University of Queensland Student Elections: A guide to each party
Deciphering Student Politics
With all the controversy surrounding the election for the Queensland University of Technology Guild, we thought it would be good to look at the University of Queensland Union (UQU) elections.
We’re sharing with you the policy platforms for the three main parties running for executive positions in this year’s elections.
The executive positions are President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the multiple Vice-President positions including campus culture and student rights.
Voting for the elections runs from the 8th to the 12th of October, and each student will receive a $5 UQU food voucher for voting.
The three parties campaigning for executive positions this year are FOCUS, Momentum, and Student Action.
FOCUS (Green)
Running for President: Georgia Millroy
Running for Treasurer: Nathan Kerr
Running for Secretary: Ethan Van Roo Douglas
The policies for Focus include:
- An academic representative for every school
- Standardised submission times of 11:59pm
- One discretionary deferred exam per year
- A 15-million-dollar campus bar and function space
- Study spaces having a $2 coffee vending machine
- More than 1000 new volunteering opportunities
- International student-led events in O-Week
- A medicine fridge to store items all day
- Free rapid STI testing on campus
- More basketball courts on campus
- An on campus late-night convenience store
- A commitment to save the Schonell Theatre or build a new one
Momentum (Blue)
Running for President: Madeline Cunnington
Running for Treasurer: Inari Saltau
Running for Secretary: Mitchell Dougall
The policies for Momentum include:
- Rebooting the fight for divestment from fossil fuels
- Advocating for accessible bathrooms and classrooms
- International students’ welcome festival
- Starting a multicultural collective
- UQU rewards cards for $10
- Fighting to end sexual assault on campus and introducing social welfare officers at events
- Abolish 70-per-cent-exams and standardise late submissions
- Restore fair funding for clubs and societies
- Free breakfast 5 days a week, every week
Student Action (Yellow)
Running for President: Priya De
Running for Treasurer: Jehiel Lomaz
Running for Secretary: Ash Zeller
The policies for Student Action include:
- Fight for student rights
- Stand up to fee increases and funding cuts
- Equal rights for international students
- Support fossil fuel divestment
- No LNP in the UQ Union
- Political and academic freedom on campus
- Fight for social justice
- Concession Translink fares for part-time students
- Higher and easier access to Centrelink allowances
- Paid placements
- More computer labs on campus
- No increases to parking fees
- No “Bachelor of Western Civilisation”
- Save the Schonell Theatre
The policies listed for each party were taken from official distributed campaign materials.