Labor Left and Labor Right, the two factions of the Labor party on campus, have announced a historic joint ticket for the upcoming ANUSA election. The ticket focuses on improving the experience of on-campus students.

The currently unnamed ticket aims to fight for better rights for residents, improving the ANU’s social scene, and a greater transparency of ANUSA funding.

Azraa Hussain (she/they) for President & Undergraduate Member on ANU Council

Hussain is an ANUSA General Representative and was a Deputy Women’s Officer for 2021. They believe that increasing engagement with ANUSA in an equitable and accessible way is essential to rebuilding unionism at the ANU. Hussain wants better representation of all students.

Gigi Mouawad (she/her) for Vice President 

Mouawad, former UniLodge President and National Union of Students (NUS) Women’s Officer, desires to drive initiatives that empower vulnerable students and strengthen union presence at the university.

Samuel MacRae (he/him) for General Secretary 

MacRae is also a General Representative for ANUSA. He plans to create a more “accountable, accessible and accomplished student union”, and fight for and represent vulnerable students if elected.

James Jackson (he/him) for Treasurer 

Jackson is a current Senior Resident at Burton and Garran Hall. He wishes to expand progressive and compassionate programs to support all students if elected as Treasurer.

Isabella Harding (she/her) for Welfare Officer 

Harding is currently the Deputy Officer of the Disabilities Students Association. She aims to promote and support students who have to balance work, health, studying and their attempts to overcome systematic disadvantages.

Harry Danton-Jack (he/him) for Education Officer 

Danton-Jack is currently the Environment Officer for ANU Labor Left. He plans to create a union that “fights for progressive causes”, while successfully following through on promises made to students.

Mili McDonald (she/her) for Clubs Officer 

McDonald wishes to increase access to social events for all students at the ANU if elected as Clubs Officer. She plans to create a more consistent social calendar for the ANU community as she believes the current one “struggles to rebound from COVID”.

All candidates have had experience in leadership and with the pressures of executive authority in student spaces.However, none of their candidates have sat on the ANUSA executive. This lack of firsthand experience could hamper their activism, but conversely it could recharge ANUSA’s efforts. Running against the incumbent Yates’ ticket, which has four out of the seven current executives re-running, Hussain’s ticket will likely argue that it represents a new perspective. Whether students prefer fresh faces over veterans, or vice versa, remains to be seen.

The ticket mainly consists of candidates connected to the on-campus student experience, particularly Mouawad. Unsurprisingly, their biggest policy is to push for on-campus students to have tenancy rights, as opposed to occupancy rights. The potential impacts of this are unclear, but the ticket envisions ending lockout fees, and improving the working conditions and remuneration of pastoral-care staff, such as Senior Residents.

On improving ANU’s social scene, the ticket’s Welfare Officer and Clubs Officer candidates aim to ensure the ANU community’s social calendar is “returned to its former glory”. They plan to do this by creating events that are accessible to everyone and “connect [the current] social divide between ressies and townies.” More specifically, they want to expand the equity ticket system, which is heavily regulated for Clubs, but less so for ANUSA itself.

To fund this the ticket is promising to fight for “…nothing less than 100% [SSAF] between student organisations on campus.” The Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF), is currently divided between PARSA, ANUSA, Woroni, Observer, ANU Sport and ANU Thrive, with an amount kept in reserve by the ANU.

Potentially the most controversial policy is an investigation of “ANUSA’s role in the dissolving of PARSA”. This is an attempt to establish if the current ANUSA executive influenced the Postgraduate and Research Students Association’s defunding.

The investigation would also establish “how the dissolving of PARSA will affect ANUSA’s capacities” in the coming years. There is concern that ANUSA will provide services to postgraduate students, without receiving PARSA’s funding.

Such an investigation is, in effect, a promise to investigate the actions of much of Yates’ ticket. It is unclear how this probe will be created and run, or what will come of anything it uncovers, if it uncovers anything at all.

Nonetheless, the ticket is not currently alleging any wrongdoing of the 2022 ANUSA executive.

If you wish to express interest in running with the ticket, contact Azraa Hussain at u6942066@anu.edu.au or Alex Nancarrow at u7304076@anu.edu.au.

Stay tuned to Woroni for more election coverage over the next few weeks.

Note: the policy analysis in this article will be expanded upon in the coming weeks as the ticket itself establishes more details.