Australian Liberal Students' Federation
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The Australian Liberal Students' Federation (ALSF) is a political grouping of university students informally associated with the Liberal Party of Australia. As such, it is the only major openly conservative force within Australian student politics. The grouping is frequently referred to as Liberal students or incorrectly as Young Liberals. Many members of the ALSF are members of the Liberal Party, but the ALSF itself is not formally affiliated with the party.
Liberal Students, as do the senior Coalition parties in Australia, avoid usage of the terms faction and caucus to describe themselves, viewing them as being too strongly associated with the Labor Party.
The Federation is organised along the basis of campus Liberal clubs, with the various clubs affiliating nationally, electing delegates and voting as a club. State affiliated bodies also exist and they in turn act as state divisions of the Federation. These include the New South Wales Liberal Students' Associaiton (NSWLSA), the Victorian Liberal Students' Association (VLSA), the South Australian Liberal Students (SALS) and the West Australian Union of Liberal Students (WAULS).
ALSF exists independently of the National Union of Students (NUS), holding twice annual conferences. At the July conference the executive is elected by delegates from the constituent university Liberal clubs of the ALSF, which exist in differing levels of strength at virtually every University campus around the country. At each annual July conference the ALSF awards its converted 'Club/Association of Year' Award. In 2003 the award was presented to the Melbourne University Liberal Club (which held a significant majority of all office bearer positions in the Melbourne University Student Union in 2003); in 2004 the award was presented again to the UNE Liberal Club, a Club which has dominated student politics at the University of New England and in 2005 it was presented to the Victorian Liberal Students' Association.
Though not usually holding a significant number of NUS delegate positions, the ALSF is nevertheless one of the most vocal and controversial groups within the National Union of Students (NUS) organisation. Its central policy platform is the principle of Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) and it supports, and had input into, the reforms to Australian Higher Education introduced by Dr. Brendan Nelson (former Minister for Education, Science and Training). The ALSF asserts NUS to be simply an excuse for Labor students to spend students' money on political campaigns, citing the large sums of money used by NUS to campaign for the ALP in the 2004 federal election. The ALSF supports increased deregulation of the tertiary sector, and, particularly with the implementation of VSU, presents itself as being an advocate for freedom of choice within universities.
No other faction carries the notoriety attached to the ALSF at NUS National Conference. ALSF Opponents claim that the ALSF attempts to disrupt proceedings; the ALSF however claims that the Conference does not permit freedom of speech and despite preaching tolerance, the conference acts to gag dissident opinions.
As of 2006, the ALSF President is Tim Andrews, of the University of Sydney, who was elected unopposed to the position at the ALSF's Annual General Meeting on Friday, 7 July 2006. He took over from two term president Julian Barendse, who presided over what the ALSF might consider one of the most successful eras in the federation's history, with the passage of VSU finally becoming a reality.
At the 2006 National Union of Students Annual Conference, the ALSF was responsible for Student Unity losing the coveted NUS General-Secretary for the first time in the history of NUS. Despite the attempts by Unity and NLS to induce the Liberals to support Camden Gilchrist, the Unity candidate for General Secretary, with what is generally considered the most generous offer ever made to the Liberals at an NUS conference[1], Liberals nevertheless delivered their votes to to Matthew Chuk, a member of the Independents, ensuring his victory[2].
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| National Union of Students of Australia | |
|---|---|
| Universities: ANU | Adelaide | Ballarat | Bendigo | Canberra | Charles Darwin | Curtin | Edith Cowan | Flinders | Griffith | James Cook | La Trobe | Macquarie | Melbourne | Monash - Caulfield | Monash - Clayton | Murdoch | New England | New South Wales | Newcastle | Queensland | QUT | RMIT | South Australia | Southern Cross - Coffs Harbour | Southern Cross - Lismore | Southern Queensland | Sunshine Coast | Swinburne | Sydney | Tasmania - Hobart | Tasmania - Launceston | UNSW COFA | UTS | Victoria | Western Australia | Western Sydney | Wollongong | |
| Current Factions: Australian Liberal Students Federation | Grassroots Left | Independents | National Labor Students | National Liaison Committee | Socialist Alternative | Student Unity | |
| Former Factions: Australian Labor Students | Left Alliance | Love and Rage | National Broad Left | National Organisation of Labor Students | Non-Aligned Left | Small + Regionals | |
