Kian Chan

SJ for YOU!

Shine acknowledges that Social Justice shouldn’t be something that’s far removed from the advocate’s situation; it needs to start from home, particularly if students already struggle with pressures relating to costs, accessibility and support. We will address this by working with the Equity Portfolio to direct 15% of the Social Budget towards establishing an accessible food and essentials bank for law students experiencing financial hardship and/or unfortunate personal circumstances. This means that a busy law student doesn’t have to walk to Wentworth for the USU FoodHub, which is often hard to locate and a considerable distance from the law building. Located in the SULS office, this initiative will store everything from non-perishables to fresh fruit, body wash to sanitary products, and even office supplies including chargers and earphones. To make a student’s advocacy Shine, we have to make them Shine no matter what circumstances they’re in!

Law 4 Good!!

We seek to continue the ‘Law 4 Good’ panel series to ensure that you know what good your degree can do! This will range from talks about charity & not-for-profit law and protest law, providing you with more opportunities to directly connect with prominent legal practitioners from backgrounds of public interest and community impact. Under this series, we’ll also reframe Table Talks to Shine a light on crucial topics in current affairs, inviting key figures of sociopolitical discourse to foster critical and open discussions about issues often deliberately avoided in everyday law school teaching.

Visible and maximal impact!!!

It is our firmest belief at Shine that you should see the good that you do. Our vision extends to students being able to engage with social justice at a level that is accessible to them, so that making a meaningful contribution feels within reach rather than impossible. We’ll help you do this through more on campus initiatives such as regular barbecues, a food and clothing drive, and another Blood Drive! For those involved in our wonderful SJ programmes, we’ll make it more engaging and meaningful by arranging regular social opportunities to get to know your tutee or mentee. Revamping the brilliant Social Justice Careers Fair is also key – we’ll include every sector you’ve ever dreamed of working in (from government to Native Title and charity in-house!). And finally, get ready for an end-of-year Intervarsity SJ Charity Gala, where we'll have a low-cost evening setting where you get to meet fellow student advocates and network in social justice spheres in a non-intimidating setting; all ticket sales will go to charity!

Continue SULS’ Outreach!!!!

We believe that SULS already offers amazing outreach programmes and it is my vision to help them Shine more! A key policy is to consolidate the new Outreach Mentoring and Legal Education Awareness Programmes by establishing separate co-chairs, who will each run teams of programme coordinators. Under the oversight of the Social Justice Portfolio, this restructuring enables more accountability and opportunities to participate in serving the community! The Outreach Mentoring Programme will expand through intervarsity collaboration and engagement with legal professionals, while the LEAP will expand into education at schools, community centres, and juvenile detention centres, echoing the on-the-ground work once done through the Youth Justice Mentoring Scheme.

Longstanding programmes – the Community Legal Education and Refugee Language Tutoring Programme – will also be subject to changes that make the initiatives more consistent and impactful. Co-chairs will be required to make sure that both tutors and tutees are consistently in attendance and engaged in the programmes. This includes face-to-face opportunities to meet your tutees!