In August every year, a few starry-eyed first-years are plucked out by ticket convenors to enter the battlefield known as student politics. They run to be a General Representative (Gen Rep), a position with an elusive job description, but they are told that as long as they have a few ideas about what’s wrong with the uni, they’ll be fine.

The election campaign is an initial trial by fire, but fourteen survive and are elected. After the jubilation, the question is, what now? They won’t receive the answer until the following year, at SRC 1.

At this year’s first Student Representative Council (SRC), the Chair dutifully reminded us that SRC is not Parliament and should not be treated as such.

If only those wise words had been obeyed.

Many representatives, although perfectly friendly outside the SRC, put on partisan blinkers once inside. Although there is unanimity on opposing Renew ANU or the Poster Policy, when it comes to reforming (dare I say, changing) ANUSA, good faith is thrown out the door. This cultivates a culture where reform from the “other side” is viewed with extreme suspicion, as if they intend to ruin everything good about the union with their motion. 

Being adversarial is rewarded, the more a Gen Rep speaks (i.e. attacks), the greater the chance that they are viewed as effective. The partisanship turns SRC from a forum where student concerns can be addressed to an eloquent fight club. We lose sight of what ANUSA is meant to be for – students – not factional headkickers who will reward you with a staffer job if you say the right things. 

By contrast, the Education Council appears to be an actually productive forum, which still maintains democratic legitimacy and nurtures stupol talent.

There are also structural problems with the role of General Representative. We have no real powers – our ideas are at the whim of the SRC or relevant Executive member. Considering the very low threshold for election, this is probably a good thing, but it means that Gen Reps can easily become aimless. 

Regrettably, the standard for being a good Gen Rep is turning up to meetings, something that should be the baseline, not an exception. Some constitutional reforms to change this were made earlier this year, but I feel that the problem is more cultural than formal. 

Whether it be forcing Gen Reps to meet outside of SRC or assigning them an issue or topic to advocate for, something must be done to give Gen Reps purpose beyond being attack dogs.

This is not to say (as some do) that ANUSA is useless. That is far from reality; the services our union provides are critical, especially in the face of ANU management’s unjustifiable attacks on students and staff. 

Rather, my advice to voters is not to be deluded by what tickets promise, for although we are students, we are still ultimately politicians.

The views expressed in this article are made in a personal capacity only and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.

Editor’s Note: 

Kuba Meikle is an ANUSA General Representative and ran with ‘Serve! For ANUSA’ in the 2024 ANUSA elections.