Adelaide Student Politics

Posted: 20th of December

The National Union of Students (NUS) National Conference began on Monday the 14th of December. It closed the following Friday. The Conference is used to elect the national executive of the organization for the coming year, as well as to debate NUS policy.

But you know all that. You’re in all likelihood reading this to find out what the hell went wrong, so I’ll just get on with it.

According to one source, on the Sunday immediately before the conference, an NUS national executive meeting saw the affiliations of two campuses remain in question. Affiliation is important, as it determines who can and cannot vote on the conference floor. Voting breakdown is important when factions vote on bloc, as they do at NUS, and all want as many of their people in positions of power within the premier student organization as possible.

Both of the disputed campuses (University of Western Sydney and Notre Dame) experienced difficulties with their NUS delegate elections which were similar to those experienced at Adelaide last year (i.e. A failed election, followed with delegate appointment). UWS is considered a left-wing campus, and Notre Dame, unsurprisingly, is right-wing. The same source claims that the Labor Unity (Labor-Right) did not want UWS brought on, and so pulled quorum for the executive meeting, meaning the issue remained unresolved when the conference started the following day.

The first sign of trouble to many of the delegates was when, on the first day of conference, no one was attending. Both of the two major factional groupings at NUS (Labor Unity, and the Labor Left Faction, National Labor Students – NLS) had the numbers, if they could control their people, to prevent quorum (50%) being reached. Without quorum, no conference is valid. The same source also claims Unity were not attending the conferences, out of concern over campus affiliations. Complicating the issue further from the earlier exec meeting is that several left-wing universities had paid money into the NUS account just prior to the conference. Members of the right are alleged to have insisted the money clear first before the delegates from these universities be allowed to vote.

This was not a problem for the AUU, which, despite presenting a cheque only on the Monday of the conference, was not required to wait until it cleared before its delegates were registered to vote.

It isn’t until the second day of the conference that quorum is finally reached for a sitting (possibly at 4am). This sees the election of the Business Committee. NUS is, from all accounts, a chaotic conference involving hundreds of delegates. So it makes sense that first thing, a committee is elected to decide when to hold meetings, on the agenda, and other points of order. This is however more than a logistical position, giving whichever faction rules the Business Committee significant ability to influence the debate on the conference floor (through the agenda), or even when/if votes are held (as occurred in this case). The Left factions had a slender majority of delegates (57% I have heard, from two left sources). However, in protest at the lack of conference the previous day, Socialist Alternative (one of the left factions) decided to boycott the vote. This meant that Unity won 4 of the 7 positions on Business Committee. Josh Rayner (Unity) was appointed Returning Officer for future elections.

Despite the election of the right, the Left still had the majority of votes. Quorum was not reached for more meetings on the Tuesday.

By Wednesday, one source has NLS convincing Unity to come back to the floor. Debate briefly resumes, and the position of an International Student Officer is created. Talk then moves to the affiliations of UNSW, Murdoch and UWS (all left campuses). A motion asking for the Business Committee to put this on the agenda is ruled down by Business Committee, who is then overruled on this motion decision by the larger Conference. There are then three motions, in very rapid succession, to affiliate each of these universities, giving their delegates voting rights. One right-wing source claims this was obviously rehearsed, as it happened so quickly it took Unity several moments to realize what was going on. This is corroborated by a left-wing delegate, who says that it wasn’t until the second motion (to affiliate the second campus) that the right reacted at all. David Wilkins (Unity, and 2009 NUS General Secretary) is reported to have screamed for all Unity delegates to exit the conference floor, so as to pull quorum. A right-wing source says Unity delegates were prevented from leaving, with one NLS member barring the door. A left-wing source disagrees with this, saying it all happened so quickly there was no way they could have reached the door in time, so there was no need to bar the Unity delegates into the conference room. A motion is then passed to close the meeting. The left breaks into a chorus of ‘Solidarity Forever’. They expect, given that with the affiliations of the three campuses their lead is even larger, to be share almost all the NUS Office Bearer positions among them and their allies. Evidently, their celebrations were premature.

Both right-wing and left-wing sources then have Unity, after some time, quickly reentering the conference room, and holding a meeting in which there are no left-wing members present. Of course, quorum requirements exist precisely to prevent this from happening. However, one right-wing source claims that as the smoking balcony is counted as part of conference floor, quorum was in fact reached. Another source claims that even if this were the case, the smoking balcony was empty regardless. The right justified this meeting by saying that Barrow had incorrectly closed the previous session, meaning the conference was still in session when they re-entered the meeting room.

Sometime during the course of these previous events an ambulance was called. Right-wing sources have this being the result of injuries sustained as they were prevented from leaving the conference floor when they rushed out in an attempt to prevent the left-campus affiliations. Another source claims that a female member of Unity was injured as Unity rushed back into the conference room floor, claiming she was trampled by her own faction who did not stop to help her. Yet another left-wing source has a girl being simply ‘shaken up’ by the proceedings, and wasn’t sure at what stage this occurred. Not having been there, I have no idea what happened, but can establish an ambulance was called. Other than that, everyone I’ve asked about it has a slightly different story.

While in this hasty Unity meeting, motions were passed affiliating several right-wing campuses, such as Notre Dame, Monash Caulfield and Edith Cowen. Motions are also allegedly passed disaffiliating some of the dodgier left campuses, some of which had nonetheless already been affiliated prior to the conference.

This finishes Wednesday, and on Thursday (Office Bearer Ballot day), all is quiet. Several people (understood to be the current President (David Barrow – NLS), Josh Rayner (in his role as returning officer) and another member of NLS) have to sign off on the campus accreditation report (which decides exactly who can and can’t vote). They can’t agree. Here, my left sources unambiguously blame Josh Rayner, who they say wouldn’t sign off on anything barring the inquorate meeting affiliations and disaffiliations. The right says Rayner did everything by the book, and furthermore says it is unlikely that the Returning Officer would have been given the power to decide who can and cannot vote. I cannot say for sure who it was that ultimately refused to compromise, but it is unambiguously clear that no agreement was reached before Friday morning, when some delegates began to leave the conference to return home. The secretariat was reportedly kept open to 3am in case of a ballot, but none occurred until the Friday morning.

NLS refused to support a Friday morning ballot. Left sources then have Unity attempting to hold a ballot in Melbourne at Trade Hall (NUS Offices), but ultimately all attempts to hold a ballot fail as so many delegates have gone home. The conference closes, with no national executive for 2010 having been elected.

Like many crisis situations, the twin seeds of dissent at this year’s NUS Conference were laid early. Moves to affiliate campuses with election problems were not successful at an executive level prior to the conference. Coupled with the right holding the majority on Business Committee (but not a majority of delegates – their positions on Business Committee being due to the Socialist Alliance voting boycott), these two factors set the stage for a contested decision.

There are many who bear no love for the National Union of Students. However, both the left and right-wing Labor sources spoken to expressed regret at the danger NUS is placed in as an institution, and the situation this leaves students in as the Government considers broad changes to their welfare situation and other educational overhauls. Needless to say, this particular conference was also a huge waste of money for many already cash-strapped student unions around the country.

One source was of the opinion that there was no plausible option other than to wind up the lobbying body. Apart from finishing off the 23-year old organization, the other options on the table are either to allow for a postal ballot (currently used to deal with casual vacancies), or to have the current executive appoint the new executive. Or (and this is very unlikely) have another national conference, soon. None of these avenues are really all that desirable. A postal ballot is preferable, but all sources agreed on the enormous difficulty this would be to conduct.

Legal advice is expected to be released to NUS on Monday. Until then, there’s nothing much to do but wait.



The hastily prepared profile picture currently being used by many Left NUS delegates on facebook to protest their situation. Carla Drakeford, Warren Roberts and James Butchers are, respectively, the left candidates for President, Indigenous Officer and Education Officer of NUS.

Several corrections to yesterdays post have been made. See here to read

For those not entirely familiar with NUS, I compiled a list of internet sources I found around this time last year you might be interested in taking a look at.