Oh no, they’re baaaaack!
Yes, those bloody annoying student elections are on again at the ANU. I still don’t know why we have to have them twice. I don’t really care either. All I know is that the union square at ANU is now full of annoying students trying to get us to vote for crap that we don’t give a crap about. It would be funny if not for the people who take it seriously. I mean like this woman came up to me today totally invading my personal space with a glint of glee in her eye and started telling me about policies.
So I stopped her in her tracks and asked: “Are you going to do anything about the week long wait to see a doctor on campus?”
“No.” Apparently not.
“What about the 3 week long wait to see the counselling service?”
No, not going to fix that either.
“What about the fact that if I get here after 9am I can’t find anywhere to park? What about free parking for car pools”
No, that wasn’t a priority for her either.
“What about affordable accommodation for students on Centerlink benefits who get less than $300 a week?”
No, but she did mention her parents paid for her accommodation.
“Well can you at least get rid of the quidditch team that seems to be soaking up all the clubs and societies funding?”
She didn’t know what quidditch was.
At that point I was demotivated enough that I decided that apathy and not voting were my number one candidates for the upcoming poll.
Seriously, why do these people get so hyped up about what is basically a popularity contest. Why can’t they understand why we don’t care about this attention getting stunt? They don’t make a difference on the things that matter. If they did have realistic policies about things that mattered, I’d probably vote for them. If they were going to make a positive difference in my life I’d vote for them. If they had an inkling of an idea of what really mattered to uni students, I’d vote for them.
Instead I have to put up with a week of annoying students wasting my time and wearing t-shirts that were probably funded by me some how. Plus, get this, they’ve been banned from giving out free food. Now how about a policy to overturn that ban. If they gave me free food I’d vote for them.
Elections, if voting changed anything they’d make it illegal. If they were real revolutionaries they would be arranging a sit in of the vice chancellors residence,
Loading ...
What’s Your opinion?
The on again, off again ANU student elections.
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 :
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 :
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 :
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.