CAPA Disaffiliates Postgrad-Unfriendly Student Unions at UQ and UTS

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) on Friday voted unanimously to disaffiliate the University of Technology Sydney Student Association (UTSSA) and the University of Queensland Union (UQU). They are the first members to be disaffiliated since the introduction of the so-called Voluntary Student Unionism legislation in 2005.

“Neither organisation has responded to repeated attempts by the peak body to engage with them, and neither has paid their CAPA affiliation fees since 2005,” said CAPA National President Tammi Jonas.

“The two organisations combined owe CAPA over $145,000 in outstanding affiliation fees, and both have refused to send their postgraduate officers to the CAPA annual conference for a number of years, despite some of those officers' best attempts,” said Jonas.

“We have received requests for assistance from postgraduates on the UQ and UTS campuses who have not felt their student unions were providing them with an appropriate voice or advocacy support. Postgraduate students on these campuses have been appealing to CAPA to help them establish non-partisan representative bodies, free of the factions of undergraduate student politicians.”

Ms Jonas concluded by stating, “It is unacceptable that postgraduates are prevented by undergraduate-dominated student unions from advocating for improved conditions.”

Media contact: National President Tammi Jonas, 0422 429 362