Student Unity
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Student Unity, (also known as SU or simply Unity,) is a factional grouping within the Australian National Union of Students. It is politically aligned towards the Right faction (sometimes referred to as Labor Unity) of the Australian Labor Party. Student Unity usually represents itself by means of a yin-yang logo, representing its position as the centre of the Australian political spectrum. The organisation views itself as being both "pragmatic and principled", while its radical-left opponents are critical of the approach to social policy and view the faction as influenced by its links to the Australian Labor Party.
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[edit] History of Student Unity
The faction formed in 1991, when David Feeney led members of the Labor Right within the NOLS caucus to join forces with the Independent factions in an unsuccessful attempt to elect Natasha Stott Despoja as NUS President. Since then, Unity has become one of the biggest factions in NUS, with a presence in most states.
Until 2006, the faction has successfully retained the position of NUS National General Secretary every year since its inception, due to a "sweetheart deal" with the former NOLS caucus. In 2006, every faction besides Student Unity and National Labor Students supported other candidates and SU was unable to claim a National office bearer position, with the Independents the General Secretary position.
[edit] Student Unity Policy
Unity's policy places particular emphasis on 'fiscal responsibility', often limiting monies appropriated to collectives and social issues not closely linked to education and student experiences, this being a continual point of contention between the National Labor Students Presidents and Student Unity General Secretaries.
The faction generally supports motions only directly affecting students and education, and often votes down issues which do not directly affect students or which are felt to be too radical. The core philosophy is that NUS is there to represent students and if it were to spend its money on other social issues such as globalization or the crisis in the Middle East then it would not only be failing to represent students but it would be diverting money that could otherwise be spent on representing the educational and social needs of those students. Student Unity's position on social issues varies and the faction utilises conscience voting on reproductive rights, drug policies and other controversial social issues. The faction is generally in favour of policies such as free trade and Medicare, and among the Labor student factions it is the only faction to support HECS. Some argue that the faction promotes policies of the current federal ALP leadership, however this is not entirely correct.
[edit] Criticisms of Student Unity
Opponents to Student Unity believe the group gives too little consideration towards women and queer identifying issues and allege a lack of support for these member's policies within the caucus. Some queer members of Unity however allege that it is members of other factions which are unsupportive of their decision to identify as queer whilst being a members of Student Unity. Student Unity's opposition to environmental policies in NUS (due to such issues being outside the ambit of student representation rather than out of any personal opposition to such issues) result in criticisms from some other factions, particularly National Labor Students and the Grassroots Left. Critics of Student Unity also allege a moral conservative resurgence within the faction.
[edit] Decline of Student Unity
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Student Unity state factions (Queensland, South Australia and Victoria) supported Victoria's Michael de Bruyn for General Secretary over Ryan Hamilton at the National Union of Students' annual conference. The result was an agreement that supported de Bruyn for General Secretary and Ryan Hamilton as National Convenor of Student Unity. Hamilton resigned without completing a full term as Convenor.
The preselection was closely watched by other factions, and the choice of de Bruyn almost led to NOLS breaking their "one for one" deal to support Unity's General Secretary candidate, with majority support for Rose Jackson for President secure from left-wing delegates. Left-wing factions other than NOLS, including Australian Labor Students, Grassroots Left, Socialist Alternative and the Independents, allied to support Patrick Gorman of ALS to run against Michael de Bruyn and were defeated by only 40 votes. At the same conference, a right-wing coalition led by Unity, which had included the National Liaison Committee and the Liberals, lost a majority on NUS National Executive for the first time in years to a coalition of National Labor Students, Grassroots Left and the Independents.
The following year, in 2006, de Bruyn supported Joshua Rayner of the University of Adelaide for the General Secretary's position, but lost preselection to Camden Gilchrist of the University of Technology, Sydney.
At the 2006 NUS National Conference, votes from Student Unity delegates declined substantially, with Unity campuses including Macquarie University, Griffith University, Victoria University, and the University of South Australia being disaccredited, and the reunited Left Labor factions impeding Unity support. For the first time in NUS history, the Labor factions did not make up a majority of votes on conference floor.
Unlike in previous years, where NOLS had signed a deal with Unity early in the year to support each others' candidates for President and General Secretary without knowing who those people would be, no deal had been signed at the beginning of the NUS conference week. The Independents presented Matthew Chuk to NLS as a possible candidate, but following the preselection of Gilchrist NLS agreed to support the traditional agreement. This resulted in a large number of Queensland NLS members, particularly from the Queensland University of Technology, splitting from the factions, and organising a large block of independent delegates from the University of Tasmania, James Cook University, Curtin University, Murdoch University, RMIT, other Victorian campuses, and other delegates.
Prior to arriving at conference, the Grassroots Left, the Independents and Socialist Alternative made an agreement regarding office bearer positions, and gained the agreement of NLS by the middle of the week. This agreement covered all positions bar General Secretary, on which NLS refused to withdraw their support for Gilchrist.
The new independent grouping proved far more organised than previous non-aligned delegates, and worked closely with The Independents faction and quite clearly supported Chuk over Gilchrist for General Secretary.
With support for Chuk and Gilchrist at similar levels, the balance of power was held by the Australian Liberal Students Federation. Unity offered the most generous deal in NUS history given to the Liberals in return for their votes, including three seats on National Executive (the third quota to be provided by NLS leadership providing votes to the Liberals through Unity), a position on budget committee and an agreement, to be co-signed by NLS, to restrict NUS campaigning in the 2007 federal election, with no funds spent on marginal seats. In response, a number of independent delegates offered enough votes to give a seat on National Executive to the Liberals. Despite Chuk opposing the deal, independent supporters made the agreement, and despite being offered substantially less, the Liberals agreed to support Chuk. After the Liberals supported Chuk, all factions acknowledged Chuk's victory, with the final margin being 39 votes.
Unity's decline was further confirmed by the achievement of a National Executive majority for National Labor Students, and the election of only one Unity member of Executive.
[edit] NUS State Presidents
Student Unity holds two state branch presidents within NUS. They are:
- ACT: Lyndon Mayfield from the University of Canberra
- Tasmania: David Webster
[edit] List of Student Unity National Office Bearers
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2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
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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 | |
