Te Aka Tauira, Issue Seven, September 2023

SEP TEMBER 2023

ISSUE 07

#T EAKATAUIRA

TE AKA TAUIRA T HE OTAGO UNDERGRADUAT E MAGAZINE

Voting for the knife party or the spoon party? Lawyers in the jungle and Cultivating community

ISSUE 07

CONTENTS P4. WELCOME TO THE (LAW) JUNGLE P6. A VOTE FOR… THE KNIFE PARTY OR THE SPOON PARTY? P10. CULTIVATING COMMUNITY P12. “THIS IS AN EQUITY ISSUE.”

W W W.O TAGO. AC. N Z / O TAGOBUL L E T I N / UN DE RGRA DUAT E / 2

High-quality sequencing of nearly the entire kākāpō population, funded through a Genomics Aotearoa project, is helping New Zealand to manage the health of this critically endangered species.

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THEY found themselves in the foyer

the pair were taken with the firm’s reception area, which was designed to appear like a jungle, says Nina.

of a prestigious Auckland law firm, surrounded by palm trees and ferns and being offered every refreshment they could possibly imagine... not the outcome they imagined from their first moot competition!

“They have two full-time gardeners looking after all these plants and ferns and palm trees.

“There was even bird song playing. It was an immersive experience.”

Nina MacDonald, a third year Law and Politics tauira, and Zoe Kellam a third year Law tauira, travelled to Auckland to attend the annual Criminal Bar Association New Zealand (CBANZ) conference in the last weekend of July.

ZOE SAYS WHEN THEY WALKED INTO THE “JUNGLE”, THEY WERE TREATED LIKE ROYALTY.

CBANZ comprises anyone who is involved with criminal law and members come together once a year for a conference.

Nina and Zoe were invited to the conference after winning the Otago Student Criminal Bar Association moot.

“Everyone was so well dressed.”

The moot final, against Auckland University students, was held in a replica a High Court room inside the building.

As well as attending the conference they competed in the New Zealand Student Criminal Bar moot semi-finals, which they won, and then went on to compete in the final.

A moot competition is similar to a mock trial, but this one was particularly novel, she says.

Zoe said she felt a bit thrown in at the deep end after they came first in the Dunedin quarter final.

The teams mooted a trial that was to be heard in the Supreme Court in a few weeks’ time.

“We had never even done a moot before and suddenly we found out that we were going to this prestigious conference and competing against top teams in Auckland.”

The case that we mooted throughout both the Otago and the New Zealand competitions has actually been heard before in several different courts… but the competition was between the Court of Appeal case and the Supreme Court case, says Nina.

The semi-final and the final were held at Meredith Connell law firm where

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WELCOME TO THE (LAW)JUNGLE “Basically, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the defendant and now the prosecution are appealing that decision in the next highest court the Supreme Court (where it will be heard by a different panel of Judges).”

She particularly enjoyed a presentation on the amount of, sometimes misplaced, trust placed in police forensics.

Nina says she particularly enjoyed an “incredible” talk by Judge Nancy Gertner on the American politics of crime and how being tough on crime worsened offending.

The judges of the competition were the lawyers who would be the defence and the prosecution in the real trial.

We joked we were giving them a hand coming up with arguments, says Nina.

The judge also warned the students not to “let your media turn single incidents into propaganda”.

“What I really liked was that these people will be opposing each other in the Supreme Court in a few weeks but they were sitting right next to each other and working together.”

Nina and Zoe agreed that seeing a woman who has succeeded in the career they want to be in was “so inspiring”.

“She made us feel like we really can do anything - and showed us that women can get so far in this space.”

The conference and its range of speakers was also “amazing”, says Zoe.

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Photo by Parker Johnson on Unsplash

A VOTE FOR… THE KNIFE PARTY OR THE SPOON PARTY? THIRD year politics student Liam

For Liam, the mission is simple – to provide young people with the information they need to be engaged citizens in Aotearoa New Zealand

White is on a mission to make young people feel like they know enough about politics to meaningfully engage in it.

“It’s really about trying to get the kids engaged with political ideas.”

Liam is the Otago director of civic education trust Generation Vote, which provides non-partisan civics education for youth, by youth.

The group’s 2022 prospectus says that while schools often acknowledge further education about politics is required for their akonga, they don’t have the funding or infrastructure to design new courses full of specialist knowledge.

This is where the volunteers at Generation Vote come in, he says.

It was started by Otago students in 2018 and now has teams of interested student volunteers – including politics, law, PPE or economics students – from Otago and Victoria University Wellington - Te Herenga Waka teaching the democratic basics to mainly high school pupils in Dunedin and Wellington.

“Our educators have this specialty knowledge and want to work with [schools] to deliver high quality civics education to classrooms.”

So far Generation Vote has provided its civics courses to over 550 Year 9 high school students, and for the first time this year it is visiting Otago’s residential colleges.

The volunteers come from across the University, but are mainly pursuing degrees in politics, PPE, law and economics.

In each session there is a teacher and two supporters. They work from scripts and power-points prepared by the board of trustees – but are encouraged to go off-script when they feel confident enough to try new things.

Five key modules are covered in courses: Introduction to politics in Aotearoa New Zealand, policy and law, Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi, local government and, finally, a leaders’ debate and mock election.

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One of the most interesting modules to teach, according to the volunteers, is Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Every time you arrive to teach a class the kids are doing something “surpising”.

A Logan Park High School student said to former director of Generation Vote, Bella Stuart that it was the most he had ever learnt about Te Tiriti.

“One week we turned up and they said, today we are building a car! We were like... I guess we will work out a way to teach around that. It’s very cool to see what kinds of things they are doing outside the confines of a traditional curriculum.”

“I just had no idea how much it still influenced politics today.”

Liam says while feedback like that is rewarding as director, it’s sometimes concerning as a citizen and reinforces the need for this kind of education.

The part the students seem to like the most is the final lesson, where there is a mock election, he says.

That it is when people start really understanding how everything fits together.

“The kids make up their own political parties, with their own aims and key issues. We’ve had some great ones – the knife party vs the spoon party, the bike party, the road party, the jedi-spartan alliance party.

THIS ELECTION YEAR LIAM IS PUTTING IN THE MAHI TO PROVIDE RESOURCES TO OTAGO’S UNDERGRADUATE TAUIRA. “We are hoping to run a condensed version of our in-school course for first year tauira, which will provide critical information and resources for them in the run up to the election.”

“It makes it very easy when we are trying to simulate elections because they feel really passionate and involved – much better than trying to get a room full of Year 9s excited about infrastructure or budgets.”

He wants Generation Vote to be able to provide information about how to register to vote, where to vote, how to find out about different party’s policies and how to select a candidate to vote for.

This year Generation Vote has been working with training and recruitment organisation Skillsec as well as in more traditional high school settings, and the experience has been “the most rewarding”, he says.

“So far we have four colleges on board, and we are hoping to get a few more - ideally all of them!”

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THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTION

Enrol, check or update your details now for the 2023 General Election.

Visit vote.nz or call 0800 36 76 56

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A NEW student club aims to encourage pos-

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY w/FASA

itive, future-focused change in the food science and agriculture industries, and provide a place for the agricultural- and food-minded to share discussions and ideas.

The Food and Agriculture Student Association (FASA) was started this year by students from both Agriculture Innovation and Food Science, and is for any student interested in food science and production.

President Supriya Sally says everyone eats, has opinions about food and a right to say what they want or don’t want to eat.

Peoples’ ideas all come down to agriculture (how food is grown), and food science (how food is made).

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The group is dedicated to exploring the food and agriculture sectors with “passion, concern and curiosity, says Supriya.

of agriculture.”

Second year Agriculture and Innovation and Environmental Managem student and agriculture representative for FASA, George Burdon, is “off a farm”.

Members from the two disciplines bring together the concept of ‘farm-to-fork’ and aim to educate and inspire new members to create positive change in their local communities.

FASA is a way of connecting the rural and urban divide and educating people through the ideas of food and fibre, she says.

Supriya, who is in her third year of a Food Science and Entrepreneurship degree, describes FASA as a group which strives “to encourage improvements across the industry and to come together across fields to learn more about farming, food cultures, and other related issues.”

“We are going to be the next generation who are fighting the climate crisis in these fields (literally and figuratively).

Alongside the more noble goals of promoting conversations about sustainability and climate change, the executive team are also “thrilled” to now have a place to come together and socialise - especially the Agriculture and Innovation third years who are in a tiny graduating class of ten.

Pheobe McColgan, a third year Food Science and Agriculture and Innovation tauira, says the Agriculture and Innovation degree is “really picking up”.

“We want to bring people together to discuss these issues in a fun space- cheese and wine and learning.”

Supriya is a mature student with a cheffing background who wants the wider public to understand that food science isn’t just about cooking or nutrition - as is commonly misunderstood.

There are ten in third year (who will be the first graduating class), 30 in second year and 60 in first year.

“It fills the space between the chef and the nutritionist - food scientists make and process the food we eat every day. They do product development and quality assurance amongst many other things.”

Charlotte says that as students of such a new degree Agriculture and Innovation they didn’t really feel like they had a place yet.

She says that as climate change causes agricultural changes, food scientists are required even more to implement changes which will achieve the food consistency people are used to.

“We are under Food Science and we realised that there was a lot of intellectual crossover between the two courses - and a lot of differences in our areas of expertise that lead to productive conversations.”

Vice-President Charlotte Lewis, in her third year of an Agriculture and Innovation and Economics double major, says that the Agriculture and Innovation degree at Otago is different to other courses because it is so focused on innovation.

Tamsyn, who is also “off of a farm”, is a third year Agriculture and Innovation tauira who has loved that FASA has helped her to find a community on campus.

“The world is changing and over-heating and our course is very focused on how we are going to adapt to those changes, how we will maintain our food yields and continue to produce food at a high standard.

“It’s very much in the sustainability realm

“I came to a brand new course at a university which didn’t yet have an agriculture focus- there, was no farm people around, and I wanted to find a community.

“FASA has provided that.”

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Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

WHEN THEY SAY...

WE REMEMBER...

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“THIS IS AN EQUITY ISSUE.”

STUDENT poverty is a long-term

Quintin says that giving students more financial freedom would help with a multitude of other issues, including the huge issue of student properties which are unsafe to live in.

problem, and it needs a long-term solution, says OUSA president Quintin Jane.

That’s why, alongside the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association, the OUSA are reigniting the campaign for a universal student allowance- renaming it the ‘study wage for all’.

“Giving students some power in the renting arena would hopefully push slum landlords into making their rental properties habitable- because students wouldn’t have to just find the cheapest possible place.”

Quintin says that the key aim is for the government to provide a universal student allowance of roughly $385 a week to all tertiary students in the country, regardless of age, study type, or any other form of qualifier.

The Study Wage for All website says that learning is an inherently valuable contribution- not just to the individual but to their community, their whānau and also to wider society.

“It sounds far-fetched, but it is very similar proportionately to what most of our current politicians received up until the early 1990s- and they didn’t have to pay fees.

“More critically thinking, diverse citizens prepared for a world facing increasingly complex and existential challenges [is a collective benefit for Aotearoa].”

“What we are asking for is support for the next generation of leaders. We want people from a diverse range of backgrounds to be able to study at university without barriers.”

A study wage for all would also help to foster increased social mobility, and break cycles of intergenerational poverty which will help more people in the long term, says Quintin.

These barriers to access including building up huge debt, juggling study and part-time work, regularly not having enough money to cover necessities and unsafe renting conditions.

Student poverty has been normalised, but it doesn’t have to be like this.

To submit your story or sign the petition see here.

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LOOKING FOR A JOB? Now recruiting for the 2024 AskOtago Student IT team.

Are you: - Enthusiastic - A problem solver - Customer service focused - Good with Word and Excel - Interested in IT - Keen to learn Find out more

CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION FINAL CALL! The University’s annual creative writing competition is open to Otago staff, students, and alumni, with each invited to submit one entry – either a poem or a short story – inspired by a chosen theme.

The theme for 2023 is ‘The Getting of Wisdom’ borrowed from Henry Handel Richardson’s famous Australian novel. The winning entries will be published across multiple platforms, including print, radio, and social media.

Entries close at midnight on Monday, 11 September. Winners will be announced on Thursday, 12 October. Click here for competition details.

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