Who are the candidates? 

Phoenix O’Neill, of the ‘Grassroots’ ticket
Elijah Smith, from ‘Get Sh!t Done’
Su-En Hia, running independently with ‘Su-En for Clubs Officer’
Jeffery Yang, running independently, with ‘Have a Jab with Jeffery’

How will you ensure more engagement with clubs at the ANU?

O’Neill plans to integrate clubs into a redesigned ANUSA website and app, regularly updating a Clubs calendar and information. In addition, O’Neill hopes to increase SSAF funding for clubs up to $200,000 and to restructure “the Clubs Council Executive to make it more effective and less tied up in complicated governance” and therefore more accessible. O’Neill also flagged that they will seek to maximise student engagement with O-Week and Bush Week, in line with restrictions. 

Smith, a member of the ANU Society for Arts and Social Science (SASS) executive, hopes to address decreased engagement with clubs through “work(ing) closely with next year’s Community Officer to run more club leadership events,” and more widely advertise “club elections and position descriptions in the social calendar.” He also strives to add more events to orientation weeks run by clubs and work with the Treasurer in transferring clubs funds to QPay union, exposing clubs to more students and hopefully “increasing their yearly engagement.” Finally, Smith aims to clarify students’ “rights to disputes … (to) allow for a safer club space”, especially for first years. 

Yang similarly hopes to improve club exposure and “executive recruitment.” He suggests “running mini market days throughout the year and highlighting individual clubs” in ANUSA’s student communications and running more events during orientation weeks. Furthermore, Yang would run “Clubs 101 workshops,” to increase understanding of club procedures and advertise vacant positions, and professional development sessions for club executives with the ANU+ program and ANU Careers Office.

Hia proposes a three-pronged policy to support clubs in event marketing to increase student engagement. Firstly, she will engage clubs and societies in orientation weeks through grants which will help to boost club visibility and membership, outside of Market Day. Hia also suggests “distributing a fortnightly or monthly calendar” of club events to students, including in-person and online events, to streamline marketing, so that “students won’t have to trawl through the countless Facebook pages.” Alongside the calendar, she will also “spotlight a selection of clubs … to promote lesser-known clubs to increase student engagement.”

How will you ensure that clubs are made/remain accessible to students both on and off campus? 

Hia hopes to improve club accessibility to remote students through “supporting all clubs to prioritise virtual events” and will run an Online Engagement training with the International Students Department (ISD). Additionally, she proposes a “virtual Market Day in collaboration with the ISD” for remote students. To address accessibility more broadly, she suggests “compulsory inclusivity and accessibility training for all club executives, run in conjunction with Department Officers, and the implementation of safer-spaces and anti-discrimination policies in Clubs Council.” Hia also intends to distribute information on club processes and create a club contact list. 

Yang aspires to ensure club equity, improve event promotion and engage remote students. Yang proposes creating an equity grant for tickets, promoting free events through SEEF and Kambri references and formalising ANUSA department consultation. He also poses a “featured club/event system on the Clubs Facebook page.” To engage remote students, Yang would “encourage clubs with large overseas memberships to … hold events in other cities, consulting with ISD” and expand the Clubs’ Council social media onto Whatsapp and WeChat.  

Smith proposes a Clubs’ Equity grant to fund event equity tickets and remove financial barriers to student engagement. He explains that he has consulted with the Disabilities Officer and aspires to apply principles of accessibility to the Clubs Officer role, the Clubs Council and individual clubs. Smith also plans to run “accessibility training for both CCE and Club Executive members” and will espouse a commitment to running “multimodal events” as well as “non-alcohol events, low-spoons events and … digital events.”  

O’Neill places emphasis on improving standards of training for clubs, such as anti-discrimination training, and making events and accessibility training more accessible for students with disabilities. To achieve this, they will take on some of the Community Officer’s workload. They plan to devise “a robust anti-discrimination policy” in response to student concerns that Clubs Council is not a safe space for minority and marginalised students and to ensure accountability for clubs to be “an accessible space for all students.” Additionally, O’Neill strives to increase collaboration with Department Officers and would work to expand ideas of equity tickets.

What are your plans for maintaining involvement in clubs in the event of another lockdown due to COVID-19?

O’Neill says they have contingency plans in place in the event of further COVID-19 lockdowns. If elected, they will maintain communication through a regular newsletter with information on any lockdown measures in place. Further, O’Neill plans on including online event modules for clubs to encourage flexibility and adaptivity. These online modules would also benefit existing measures that make meetings more accessible for students with disabilities. Finally, O’Neill plans on collaborating with the ISD to ensure student engagement with the programs.

Smith plans to invest resources into online engagement for clubs at the ANU. As Club Council Executive Community Officer, he is already in the process of compiling online games and platforms, which he would share as Clubs Officer. As part of this plan, Smith will ensure the CCE engages with club meetings, to make them more accessible. Moreover, he intends to engage more of the community through more exciting and less bureaucratic meetings, and a revamped social calendar. Lastly, Smith hopes to promote the Capital Expenditure grant to assist clubs to run online events. 

Hia has created a threefold plan in the event of further lockdowns. Firstly, she plans to support and encourage clubs to run virtual events. Secondly, Hia would hold online consultation hours with club executives to assist in the transition to online events. Thirdly, she intends to ensure a regular schedule of online events for students. Hia has experience with such changes, as she facilitated the transition of the Science Society to an online platform in 2020 and 2021. 

Yang’s first priority is to ensure that clubs are not in financial or personal distress in the event of another lockdown. His focal points to achieve this end are to ensure online club exposure and increase the variety of events. Yang plans to generate weekly event lists, improve club social media presence, create more events, and assist clubs to run online events.