1. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
Friday October 25th, 2012
Meeting opened at 1730hrs.
All attendees of the AGM have been noted in the ballot roll.
1. President’s Report.
i) UNIVERISITY –
This year the PSA had worked extensively to fix the printing credit issues that were
affecting the use of printing across the University. The PSA also worked on getting
the University and the Guild to recognize the ever-growing numbers and needs of
Postgraduate students. As more courses are shifting to become Postgraduate degree,
more resources will be required in order to handle the advocacy and representation for
the increasing number of Postgraduate students.
ii) CAPA –
As a financial affiliate of CAPA, the PSA works with CAPA in performing advocacy
work. The PSA hosted the SGM in April and recently was involved in electing the
replacement President.
iii) GUILD –
The Guild buildings are restructuring as part of the Guild “Master Plan” to renovate
and re-allocate rooms for Guild departments/clubs. As a part of the plan, the PSA
President’s office and the PSA Lounge, which is normally used by postgraduates for
conferences or private study was going to be removed as a part of the plan.
Fortunately we were able to convince the Guild that these two rooms were a necessity
and retain them.
iv) EVENTS –
The PSA hosted a myriad of events this year, with open days, welcomes, the Post
Grad Expo among other events to help introduce Postgrads to the PSA as well as
promote social interaction between Postgraduate groups. Events of note were the PSA
Quiz night, the new PSA Family Picnic which was met with great success and the
upcoming PSA Cocktail Party. The budget for the PSA Connect was increased from
$500 to $700 per Connect due to increased number of attendees.
v) PSA –
The PSA ran well this year managing to run all the events and activities that were
planned at the beginning of the year. The only exception was the career expo, but we
replaced this with a seminar series that helped Postgraduates students enter the
industry. Despite losing the Media Officer to absence early in the year, the role of
correspondence between the PSA and the Postgraduate community was diligently
maintained by the PSA President and the committee thanks her for taking on the extra
role.

2. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
2. Treasurer’s Report
The budget allocation for the PSA from the Guild was $61,000 for 2012, an increase
of roughly $10,000 from the previous budget in 2011. We are hoping to ask for
roughly $100,000 for the budget in 2013 in order to accommodate the increasing
representation and advocacy required as the number of Postgraduate students
increase.
The increase funding this year meant we were able to host more and better quality
events, especially to the increasing turnout observed in the month PSA Connects. We
were also able to increase the amount of monetary awards given for travel and
fieldwork and we hope to expand these awards next year.
Largest expenditure expected for 2012 was the PSA Postscript and the PSA Cocktail
Party. The expenditure for both of these have not yet been confirmed, but we expect
that the spending will be on track and any surplus will be used appropriately.
3. Discussions on the Future Direction of the PSA.
Major point of discussion was the position of the PSA as a Guild Department and the
increasing number of Coursework Postgraduates as more courses become
Postgraduate degrees/diplomas/certificates etc. There have been suggestions that
reforms should occur in the PSA to address this issue.
Currently, the PSA President has a speaking position within the Guild Council, but
does not have any voting rights. The PSA aims to have a stronger position in the
Guild so that the needs of Postgraduate students can be met and understood. Members
have discussed that they wish to see the PSA President be able to vote and become a
stronger presence on the Guild Council. Suggestions of a Guild merger have been put
forward to address this issue. Alternatively, the PSA could separate from the Guild act
independently or with other similar organization but this would meet with difficulty in
securing the resources required for operation.
There have been concerns for the increasing number of coursework students.
Coursework postgraduates will eventually grow to be a considerable population
within the University demographic due to the course changes. The PSA should
attempt to reach out to more coursework students as they currently do not have
enough representation with either the PSA or the Guild. Suggestions were made to
make the PSA focus on research-based Postgraduates only as their needs and
representation is differs from that of coursework and have coursework postgraduates
be represented by another organization. Concerns were raised against this suggestion
as the PSA from its namesake is to represent all Postgraduate students, regardless of
their type of study.

3. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
Members agreed that the PSA needs to understand what representation this new
generation of Postgraduate students requires and that the PSA’s should adjust its
position accordingly. We need to plan ahead and discuss what actions are required as
more Master’s courses open up and this should be done soon as soon as possible. The
PSA was need to be more approachable for new and upcoming coursework Masters
students and that we should monitor and adjust to the needs of the changing
Postgraduate population.
In conclusion, PSA members did do not want to merge or separate from the Guild, but
we need to reform the PSA, the position within the Guild, and include the University
formal structures in order to understand the current and future position of
postgraduates. To give the increasing Postgraduate population the representation and
advocacy needed, financial and human resources will be required. The reforms that
have been discussed at this meeting will be put forward and acted upon by the 2013
PSA Committee.
4. Recommendation for Ratification.
At the September meeting, the PSA committee made the following determinations on
membership of the Association and of the Committee.
1.
Given that membership of the PSA is automatic once a student enrols in a
postgrad course at UWA, Aisling asked the committee when membership
should cease. The committee determined that membership ceases once the
student has a ‘disenrolled’ status.
2.
Given that research postgrads may complete before their term has ended but
be elected to the PSA committee, the committee was asked to determine
whether the elected rep would still be eligible to remain as part of the
Committee. The committee determined that they were.
These determinations were presented at the AGM for ratification by the members of
the Association. This was done to help clarity the PSA’s stance on Postgraduate
membership of the Association and of the Committee.

4. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
5. Constitutional Amendments.
As there have been changes to the number of Faculties within the University the PSA
have asked its members to vote on changes regarding the positions of Faculty
Representatives that represent the PSA committee.
i) “There should be one representative for each Faculty within the University”
Vote is Unanimous from all AGM attendees. Motion has passed.
ii) “There shall be one Faculty Representative for the Arts Faculty”
Vote is Unanimous from all AGM attendees. Motion has passed.
iii) “There shall be one Faculty Representative for the Science Faculty”
Vote is Unanimous from all AGM attendees. Motion has passed.
6. The UWA Postgraduate Students’ Association Election for the 2013 Committee.
Executive
President and Senate Representative - All nominees have withdrawn except one:
Gemma Bothe
Gemma Bothe has been elected PSA President and Senate Representative.
Vice-President – Three nominees:
Siddartha S. Verma – Withdrawn
Kara Salter – 24 votes
Elliot Smith - 11 votes
Kara Salter has been elected Vice-President of the PSA
Secretary – One nominee
Siddartha S. Verma
Siddartha S. Verma has been elected Secretary of the PSA
Treasurer – One nominee
Elliot Smith
Elliot Smith has been elected Treasurer of the PSA

5. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
Office Bearers
Media Officer – One nominee
Rukmini Pande
Rukmini Pande has been elected Media Officer of the PSA
Equity Officer – One nominee
Vanessa Capras
Vanessa Capras has been elected as the Equity Officer of the PSA
International Students’ Officer – One nominee
Jenny Tung
Jenny Tung has been elected as the International Student’s Officer of the PSA
Coursework students’ Officer - Vacant
Indigenous students’ Officer – Vacant
Faculty Representatives
ALVA Representative – One nominee
Simon Kilbane
Simon Kilbane has been elected as the PSA ALVA Faculty Rep
Arts Faculty Representative – One nominee
Charmaine Fernandez
Charmaine Fernandez has been elected as the PSA Arts Faculty Rep
Business School Representative – One nominee
Fatima Khushnud
Fatima Khushnud has been elected as the PSA Business School Rep
Education Faculty Representative – Vacant
Engineering Faculty Representative – One nominee
Revanth Garlapati
Revanth Garlapati has been elected as the PSA Engineering Faculty Rep
Law Faculty Representative – Vacant
Science Faculty Representative – One nominee
Vipul Agarwal
Vipul Agarwal has been elected as the PSA Science Faculty Rep

6. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
MDHS Representative – Vacant
Ordinary Committee Members
Two Ordinary Committee Member positions – Two nominees
Peter Derbyshire
Christopher Bester
Peter Derbyshire and Christopher Bester have been elected as the two PSA
OCMs.
7. PSA Leadership and Community Award for 2012
The PSA Leadership and Community Award for 2012 has been awarded to Tristan
Clemons for his contribution to the WA Community. Tristan was unable to attend the
meeting and the award was presented to the current Life and Physical Sciences
Faculty Representative, Vipul Agarwal on his behalf.
8. Thanks
Aisling presented a gift on behalf of the Association to the 2012 Returning Officer, and
verbally thanked the 2012 PSA Committee and the Association members for their
attendance.
Meeting closed at 1900hrs.

7. Postgraduate Students’ Association
Annual General Meeting - Minutes
MDHS Representative – Vacant
Ordinary Committee Members
Two Ordinary Committee Member positions – Two nominees
Peter Derbyshire
Christopher Bester
Peter Derbyshire and Christopher Bester have been elected as the two PSA
OCMs.
7. PSA Leadership and Community Award for 2012
The PSA Leadership and Community Award for 2012 has been awarded to Tristan
Clemons for his contribution to the WA Community. Tristan was unable to attend the
meeting and the award was presented to the current Life and Physical Sciences
Faculty Representative, Vipul Agarwal on his behalf.
8. Thanks
Aisling presented a gift on behalf of the Association to the 2012 Returning Officer, and
verbally thanked the 2012 PSA Committee and the Association members for their
attendance.
Meeting closed at 1900hrs.