‘Go the Distance with ANUSA’ has launched their election ticket tonight with current Education Officer Skanda Panditharatne leading the ticket as the Presidential candidate. He is joined by current CASS representative Samuel Lee for Vice-President, General Representative and Deputy Education Officer Jacob Ellis for Education Officer and Clubs Council Secretary Jordyn Gibson for General Secretary.
Both Panditharatne and Lee ran on the ‘Turn Over a New Leaf’ ticket last year with current ANUSA President Lachy Day. Jacob Ellis ran on VOTE!, an independent ticket consisting only of him and current College of Law Representative Max Claessens.
In an unusual twist, Panditharatne and Gibson are in a relationship, declaring this conflict of interest in their statement to student media. The ticket notes that “if both are elected, Gibson will report to the Vice President on HR matters, and both parties will make every effort to be transparent about their working relationship. Personal friendships, relationships, or rivalries often spring up within student organisations, and we believe that the success of the working relationship lies on the good judgement and maturity of the parties rather than the mere fact of a personal connection”. After discussing this situation with Day, and current General Secretary Taylor Heslington, Panditharatne and Gibson do not believe that their relationship will “prejudice ANUSA”.
‘Go the Distance’ will be endorsing Sophie Jaggar, who is running as an independent for Social Officer. Although she has not yet formally announced her candidature yet, Jaggar is the current Social Officer, running for a second term. She ran with Panditharatne and Lee on ‘Turn Over a New Leaf’ last year. The ticket has said that they will not be endorsing or entering into preference deals with any tickets aligned to other National Union of Students factions. ‘Go the Distance’s’ NUS candidates will sit with the non-binding Grassroots Independents faction.
Go the Distance with ANUSA’s full ticket is as follows:
Executive
President: Skanda Panditharatne
Vice President: Samuel Lee
General Secretary: Jordyn Gibson
Education Officer: Jacob Ellis
General Representatives
Jaya Ryan
Elijah Smith
Mekala Navaratne
College of Arts and Social Sciences
Mia Zhou
Josh Start
College of Law
Isobel Marsh
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Sandy Ma
NUS Delegates
Jordyn Gibson
Jacob Ellis
Mekala Navaratne
Skanda Panditharatne
Grace Sixsmith ran for a General Representative position in 2018
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