In recent years, ANUSA has generally been led by Grassroots Independent (Grindie) Executives, with minimal Labor and Liberal party affiliations present. Yet, this year’s ANUSA Executive — Change your ANUSA — is a far cry from this once enduring reality. 

While the 2024 ANUSA Executive consisted of both Grindie and Labor-aligned members, including ACT Young Labor members Will Burfoot (he/him) (Treasurer) and Milli McDonald (she/her) (General Secretary), the 2025 ANUSA Executive, who ran under Change your ANUSA presents a united Labor front. 

Who are the ‘Grindies’? 

The Serve! ticket, which ran against Change your ANUSA in last year’s election, featured a number of Grindie incumbents.

Skye Predavec (she/her), who ran as President for Serve! explained in a draft response that the term ‘Grindie’ “comes from the combination of the national NUS factions ‘Grassroots’ and ‘National Independents’.” This comment, and all Predavec’s comments in this article, are taken from a series of draft answers that were accidentally sent to Woroni and are not an official statement. She noted that these “factions effectively died in 2021/2022, and [she] was the last person affiliated in any way with them involved in ANUSA” despite “never actually [being] part of either faction.”

In this regard, Predavec emphasises that the term ‘Grindies’ is simply a “convenient term for describing somewhat ideologically aligned independents on ANUSA” but is “never really anything more than that.” 

She further stressed that “Serve! was a coalition of independents put together by the people on Serve!, not a ‘Grindie’ team.” 

‘Attractive’ policy platform

Former ANUSA General Secretary and leading Change your ANUSA campaigner, Milli McDonald, argues that this shift towards the Labor-aligned ticket was principally driven by students’ desire for ANUSA to “focus more on representing and delivering for students.” 

McDonald contends that “[for] many years, the Union had failed to meet students where they were at, with tickets running campaigns that interested them, not students, and using campaign strategies that did not stretch outside their circles.” 

McDonald argues that “Change was a progressive ticket that understood what was important for ANU students”, providing an “achievable and attractive” policy platform for “the regular student who wants their union to help them and make a real difference to their time at uni.” 

“We were proud to identify what was achievable that students needed and to put forward a policy that drove voters out,” said McDonald.

Predavec, who ran against Change your ANUSA for President, contends that the election results instead “demonstrated that students were, for better or worse, looking for a less controversial and less political ANUSA. Change your ANUSA effectively tapped into the mood of campus.”

One student who spoke to Woroni reflected this understanding, noting that last year’s Gaza student protests, which at times included ANUSA involvement, “was really quite stark” and “brought it out that a lot of people didn’t anticipate the student union being political outside of the university kind of politics.” 

‘Lack of action’ by incumbents?

McDonald alleged a lack of action by incumbent leaders, noting that “so often, the incumbents had made promises at general elections, and failed to deliver them. Some notable policy failures from those incumbents had included five day simple extensions, a night cafe, an SR helpline, a multicultural week and so much more.”

McDonald noted that “From speaking to students during the campaign, there was a sense from voters that the Union had lost its way in focusing on regular students.”

“We have a lot of respect for the leadership of the former President and Vice President during a very challenging year for ANUSA,” McDonald emphasised. However, she maintained that their campaign was based around a desire to “remind students that the union belongs to them.” 

Voter Apathy 

Speaking to students in Kambri revealed consistent apathy towards ANUSA, many feeling that ANUSA’s campus presence was not significant enough to motivate preference or affiliation with a ticket or its policies. One student noted that “compared to the chancellor and the ANU administration”, they felt “skeptical about how much student politics actually does”, explaining that “you see a lot of posters, surely it has an impact, I just don’t know what it is.” 

“I don’t really know” was the sentiment echoed by other students, one saying that beyond “the food thing”, likely referring to the BKSS free breakfast and lunch programs, they were not actually aware of what a winning ANUSA ticket could provide. 

Some students agreed that they would be more likely to participate in elections if the Union proved its capability to enact policy by establishing and advertising student resources and infrastructure. 

One student acknowledged that the ANUSA mechanisms for policy enactment were similarly unclear, and despite tickets running on policy platforms, “[it] is really hard to determine… how [tickets] will vote.” 

Many students clearly struggle to understand not only the power of the Union as a body, but of its members, particularly the function of the General Representatives. They are intended to act, according to ANUSA’s website, as both policy implementers and a “communication link” between the student body and the Union’s executive, but the role’s lack of clarity makes it rarely significant for individual voters. 

Charli xcx and campaigning on-the-ground 

‘Brat’ green pervaded the ANU campus during the ANUSA election last year, with Change your ANUSA choosing to market and brand their campaign based on the in-vogue 2024 Charli xcx album, ‘Brat’. 

McDonald argues that the success of Change your ANUSA’s campaign came down to both social media and campaigning on the ground.

“Our social media insights at one point had 300,000 views in a month and introduced our brand to voters,” McDonald notes. She pointed to the increased voter turnout at the 2024 election as evidence of this engagement.

An ANU student who spoke to Woroni noted that much of Change your ANUSA’s success likely came down to the student body’s receptiveness to a pop-culturally significant political campaign. They argued that Change your ANUSA’s reliance on the Brat album resulted in an “effective campaign that was genuinely engaging and eye-catching.”

Serve!’s Skye Predavec argued that “Change won the election using green colours and a Greens slogan (“if you want change, vote for it”), and became the first Labor ticket in over a decade to get most of the vote on a campus that votes generally for the Greens.”

Predavec conceded that “Change’s branding was effective”, however emphasised that “it’s anyone’s guess how much it specifically contributed to the result.”

Predavec also alleges that Change’s “most notable campaign strategy was their willingness to engage in mudslinging”, a term used to refer to the making of allegations against political opponents in an effort to tarnish their reputation. According to Predavec, this strategy affected the mental health of herself and other candidates, and “was recognised even by people running with them as inappropriate.”

Predavec emphasised that Serve made a decision not to equally engage in the alleged mudslinging, which “may not have been the best tactic in a pure vote-getting sense” but that they “were incredibly proud of Serve to have held [their] heads high and not engaged in that kind of harmful politics.”

An ANU student expressed to Woroni their view that “from a more practical point of view… the majority of students come out to vote for friends and people they know at residential colleges on campus.” 

While it is challenging to attribute particular campaigning strategies to election outcomes, it is nonetheless likely that the presence of Change your ANUSA candidates at every residence at ANU but one had a role to play. 

Beyond this, that student maintained that “generally speaking, the majority of ANU students frankly do not care about ANUSA. They don’t understand the benefits ANUSA provides, nor the impact it can have on their student experience.” 

Time will tell whether Change your ANUSA can hold onto its campaign success and translate last year’s win into tangible outcomes for students.

Editor’s note (09/06/2025): An earlier version of this article did not outline the circumstances under which Skye Predavec’s comments were received. This article was amended to clarify this after Woroni was notified that the comments had been sent accidentally.