Griffith University’s Student for Palestine branch called out the SRC’s Revitalise faction for blocking a motion to support the Not Our Laws campaign.

In an Instagram post on Friday, Griffith’s Student for Palestine branch explained that Revitalise used its majority on the board to vote against supporting Justice for Palestine protests happening between the 17th and 19th of April.

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In a statement made by Griffith Students for Palestine to the Griffith Journal, the group said that they condemned the silencing of Pro-Palestinian activism on the SRC by student members of the Labor Party.

“Last year’s election of five representatives of Revitalise, four of whom are student members of the Labor Party, marked a shift in the SRC’s orientation,” a Griffith Students for Palestine spokesperson said.

The statement took aim at Revitalise’s decision to vote against motions that criticised the government for supporting Israel politically and militarily and encouraging students to attend Pro-Palestine protests.

“Student organisations should be vocal about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and inform students of the ways in which they can contribute to the mass movement calling for an end to Australia’s complicity,” the spokesperson said.

The SRC Chairperson, Spencer Holzheimer, said in a statement to the Griffith Journal that Revitalise’s decision was a surprise as it differs from what was stated at the Q&A With the SRC Event hosted by the Griffith Journal on March 25th.

“It is clear that the decision from Revitalise members has struck many in the community as a surprising shift in tone and a departure from the group’s previous position on Palestine, including the position they publicly stated at the recent SRC Q&A event,” Spencer said.

Spencer Holzheimer acknowledges that his position as Chairperson of the SRC comes with the obligation to publicly represent the views of the Board to the best of his ability, regardless of personal feelings, and to maintain his commitment to best representing students.

“A potential explanation of this behaviour, however, may be that Revitalise are likely deeply cautious of supporting groups with potential ties to the Socialist Alternative movement, fearing that groups like Justice for Palestine have previously been seen by some as potentially operating as feeder organisations to funnel support into the Socialist Alternative ecosystem.

“With this also potentially explaining how the group can publicly support Palestine while opposing motions supporting the Justice for Palestine organisation,” Spencer explained in his statement.

“While which side students end up agreeing with remains to be seen, I encourage both sides to remember that Board members are elected to represent and advocate for the views of students to the best of their abilities, not simply when those views are convenient for their personal political beliefs, and not simply as part of the tribalistic student politics game-playing that we’ve seen slowly killing genuine student advocacy within countless other student organisations at universities across Australia,” Spencer said.

Makeup of the 2026 Griffith SRC Board

After the 2026 SRC Board elections last year, the Board is comprised of three distinct factions.

Five seats were up for grabs in last year’s election.

The Revitalise faction ran a joint ticket of five candidates in the election and won all five of those seats.

Four members of Revitalise are also members of the Labor Party.

The Socialist Alternative faction has two members who were elected to the SRC Board in the 2025 election.

The Socialist Alternative faction uses their position on the Board to advocate for an end to the genocide of Palestinians.

The final faction is made up of two independent Board members.

One of those Board members is Spencer Holzheimer, the Chairperson of the SRC.

The SRC Board represents the Brisbane, Logan and online campuses, however all nine members of the Board are based at the Nathan Campus.

The recent emergence of political factions on the SRC Board has caused tension and disagreements during the decision-making process.

Recent SRC Motions on Palestine

At the SRC’s previous Board meeting on March 24th, all SRC Board members, including Revitalise members, voted to support the following motion,

“The SRC supports the open letter (via change.org) by Palestine Action Group demanding that the charges against the two activists be dropped. The SRC condemns the Queensland government’s new hate speech laws as a draconian attack on free speech and political expression. The SRC calls on the Queensland government to repeal the new hate speech laws immediately. The SRC reaffirms that pro-Palestine speech, including phrases calling for equal rights for Palestinians, is not antisemitic.”

The action following this vote was that,

“The SRC will publish its opposition to these arrests and share the open letter on its social media.”

This motion established that the SRC could publicly show its support for upcoming protests against the State Liberal National Party Government’s Hate Speech Laws.

However, just days before the SRC was scheduled to post a tile on Instagram supporting Justice for Palestine Magandjin’s ‘Not Our Law’ campaign, the Revitalise members backtracked, voting no to showing solidarity.

Screenshots of the last-minute vote in the official SRC Teams chatroom were leaked to the Griffith Journal.

• It is important to note that votes in the official Teams chatroom have the same weight as votes in a regular SRC board meeting.

The wording proposed for the unsuccessful SRC post supporting the ‘Not Our Laws’ campaign was as follows,

Griffith SRC condemns the QLD Governments new hate speech laws as an attack on free speech and political expression and supports Justice for Palestine Magan-djin’s calls for:

• the sections of legislation that restrict political speech to be repealed
• all charges against those arrested under these laws to be dropped
• no further arrests to be committed under this legislation

If you want to support Justice for Palestine Magan-djin’s Not Our Law campaign, there are several ways to do so including signing onto their statement (link in bio).

Or attending a protest:

Saturday 18th April, 1:00pm, King George Square, Brisbane City

Sunday 19th April, 1:00pm, King George Square Brisbane City

The members of the Socialist Alternative SRC faction agreed that the unsuccessful post was in line with the motion in March that condemned the QLD Government’s hate speech laws.

However, the Revitalise members requested that the proposed Instagram tile supporting the ‘Not Our Laws’ campaign should be put to a vote.

The motion to support the ‘Not Our Laws’ campaign was rejected by the majority of the Board in that vote.

In a statement, Revitalise said that this recent vote did not contradict the March motion in principle but reflected a more cautious approach to the SRC’s external endorsements.

“While Revitalise supported the March 24th motion condemning the QLD Government’s hate speech laws and expressing solidarity with activists, the decision not to endorse the ‘Not Our Law’ campaign reflects a distinction between agreeing with the general principle and formally affiliating with a specific external campaign,” a Revitalise spokesperson said.

Revitalise ‘rejected the characterisation’ that Revitalise used ‘its majority to broadly vote down pro-Palestinian motions’.

“It goes without saying that Revitalise is pro-Palestinian.

“Revitalise has consistently focused on initiatives that deliver direct support to Griffith students, including policies and actions aimed at improving student welfare, easing cost of living pressures and campus experience,” said the spokesperson.

The Not Our Laws Campaign

The ‘Not Our Law’ campaign is a weekend of action consisting of three rallies being held from the 17th to the 19th of April.

The weekend of action takes aim at the Crisafulli Government’s new Hate Speech laws, which banned Queenslanders from using two Pro-Palestinian phrases.

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