Serve! for ANUSA has announced its candidates for the 2024 ANUSA election. The ticket features multiple Grassroots Independents (otherwise known as Grindies) incumbents and focuses its policies on services for ANU students. 

The ticket features current Welfare Officer Skye Predavec (she/her) running for President and Undergraduate Member of Council (UMAC), current Clubs Officer Seungbin Kang (he/they) for Vice President, and Education Officer Madumitha (Mitha) Mallichetty (she/her) and Post-graduate Member of Council Edan Habel (he/him) running for their current roles. 

In addition, General Representative Harriet Ryder and College of Law representative Alex Bako (she/her) are running for Welfare Officer and General Secretary respectively. 

At this stage, candidates for Clubs Officer and Treasurer remain unannounced. 

The ticket runs on three core promises, “Bigger and Better ANUSA services”, “An Open and Accountable Union”, and “Fighting for [student’s] rights”.  

For the first promise, the ticket plans on establishing an ANUSA foodbank. They explained, “The ticket will conduct a pilot period, modelled after the USyd Foodhub, to prove the feasibility of the project, and use the success of that pilot to bid for more SSAF and University funding for the foodbank.” 

Earlier in the year, the ANU implemented means-testing for the Community Connect Pantry, which made the service inaccessible to many students, primarily impacting international students. The additional application requirement from the University came at a time when student demand for ANUSA welfare services had increased. 

In an effort to alleviate the cost of living pressure, current Grindies Vice-President Charlotte Carnes introduced the BKSS lunch express program, which has been met with high demand. Serve!’s Presidential Candidate Predavec also introduced Buy Nothing ANU, which also saw large student interest during its launch. 

Additional Student Services and Amenities Fees (SSAF) funding for a foodbank, while an ambitious promise, targets a salient student need. In the 2023 SSAF survey report, “Food/meals” was reported as the most mentioned student demand.  

To create “An Open and Accountable Union”, the ticket promises to publish “report cards” of all executive officers, “detailing their progress towards achieving their campaign promises according to measurable targets.” The ticket also pledges to conduct, “greater consultation to vibe check how students are feeling on contentious policy issues.” 

“In particular Serve! will conduct quick polls to understand student views on particular SRC motions, and enable students to provide written feedback via an online dropbox.” 

The ticket also plans on referring, “contentious motions” to “Community Interest Groups of affected stakeholders, and consider[ing] their reflections.” 

While these accountability measures seem promising, it remains to be seen what pathways students will have in holding the Union accountable, instead of the Union conducting surveys and providing reports at its own deliberation.  How the ticket will define “contentious motions” and which groups will constitute the “Community Interest Groups” is also unclear at this stage. 

However, in this effort, VP candidate Seungbin Kang introduced the Clubs Code of Conduct, which is based off of the ACT Discrimination Act (1991). The Code of Conduct applies to and is binding for all clubs affiliated or seeking affiliation with ANUSA, and seeks to, “eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and vilification in all [club] spaces”. 

For the third promise, the ticket aims  to, “fight harder and further for your residential rights than ever before.” In particular, the ticket pledges to, “organise a Town Hall to develop a residential ‘Charter of Rights’ alongside residential leaders.” 

“This will allow us to pressure the university long-term to do better for on-campus students, and evaluate the progress of each college.” 

The ticket also promises to “facilitate discussions between Residential Mentors (SRs), to amplify their concerns to the university”, in addition to, “fighting for PhD Stipend increases, Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) examinations, and a return to twice yearly graduations among other campaigns.” 

While residential rights remain a salient concern, it is not clear how the ticket’s remaining aims are more promising than the BYOD examination campaign and the Save our Graduations campaign, which have already been facilitated by the ticket’s Education Officer and Presidential candidate respectively. 

Serve! for ANUSA also announces itself as a “firmly pro-Palestine ticket”. They promise to, “ensure that ANUSA reflects the views of the vast majority of ANU students in standing for an immediate ceasefire, disclosure and divestment from arms manufacturing, and an end to the ongoing genocide.” 

The ticket also pledges to, “campaign strongly on divestment from weapons, and an academic boycott in line with PACBI guidelines.” 

The Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is a part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and sets out 12 guidelines for boycotting academic institutions which are tied to Israel. These include boycotting academic events, research and development activities, broad study schemes in Israel for international students, academic visits, fact-finding missions that receive funding from Israel, and related international lobby groups, among others. 

The ticket features experienced incumbent candidates, however, in many respects its promises are a continuation of the work of the current Union. It remains to be seen how its candidates will affirm to ANU students that it can overcome the Union’s current shortcomings, the most glaring of which is the concern that the Union is withdrawn from the very students who fund it.

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