| ALSF Federal Council - July 2005. |
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The UOW Liberal Club had a stunning success at the 2005 ALSF Federal Council. The club moved three motions, which all got passed, and where adopted as policy of the ALSF. Our delegates also spoke on several other motions that where moved by various university Liberal Clubs.
Dates: July 4 - July 9, 2005. Delegates:
Monday ReportBrad, Nathan and Warren had booked themselves onto the first flight in the morning from Sydney to Adelaide on Virgin Blue, and as such we had to wake up at a time when some of us would only be contemplating going to bed. We arrived at the airport and checked our baggage. Straight away there where jokes against Adelaide. When we went up to the counter to check our baggage, the girl at the desk asked if we were going on to Alice Springs. Maybe it's seemed strange for people to visit Adelaide in the middle of Winter. We boarded our flight and for the next couple of hours, we read magazines, slept, listened to the in-flight radio stations and observed the eye candy that Virgin Blue kindly provided for us. As we were about to land, a flight attendant made an announcement over the PA. .For those of you returning home to Adelaide, we thank you for flying with Virgin Blue, for those of you continuing on, we hope you have a safe journey.. What? Doesn.t anyone just go to Adelaide? Why not a message for those people who are actually going to Adelaide. After we landed, we took a taxi to our hotels - The Renezvous Allegra, and the Mercure Grosvenor.
Nathan and Warren stayed at the Mercure, while Brad and Gareth where booked into the Allegra.
Almost as soon as we'd arrived, we where off again - this time to Aquinas College, the location of the ALSF conference. We met up with Hayden, a delegate from James Cook University Liberal Club, and we got into a taxi. The taxi driver was useless, and we had to get out our tourist maps that we picked up at the airport, and direct him ourselves. Maybe we weren't the only ones to get off a plane that morning? The Conference
Tuesday ReportThe highlight of the session was the policy debate, with topics such as Abortion and Whaling. Both of these controversial topics where spoken on by UOW delegates. Warren Hudson spoke against banning abortion, and Nathan Barton spoke against whaling in Australian waters. The UOW Liberal Club voted unanimously against these motions, and saw that they where defeated. After ALSF business had concluded for the day, Warren, Brad and Nathan tested out the pool and spa at the Rendezvous Allegra Hotel. Nathan and Warren took the opportunity to take a look around Brad and Gareth's hotel room.
Shortly after, we were due to arrive at the Parliament of South Australia for drinks with Liberal politicians and other Liberal students.
South Australia ParliamentLiberal Students where being hosted in the old chamber of parliament, which is now primarily used for functions. UOW's delegates networked and discussed campus politics and campaign strategies with delegates from other university Liberal clubs. We took the tour of Parliament, including both houses which where sitting at the time. The big issue being debated was the corruptions hearings. During the debate, quorum was called for, and as per parliamentary procedures, the doors where locked and no one was permitted to leave - including the observers in the public gallery.
Sky City CasinoOnce things at Parliament where winding down, Nathan and Warren convinced some other Liberal students, particularly a few from SA and UniMelb ;) to come out to the casino. After ordering some drinks, we went to find a Blackjack table, although they where all occupied, and no one showed any signs of leaving soon, so we found the most similar game we could find, which ended up being Pontoon. Don't bother asking Warren what the differences between the two are, as he relied on his gaming adviser from Melbourne, Jayde to make the calls for him. Lucky for Warren, he ended up ahead, and Jayde took her cut of the winnings ....without any financial risk to herself. Hayden from JCU joined the table and started playing, and from the photos below you can see that he went quite well. Whilst Warren was playing Pontoon, Gareth Ward arrived, tapped Warren on the shoulder and said hi. Warren was a bit occupied with gambling ... and the company, and agreed to catch up with Gareth later. The Pitt boss occasionally wandered over and conversed with the group. Within a few minutes, he asked the group "You're all Young Liberals, aren' t you?". Maybe we where all dressed a little better then the average 20 somethings, the plethora of credentials Jayde was wearing, or just the political in-jokes in the conversations that gave it away.
Wednesday Report Wednesday was a day mostly of policy debate, including one motion from UOW, which was passed with an amendment. After the official program for the day was complete, there was an organised pub crawl with some money on the bar, although as the UOW delegates decided to go out to dinner with some other visiting Liberal Students and local Liberals, we sadly missed the tab. We went to a few bars before arriving at The Oxford at North Adelaide, where we stayed for most of the night. The Oxford had decently priced cocktails, of which the "Wounded Bull" was the most popular. Perhaps the best feature of the The Oxford where the massage chairs. Besides being the best place to chat up women, with one commenting on the awesomeness of the chairs by saying "Just imagine if you sneezed at the same time". Nathan and Warren where the last of the UOW delegates to leave The Oxford, and proceeded to walk back to the city. Besides Julian Barendse's best efforts to direct the two into the desert, his plan fell apart when Warren and Nathan realised the tall buildings where in the opposite direction. Craving the Internet, Warren and Nathan then found an Internet cafe that was open at 4 AM. Using dial-up over the hotel's phone system had taken its toll.
Thursday Report Thursday was dominated by the winery tour. We stopped at about 4 separate wineries of varying quality. The bus ride there was riddled with the same Liberally themed songs repeated to no end. Throughout the stops, most of the participants purchased at least some wine. Not all however, where wise enough to wait until our destination before breaking out the bottles. Without going into all the details, lets just say too much wine and the constant motion of the bus proved to be too MUch for a Liberal partiCipant. The moderate Liberals went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant (why do moderates seemingly always eat at Chinese restaurants?), where several of the group gave speeches on the dangerous shift to the extreme right in certain elements of the Liberal party. During dinner, another restaurant customer approached our group and said "I hear that your group is interested in politics. London has just been bombed by terrorists. A lot of people are dead." After dinner, someone announced that we where all going to a bar called FAD. With most of us coming from cities other then Adelaide, most of us wouldn't have known what the place was like. FAD was about the weirdest bar in the city, and I doubt that any of the clientele would have voted Liberal at any stage in their lives. The place also had a somewhat 'unique' smell to it. Our people walked into the place, and proceeded upstairs. Warren and Derrick from ANU stayed downstairs and went to the bar. Warren struck up a conversation with two girls at the bar, who just happened to be Americans, which worked just fine for Warren, as he's a dual citizen (Australia / USA), which gave him a good ice breaker. The girls where both from Texas, and are in Australia for Uni. Both of the girls allegedly know the Bush twins - Barbara and Jenna. A couple of hours later, the rest of the Liberals left FAD, with Warren still talking to the American girls. A tip for anyone who may visit FAD: Try the Chilli Vodka. It's insane. Just don't shot it, or it'll probably kill you.
Friday Report The last day of council consisted of the election of ALSF office bearers for the next year, more club President reports and guest speakers including Sophie Panopoulos MP and Dr Andrew Southcott MP. Later that night, there was a scheduled dinner with the Foreign Minister; Alexander Downer. Due to the previous evenings terrorist attacks in London, we where unsure whether he would still attend. Later in the day, we received confirmation that Alexander Downer would still be coming to the dinner. At the dinner, the UOW delegation was seated at the same table as Sophie Panopoulos MP, who participated in a discussion on federal communication and taxation policies. Seeing as Warren Hudson had been taking a lot of photos for the UOW Liberal Club website, some other university Liberal clubs decided that they would all come up to him and take photos. Pictured below is one of the many Liberal students taking photos of Warren. After the dinner, Gareth, Warren and Nathan went out to network with other Liberal students at bars and Sky City Casino.
Saturday Report ALSF had ended the previous day, although we still had to get back to Sydney. We arrived at the airport an hour early for our 06:10 AM flight. The staff at Virgin Blue gave our delegation a free upgrade to .Blue Zone. seating, which gives you quite a lot of extra leg room as the seats are located at emergency exits. When we boarded the flight, it was still pitch black. Before takeoff, one of the cabin crew came over and reminded us that we where sitting by an emergency exit, .and in the unlikely event of an emergency, we.re going to need you guys to help us out.. He showed us how to open the emergency exit door, although as he said .We aren.t expecting to need to use it.. Another couple of hours, and the same in-flight entertainment as on the way down to Adelaide, we where back in Sydney.
High resolution images may be made available on request. Photos by Warren Hudson.
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