Australian Liberal Students' Federation

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[edit] Australian Liberal Students' Federation

The Australian Liberal Students' Federation (ALSF) is a student group informally associated with the Liberal Party of Australia. Founded in 1948,[1] ALSF represents over thirty autonomous Liberal Student Clubs at a national level. It assists in co-ordinating national campaigns and activities, and facilities communication and co-operation amongst clubs.

The ALSF aims to bring together Liberal-leaning students and promote their beliefs and values on university campuses. It is well known for conservative activism and a long history of agitation and direct confrontation against left-wing student groups. Although the ALSF is not formally affiliated with any party, its name means it is frequently confused with the Liberal Party youth-wing, the Young Liberals. Many students belong to and participate in both organisations.

The ALSF is a member of the International Young Democrat Union and its patron is John Howard,

[edit] Organisation

ALSF is organised independently of the National Union of Students (NUS) by the various campus Liberal clubs affiliating nationally, electing delegates and voting as a club. State-affiliated bodies also exist and act in turn as state divisions. These include the New South Wales Liberal Students' Association, the Victorian Liberal Students' Association, South Australian Liberal Students, and the West Australian Union of Liberal Students.

It holds two annual conferences and publishes a magazine entitled Protégé (Magazine). At each annual July conference, delegates elect the executive and the 'Club/Association of the Year' is announced. the current ALSF President is Tim Andrews, of the Sydney University Liberal Club, who was elected unopposed to the position on 7 July 2006 and re-elected for a second term unopposed on 9 July 2007. He took over from two term president Julian Barendse, who was president when voluntary student unionism was passed in the Commonwealth Parliament.

[edit] National Union of Students

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The Australian Liberal Students' Federation has had a long history of engagement and influence in national student bodies since its inception, and held numerous National Office Bearer positions in the National Union of Australian University Students (NUAUS) in the 1950's and 1960's. [1]. By the 1970's, however, Liberal Students became increasingly disillusioned with "student `representative' support for radical fringe elements mostly operating in foreign countries, many of them allegedly engaged either in terrorist activities or as front-line supporters of authoritarian regimes" and that "Instead of properly performing its core role as an advocate for student interests and a provider of student services it became hostage to extremist views more interested in international affairs than domestic education policies" [2] . The "The AUS folded in 1984 after a lengthy campaign by the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation, the Fraser Government and state Liberal Governments to destroy it." [3]

Though not usually holding a significant number of NUS delegate positions, the ALSF are one of the more 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 now Leader of the Opposition). The ALSF asserts NUS to be simply an excuse for Labor students to spend students' money on political campaigns.[neutrality disputed] 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.

During the 2004 NUS conference, a number of Liberal NUS delegates were widely condenmed following their interruption of the traditional Indigenous Australian Welcome Ceremony with a rendition of 'God Save the Queen'.[citation needed]

In July 2006, the Young Liberal Movement was the subject of controversy after the ABC's Lateline program aired footage[2][3] from the 2005 National Union of Students' conference in Ballarat. The video included Liberal students chanting "We're racist, we're sexist, we're homophobic". The president of the New South Wales Young Liberals released a statement condemning the outbursts [4], while the Queensland division of the Young Liberals pointed out that, while one prominent Young Liberal member was involved, the students were delegates elected by their university's student body, as such they were members of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation.

ALSF is one of the more notorious factions at NUS Conference[neutrality disputed]. Opponents claim that the ALSF attempts to disrupt conference proceedings. However, the ALSF claims that despite it preaching tolerance, the Conference does not permit freedom of speech, acting to gag dissident opinions and not allowing Liberal Students to be heard[neutrality disputed].

At the 2006 National Union of Students Annual Conference, the ALSF was responsible for Student Unity losing the coveted position of NUS General-Secretary for the first time in its history.[citation needed]

Despite attempts by Student Unity to gain the votes of Liberal Students in favour of Unity Candidate Camden Gilchrist, Liberal Students delivered their votes to Mathew Chuk, a member of the Independents faction, thus ensuring his victory. [5].

The Liberals currently have one member on NUS National Executive.

[edit] Executive

[edit] Current members

[edit] Previous presidents

[edit] References

 This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.
  1. ^ Hose, Vanessa. "Responses to 'Learning for Life': Australian Liberal Students' Federation", Department of Education, Science and Training, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-06-05.
  2. ^ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO7knUNlJso&watch_response Stateline Queensland, ABC Television Australia 28th July 2006]Accessed July 23, 2007
  3. ^ Stateline Queensland Transcript, ABC Television Australia 28th July 2006 Accessed July 23, 2007


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