who had called for universities to crack down on SAlt clubs in a piece for The Australian, a piece they later claimed that the C&S President had mentioned during the C&S Executive hearing. According to SAlt, not being a registered C&S club “effectively terminates the rights of the club’s members to participate in the political life of the university campus”.

Rather than the accusations around the specific incidents which provided the pretext for the deregistration, SAlt claimed that the real reason was to suppress freedom of speech in retaliation for SAlt’s activism around Palestine and the government’s proposed university fee increase. In all public communications, including a Lot’s Wife statement, a petition - which received 1882 signatures - and direct correspondence with clubs, SAlt representatives did not acknowledge the event at all.

The appeal

SAlt appealed the C&S Executive’s decision to the C&S Council. To hear the appeal, a C&S Council Extraordinary General Meeting was scheduled for 18 September in a notice distributed on 4 September. On 11 September, the EGM was rescheduled to 26 September amidst concerns that SAlt was not given adequate notice.

In the leadup to the EGM, clubs received unsolicited emails from various groups and individuals including members of SAlt and MonJSS. Written submissions were also provided by the SAlt club and the C&S Executive and distributed to clubs.

SAlt claimed that the C&S Executive had acted unconstitutionally by declaring that SAlt had committed misconduct over “political discrimination” which is not listed in the C&S Constitution. According to the C&S Executive, the misconduct finding was instead based on conduct “prejudicial to the interests of C&S”, a phrase which can be interpreted broadly. SAlt’s written submission was focused on the supposed unconstitutionality and the precedent that the C&S Executive would be able to “impose the most severe penalty available on [clubs], with no effective constitutional limit”. SAlt had made another written submission to the initial C&S Executive hearing which was also distributed to clubs, detailing their perspective on the incidents.

For the EGM, SAlt had asked for an extension of the submission deadline and the hearing so that they could compose a longer written submission. The (rescheduled) hearing was held the same week as the MSA elections, in which SAlt’s ticket had campaigned heavily. The incumbent Environmental and Social Justice Officer, a SAlt member who had been central in the petition incidents, was banned from all future MSA elections due to alleged bullying and misleading the Returning Officer.

At the EGM, the C&S President removed themself from the meeting due to allegations made by SAlt, despite denying any conflict of interest. SAlt had accused the C&S President of inappropriately chairing the C&S Executive meeting which made the deregistration decision, and not disclosing a conflict of interest as a student politician and Labor member. C&S claims to be apolitical.

After speeches and questions for both SAlt and the C&S Executive, the C&S Council declared 85% to 1% that SAlt had committeed misconduct, and confirmed its deregistration 55% to 25%. MonJSS, a C&S club, abstained from both motions.

Following their deregistration, SAlt remains disaffiliated from C&S. However, they remain active as Socialist Alternative Monash, formerly the Monash Socialists.

Documents

See also