The ‘Back on Track’ campaign officially launched today with former clubs council secretary Josh Polak running for general secretary, the ticket’s only executive position. The campaign is also contesting five college representative positions, four general representative positions and four delegate positions for the National Union of Students (NUS).
The labor affiliated ticket aims to increase accountability in ANUSA, with a focus on rebuilding student unionism. ‘Back on Track’ also plans to introduce several reforms designed to increase ANUSA’s accessibility, such as reintroducing live-streaming of meetings and improving hybrid delivery and is “dedicated to re-establishing a responsible, accountable, and effective ANUSA”.
According to candidates, the ticket is looking to improve the relationship between ANUSA and the NUS, stating their belief that the union should be inherently political. Ultimately, ‘Back on Track’ plans to “re-establish [ANUSA’s] status as a real union… [to] ensure our concerns are made visible on a national platform”, said Meg Billson. If elected, members of the ticket will sit with the labour-right aligned ‘Student Unity’ faction, the largest faction at the NUS.
The ticket also plans on enshrining a governance committee in the ANUSA constitution with the ability to review the implementation of past reforms and greater scope of enquiry. ”Ultimately, I am passionate about ensuring ANUSA achieves good governance outcomes so ANUSA can be an effective student union” said Polak.
The full list of ‘Back on Track’ candidates are as follows:
Executive:
Josh Polak for General Secretary
College Representatives:
Adam Busselmann for College of Law Representative
Meg Billson for College of Asia and the Pacific Representative
Louise Godhard for Joint College of Sciences Representative
Rosie Welsh for College of Engineering and Computer Science Representative
Phillip Kim for College of Arts and Social Sciences Representative
General Representatives:
Samuel MacRae
Alex Nancarrow
Raf Priest
Ben Naiju
National Union of Students Delegates:
Samuel MacRae
Meg Billson
Ben Naiju
Alex Nancarrow
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