Semper Floreat is the University of Queensland Union's free & independent student newspaper.
[Originally published in the February Issue, 18th of February 2026] [SPOILER WARNING: Whalefall (Daniel Kraus), and The Employees (Olga Ravn)] In December of 2025, I read two books that, although were very different in terms of prose and genre, were quite similar in terms of one specific plot device: the main characters are trapped somewhere, and death is fast approaching. In Daniel Kraus’s 2023 novel Whalefall, this comes […]
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By El Bancroft [Originally published in the February Issue, 18th of February 2026] On December 16, 2025, I published a zine titled Why You Need to be More Anti-Gen AI, and some of the information I provided there, I will include here. Generative AI has been an issue that I’ve been passionate about for a while now, and it still […]
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I am best friends with the bizarre. My favourite books are often the ones with a uniquely bonkers story, often complemented by an equally bonkers formatting style. I’ll be honest, I had no clue what to do for this edition’s Lit Corner, so I thought I’d make some short and sweet recommendations for some of […]
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On Wednesday 3rd of September, just over a year since the last one, the UQ Union held a Student General Meeting (SGM), for students to vote on the following businesses: Doors opened just after 5 pm, and students were required to register and show their ID before entry. Bags also weren’t allowed in the room. […]
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Not long after Charlie Kirk, a far-right conservative media personality, was assassinated at Utah Valley University, an event was posted onto UQ Stalkerspace advertising a vigil here on campus. Like many others, I left a comment on that event that noted the harm he caused throughout his life, and refused to mourn his death. I […]
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On August 31st, a rally named “March for Australia” occurred nationwide. Organisers and attendees of this rally claimed it was a protest to stop mass immigration, with some of their slogans including “No Foreign Flags” and “End Mass Migration”. Many attendees, including Hugo Lennon (aka Auspill), blamed mass migration on housing and cost-of-living crises. Lennon […]
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On Sunday, 24th August 2025, I had the honour of attending the Nationwide March for Palestine, marching with the Magandjin People’s Pride queer contingent. Originally, the rally, organised by Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, was planned to start at Raymond Park, where protesters would march across the Story Bridge and finish at Centenary Place, Fortitude Valley. […]
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If you’re queer or LGBTQIA+ and pro-Palestinian, chances are you’ve been hit with the phrase ‘you’d be killed for being gay in Palestine’ or something similar. This is an example of pinkwashing. According to DecolonizePalestine, Pinkwashing ‘refers to when a state or organization appeals to LGBTQ+ rights in order to deflect attention from its harmful […]
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Erasing Palestine – Rebecca Ruth Gould (2023) [Non-fiction] ‘Our silence is complicity. This complicity also silences Palestinians, keeping their experiences hidden from public view.’ Rebecca Ruth Gould’s Erasing Palestine is a well-researched exploration of free speech and the struggle for Palestinian freedom. Not only does it describe Gould’s experience in being accused of antisemitism for […]
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Good and honest disability representation can be hard to come by. I often wake up in cold sweats remembering Sia’s 2021 Autistic masterpiece Music (note the sarcasm). Misrepresentation of disabled people in media is often caused by a lack of understanding or demonisation of disability. As a disabled bibliophile, I had almost given up finding […]
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