Week 13, Semester 1, 2026
Your Weekly Student Newspaper
Sydney Writers’ Festival Interviews & Panels
Writing Competition Winners
page 24–27 James Fitzgerald Sice speaks to Henry Reynolds
page 18–23
Mark Scott “failed to act” on corrupt officials James Fitzgerald Sice and Sebastien Tuzilovic Investigation, page 14
1st Place Fiction: receding by Barnaby Smith
Madison Burland interviews Tigest Girma Kuyili Karthik gets Found in Translation
First Printed 1929
1st Place Nonfiction: What the Dead Are Asked to Become by Benjamin Sestanovic
Kiah Nanavati attends Radical Hope 2nd Place Fiction: Sleepwalking by Isaac Hogarth 2nd Place Nonfiction: The Bus on King Street by Arjun Avtani Editors’ Choice Fiction: The Whale in the Gardens by Baxter Mitchell-Knight Editors’ Choice Nonfiction: Circles: On Gravity and Grace by Arwen Beaumont-Lee
A recent report by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has found that current USyd Vice Chancellor Mark Scott “failed to act” upon corrupt conduct within the NSW Education Department during his tenure as Secretary. The report, titled ‘Operation Landan’, examined corruption within School Infrastructure NSW (SINSW) and found that its former chief executive Anthony Manning engaged in corrupt conduct by “subverting recruitment and procurement practices to arrange and extend jobs and lucrative contracts for his friends and associates”. The report was published on April 22, 2026. SINSW was established after advice from Mark Scott to then-Minister for Education Robert Stokes, as a measure to combat the need for better infrastructure development within the education system. In 2017, the NSW government announced a $4.2 billion investment in education infrastructure over four years, with SINSW established as an administrative unit within the Department. ICAC found that despite this formal status, SINSW operated like an independent “quasi-agency” in practice.
4–8: NEWS
12
USU Board Directors 2026 provisionally elected After a campaign week that generated more complaints than most recent elections combined, the University of Sydney Union has provisionally elected its 2026 Board Directors, with five candidates securing seats
12–13: ANALYSIS
In defence of relaxed attendance
Marc Paniza USyd Comedians Worst Gigs
across ten counts against a quota of 1,290 votes. The five provisionally elected board directors are William McCarthy, James Green, Nabilah Chowdhury, Serina Guo, and Zayed Tabish.
For most students registered with Inclusion and Disability Services (IDS), relaxed attendance is not ratified in their Academic Plans (APs). If attendance is mentioned in one’s AP, it is merely noted as a matter of consideration to
Bucky Barnes: Trauma Healer
Kayla Hill
the teacher to not construe the absence as disengagement. For example, mine says “Kayla’s attendance may also be impacted — please note that difficulty attending as expected may be a direct impact of the student’s disability...