Sticking with the Brat iconography, and putting a Chifley library spin on it, Change your ANUSA announced on Thursday that Harrison Oates will be their Clubs Officer candidate for this year’s ANUSA Election. The announcement may come as unexpected to those who remember Oates running on the independent (‘grindies’) ticket in 2022 and 2023.
In a personal Facebook post, Harrison explains his reasons for the change. He opens, “It has become clear to me over the past months that the Grindie project has strayed from its (grass)roots.”, going on to explain his inability to continue running on a ticket that “promises one thing and does another”.
He is the current ANUSA Undergraduate Coursework Representative and also cites his experience as a member of the Computer Science Students’ Association executive.
Change is a joint Labor ticket, however Oates states he is running with them as an “independent candidate”.
He references “plans to get more money into the hands of our clubs, to make club governance easier, and make sure our social spaces are accessible for all students. He is beginning this process by reaching out to clubs to ensure his “policy platform is fit-for-purpose and representative of our community”.
A key point in his post is his mention of the newly amended Clubs Regulations, which were passed at this semester’s OGM. The amendments primarily involve the addition of prohibited discriminatory conduct in line with the Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT). The amendments were first discussed at SRC 5, with some debate surrounding the discretion the regulations give to the Clubs Officer to interpret what satisfies as discriminatory conduct.
Harrison’s post references the incumbent’s lack of consultation or input from the club’s community when drafting these new regulations. It should be noted that the regulations received overwhelming bipartisan approval at the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM), and it thus remains to be seen what Harrison and Change thinks could have been improved through more consultation.
On a ticket that is advocating for changing the status quo of the union, Harrison becomes Change’s fifth incumbent running for an executive position.
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