The on again, off again ANU student elections.

creative_canberran said :

Here’s an idea of what’s in store: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXfQRVllU4&t=5m23s
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All I took out of that was that there was some weird dude with a painted face, and what looked like an Angry Bird on a stick, sitting behind the candidates for some reason.

These elections are obviously very serious business.

Fleur is the French word for flower.

That is all.

New Yeah said :

F…..Take note of the names of the more ambitious candidates and watch where they end up in the years to come…….

Yeah, and if any single one of that sad bunch get anywhere near real politics, god help us.

There are a lot of smart young people at the ANU. Clearly, none of them want to be involved in politics, and we will be the poorer for it.

.

All right, mate, we get the picture – you have some issue with Fleur and you have some issue with Woroni. It’s getting a little old.

New ANUSA president is Fleur Hawes it was announced today.

No surprise at all, when you throw enough money around, get front page puff pieces in student media and manage to run a campaign with no substantive policies to confuse people with, it’s a given. Particularly as the current president had “groomed” her to assume the role.

Here’s an idea of what’s in store: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXfQRVllU4&t=5m23s
Notice how she doesn’t actually answer the question, instead, she lists heaps of issues and gives a broad answer about “engaging” with students on them.
Even more amusing is despite having her answers written, she still trips up every few words.

Sorry, but this just seals the stereotypes. Student politics never rewards the talented, it rewards who ever is out on the piss getting their name out there enough. That’s why so many good people speak of not even bothering to run.

Quidditch? What sort of grown man or woman plays dressup and pretends to ride a broom? The only activity we had with broomsticks when I was at uni involved office chairs, bin lids and a long hallway for a spot of broomstick jousting. Quidditch forsooth!

Honestly, student politics is so fierce because the stakes are so low and has all the backstabbing, branch stacking and intrigue of a Labor Party branch preselection. No-one really cares about most of the student services, as long as the bar is stocked and there is parking available.

For the less-politically inclined among you, there remains some merit in student elections. Take note of the names of the more ambitious candidates and watch where they end up in the years to come. You will be able to regale your peers with tales of “Oh, I remember that when that <> was a student politican” and claim some vicarious connection to those that are probably more powerful and influential than yourself. I’ve been doing this for years.

ThatUniStudent said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Also, am I correct in reading that you would only be interested in voting for them if they were making a difference on the important topics, things that mattered to you or your education….. or if they gave you free food?

Yes, you are correct. Especially about the free food. It should be a national right. Vote for me and I’ll give you free food. I’ll vote for whoever has that in a plebacite.
Oh, and you may have mistaken my un-seriously off the planet sense of student hilarity for seriousness. The elections are, well not even a storm in a tea cup, barely a ripple, but good for a whinge and piss take. Remeber, I’m an ANU uni student. It is my job to whinge. That and something about assignments and lectures.

I do apologise, and retract my ire. It has been a few years since I studied there – getting forgetful about the right to whinge part….don’t remember what these assignment and lecture thingies are that you speak of…. 🙂

Sounds like some heavy s*** going down at the ANU!

“Well can you at least get rid of the quidditch team that seems to be soaking up all the clubs and societies funding?”

WTF? Seriously, running around with a broomstick under me isn’t my cup of tea but a lot of people really enjoy it. Lighthearted, fun, exactly what we should be encouraging.

You want to know what is really soaking up the money… retreats. And many tickets are proposing more of them. For those unaware, these are silly junkets done under the guise of “team building” and “training” but really involves getting on the piss at some location out of town.

Golden Ticket is strongly advocating to have more of them, which means they’re channeling more funds into the few students who get an invite when they should be doing more for all.

“Well can you at least get rid of the quidditch team that seems to be soaking up all the clubs and societies funding?”

What are you talking about? The Quidditch teams get barely any funding, most of their activities are student-supported. I wish people would stop complaining about this, it was a stupid rumour started up by one of the election ticket groups in the first place. Outside of struggling to pay ANU’s exhorbitant rent and trying to keep up with ridiculous assessment schedules students should be able to have fun and if running around with a broom (and/or hockey stick/pony) between their legs chasing four balls then so be it, and anyone who complains about the (very small amount) that they receive in student union sponsorship is just a little bit of a spoilsport.

I find it very strange when a 21 year old refers to themselves as a “hack” of any kind.

creative_canberran said :

t gets worse, this was posted by Woroni on their Facebook today:

“?**News Update**

2012 O-WEEK & BUSH WEEK IN DOUBT IF STIMULATE!’s SOCIAL OFFICER ELECTED

After an investigation into Stimulate!’s policies, Woroni discovered that Stimulate! has not published a social policy even though they are running a candidate for Social Officer, William Qu.

At present, Mr Qu is President of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). Woroni has obtained an email sent to all CSSA members urging them to vote for Mr Qu and the broader Stimulate! ticket.

The Social Officer is responsible for organising O-Week, Bush Week and social events throughout the year. If Mr Qu is elected to the position of Social Officer, it is unclear whether O-Week and Bush Week will occur in 2012.”

Clear example of election tampering designed to prop up Fleur Hawes’ “independent” Golden Ticket (amusing given she is well known as a Labor die hard in Canberra), who curiously have no education policy for on campus issues yet has received puff pieces rather than criticism from Woroni. The inequity alone is bad, but launching an attack on the even of the close of the election is dirty, plain and simple.

It’s kinda funny you should say all this, considering the fact that the “Stimulate” ticket have a bunch of interstate NUS students campaigning for them (indeed, ones that have openly referred to as “ALP hacks”). I’ve heard from several people that there has been an agreement between a particular ALP faction and the CSSA (Chinese Student & Scholars Association, whose President is on the Stimulate ticket) whereby the ALP NUS delegates get all the votes from the largest student organisation on campus, and the CSSA can gain control of the arm of ANUSA that it has had conflict with over the last year.

I agree with Creative_Canberran that Woroni’s William Qu jibe was rather cheap. but Qu is hardly an angel, when running for CSSA president, he tried to cheat by keeping another candidate off the ballot for no legitimate reason. http://www.woroni.com.au/articles/news/presidential-election-scandal-cssa-bars-candidate-running

I don’t know (or care) enough about the inner workings and vote deals of these political titans, but i know enough to know that your simplistic dichotomy of GoldenTicket = election tampering hacks, Activate and/or Stimulate = victims of said hacks is not remotely convincing.

I like that one party is promising camel rides at Market Day. I want to know where you can hire camels from in Canberra.

MonarchRepublic said :

Also, am I correct in reading that you would only be interested in voting for them if they were making a difference on the important topics, things that mattered to you or your education….. or if they gave you free food?

Yes, you are correct. Especially about the free food. It should be a national right. Vote for me and I’ll give you free food. I’ll vote for whoever has that in a plebacite.
Oh, and you may have mistaken my un-seriously off the planet sense of student hilarity for seriousness. The elections are, well not even a storm in a tea cup, barely a ripple, but good for a whinge and piss take. Remeber, I’m an ANU uni student. It is my job to whinge. That and something about assignments and lectures.

t gets worse, this was posted by Woroni on their Facebook today:

“?**News Update**

2012 O-WEEK & BUSH WEEK IN DOUBT IF STIMULATE!’s SOCIAL OFFICER ELECTED

After an investigation into Stimulate!’s policies, Woroni discovered that Stimulate! has not published a social policy even though they are running a candidate for Social Officer, William Qu.

At present, Mr Qu is President of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). Woroni has obtained an email sent to all CSSA members urging them to vote for Mr Qu and the broader Stimulate! ticket.

The Social Officer is responsible for organising O-Week, Bush Week and social events throughout the year. If Mr Qu is elected to the position of Social Officer, it is unclear whether O-Week and Bush Week will occur in 2012.”

Clear example of election tampering designed to prop up Fleur Hawes’ “independent” Golden Ticket (amusing given she is well known as a Labor die hard in Canberra), who curiously have no education policy for on campus issues yet has received puff pieces rather than criticism from Woroni. The inequity alone is bad, but launching an attack on the even of the close of the election is dirty, plain and simple.

Shinigami_Josh said :

How much money is the silly harrypotter fan club getting for the quidditch team?

A quick google shows an initial outlay of $300 for hoops and sticks etc. Looking at their site, they have enough players to represent all the ‘houses’ in harry potter, and have a round robin.

Yes its a popularity contest because nobody else gives a s***. Only about 300 people actually vote (out of 12,000 students). And yes, avoid Union Court, its full of ‘chugger’ types

How much money is the silly harrypotter fan club getting for the quidditch team?

then again the club grants where seriously screwed up a few years ago.

Some of the tickets actually have some good ideas this time. I don’t have anything to do with them, but I have been impressed with the detail of the Activate ticket’s education policy. it’s more than one or two paragraphs and even has proper grammar.

Golden Ticket on the other hand, widely viewed as the sure winner because of some behind the scenes tactics and the presidential nominee’s social climbing over the past three years has very little detail to their policies.
in fact they couldn’t even come up with their own logo, just copied and pasted it off the web:
Their logo: http://www.goldenticketforanusa.net/
The original: http://kailoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/golden.png

Then there’s a bunch of independents who have good policies but get their voices silenced by the big tickets.

So basically works like Parliament.

And if you are handing out flyers, remember that every time you glance and me and then dismiss me for being too old to vote and so dont give me a flyer – well, it causes a little part of my ego to die.

Admittedly I am too old and I never voted when I was at Uni, but think of all the old men. We are still trendy and hip. Or whatever the term you youngsters use now days.

You’re old enough to have voted in one or more federal elections right? 🙂

But my how you appear to whinge on this site! Have you taken any steps yourself to address any of these social injustices that are committed by the University/the World?

Why don’t you try to gather together some like minded people, and get your own ‘ticket’ together for the elections? Not that important to you? Then get over it. It is one week as you say. From memory these happenings in fact brought a bit of colour and life to union court.

Also, am I correct in reading that you would only be interested in voting for them if they were making a difference on the important topics, things that mattered to you or your education….. or if they gave you free food?

Union court during student elections is no worse than Civic is everyday thanks to the chuggers – if it’s really so intolerable, UC is just a bus ride away.

PS:
There are two elections because there are two bodies
1. the union board, which manages the refectory
2. the students association, which deals with representation, events (O week, bush week, ect) and oversees affiliated clubs and societies, among other things.