The Political Interest Society will meet in Doug McDonell at 12pm this Tuesday to watch amusing politically-themed TV shows. Most likely Yes Minister or Frontline this week, though we're open to suggestions. Feel free to bring your lunch, too.

From 1pm we will be having our regular discussion meeting, where we will eat biscuits and argue over:

Euthanasia
Do we want to see legislation allowing assisted suicide? Would such legislation be too open to abuse?

Palestine Solidarity Week
This week is Palestine Solidarity Week at the Student Union. There has been some controversy over the union's financial support for PSW. Should the Student Union be picking a side in a conflict in the Middle East? Should they put money towards partisan political functions at all? Or should they stick to providing student services?

Some background information for those of you who are newer to student politics and have some time to read up:
Palestine Solidarity Week events: http://union.unimelb.edu.au/ed-public/palestine-solidarity-week
Students for Palestine blog: http://union.unimelb.edu.au/ed-public/palestine-solidarity-week
Petition opposing the use of money from the UMSU Welfare and Education budgets to support PSW: http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/umsu-students-council.html

And for those who can slog through meeting minutes, there is a discussion of this issue on page five of the most recent Students Council meeting: http://union.unimelb.edu.au/file_download/671/Minutes+SC+M3+12-02-09.pdf


Foreign aid
Recently there was some debate over Australian foreign aid programs supporting safe abortions in Third World countries. Should foreign aid from the Australian government be akin to charitable donations, with no strings attached, or is it acceptable to attach conditions to them?

Internet Filter
Do we approve of the government's proposed internet filter? Is the legislation even likely to succeed?

To be followed by discount drinks and free chips at the Prince Alfred Until 5-ish.

The new saviours

I simply could not resist.

This week in the PIS - an unexpected change of meeting place

Since the introduction of VSU mid-2006, and the Melbourne Model in 2007, the Political Interest Society has been embattled and sometimes struggled to survive. There have been drastic measures such as the 'infinity percent tax rise' of the $2 joining fee, and setbacks like the failure to produce an edition of our journal, Audi Alteram Partem, for 2009. (If there are any students in the club with journalistic ambitions who would like to help get it off the ground again, we'd love to hear from you!)

This week, we almost suffered another setback of this difficult era in the life of the politically interested when we lost our booking Alice Hoy room 242. Once again, the politically interested masses of the University of Melbourne find themselves estranged from the traditional homeland of Alice Hoy.

Fortunately, after hours of searching through the harsh wilds of Parkville Campus, your PIS committe have found another place where we can eat biscuits and shout at each other, all the way next door in the Doug McDonell building.

So, for this week, and for the rest of semester barring any more similar difficulties, the Political Interest Society will meet at 1pm Tuesday in Doug McDonell Room 711. Don't be put off by all the scaffolding out the front, the place is still open; you can access it by the fire door at the front of the building or the entrance to the lower floor on the northern side.

This week's topics to shout about:

Peter Garrett
Peter Garrett made his name as the frontman of radical green-left band Midnight Oil, but is now a minister in a government that supports policies which are nothing like those he used to support. Is this hypocritical?

Pakistan
Where do we stand on the crisis in Pakistan?

Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor
He wants the bogans out of the city, wants to ban hailing taxis at night and now says Adelaide should be shut down as it has no redeeming features. How do we like the new Lord Mayor so far? And will he ever act on anything he says?

Queensland state election
Is it at all possible for Labor to lose this election? Can Pauline Hanson win a seat standing as an independent or is her time up?


Followed by drinks at the pub from 2pm until we run out of change - which will be later than usual since our trips to the pub now come with free bar snacks - chips, wedges and nachos at the pub will now be coming out of the Political Interest Society's budget instead of your wallets.

The Political Interest Society will meet this week on Tuesday in Alice Hoy 242. The traditional discussion and consumption of biscuits will commence as usual at 1pm. However, as we fortunately get the room from midday onwards, at 12:15-ish we'll have a play around with the DVD player in the room and try putting on some politically-themed DVDs. Exact screening to be decided - but it'll probably be The West Wing.

After the regular meeting finishes at 2pm, we'll all head off to the pub where we'll either keep arguing or talk about all those things I didn't put on the agenda.

The topics for discussion this week:

An Accident in Zimbabwe
The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe was injured and his wife was killed in a car accident a few days ago. Is this a bad sign for the stability of Zimbabwe's government?

Governor-General
Quentin Bryce has been criticised for being too proactive in her role as Governor-General. Is there room for our head of state to meet with leaders from the ADF or meet with other leaders overseas, or should she stick to signing Bills?

Trouble in Northern Ireland
Real IRA have claimed credit for a shooting in Northern Ireland. Is this an isolated incident or the end of twelve years of peace?

Bushfire funds and insurance
Should victims of the bushfires who didn't insure their homes receive more support from charitable donations, or the same amount as other victims? Should home insurance be compulsory in bushfire-prone areas?