An update on the 2011 #USydSRC race

Welcome to 2011. Specifically, welcome to the 2011 #USydSRC race.

How great was it that, just before this whole thing got under way, the Sydney Uni Liberal Club tore itself apart? A classic battle of the left of the party fighting the right, with both sides trying to out-stack the other. It was great to see Dom Bond… Chad Sidler lose, and the left bloc prevail, after the months of headaches it caused for the party, the C&S program, and newly-elected independent USU Prez Mikey Re… Sibella Matthews. It really got everyone in the mood for a crazy #USydSRC clash.

The race for SRC President is a fierce one. There are two main candidates; both are important members of the SRC this year,  and both command the respect of their peers. The first, Georgia Man… Phoebe Drake, set out to make a left bloc that would power her to victory, with another Labor faction and a prominent socialist group all signing on board.

The other knew it would be an uphill battle, so Isabella Bro… Tim Matthews had to make alliances elsewhere. Why not approach SASS? After all, it had just powered someone onto Union Board the previous semester. And, honestly, who cares if the Prez is a little bit of a Liberal, they’ll bring in plenty of votes, right? So on jumps Ed McCa… Jacqui Munro, and the two of them campaign together quite closely. 

It has been a fierce election, as the Mant… Drake bloc continually accuses the other of dealing Liberals into SRC positions. One thing is for sure: it’ll be terribly close on election days, and both sides will do literally anything they can to win it.

The Honi race continues as well, as the apparent successors to the current editorial group, We… Extra, battle it out against the ticket that just wants Honi to be fun, Ti…  Banter, and a more politically active group, Si… Zoo. It’s understood that a deal between Banter and Extra has been made, but it is unclear if it will be enough to stop a strong Zoo ticket.

Anyway, that’s an update of the 2011 #USydSRC race, we’ll bring you more as it happens!

So, in case you hadn’t guessed – this election is frighteningly similar to the 2011 election, which was my very first!!! The more things change, the more they stay the same…

Phoebe Drake was the NLS Presidential candidate, backed by Unity, Solidarity (Socialist Alternative would only come back to USyd in 2013), and, interestingly, the hard-right of the Liberal party (the remnants of Chad Sidler’s mob). It is unclear if Mantle can count on similar hard-right Liberal support, but don’t be surprised if they decide voting against the Moderate Libs that ousted them from SULC means voting for Mantle…

Tim Matthews was an independent Presidential candidate, backed by the then-significant Indies grouping. What were the Indies? Imagine if every debater was politically active and ran for SRC instead of Honi, and you’ll get the idea. Key among these Indies was Jacqui Munro, a moderate Lib and SASS President at the time. I tried to think of one, but I couldn’t think of anyone analogous to Indie mastermind Rhys Pogonoski, because no one in NLS or Unity comes anywhere close to his political ability (love him or hate him, he was one of the best to ever play the game). 

Oh, yeah, and the Voice bloc definitely had Liberals on it. Voice was kinda born through a deal struck by Ross Leedham (Indies) and the aforementioned Chad Sidler the year before that allowed Libs and Indies into the SRC OB roles. Sidler was General Secretary (it did not go well), while Matthews and Al Cameron (Mod Lib) shared the Education Officer portfolio. Definitely no lessons to be learnt here, Labor, definitely none at all…

So, yeah, I’m pretty much openly calling modern Stand Up (specifically NLS) exactly the same as 2011 Voice. For most of you this is something worth a chuckle, but trust me when I say this will INFURIATE NLS. Their entire reason for existing from late 2010 to late 2012 was to destroy the “Timdependents”. They amended their famous rule to say “Never do deals with Liberals or Rhys Pogonoski” – the broke the latter part in 2013 when Rhys was effectively one of the managers of the NLS Prez campaign, and now the rule is comprehensively shattered. lol, RIP NLS.

The Honi race is also super interesting. I’ll readily admit I am stretching that comparison to the very limit – Banter and Time are very very different tickets, and Zoo probably wouldn’t appreciate being so closely linked to Sin. The preference deal stuff is how it went though, if I remember it all correctly. It was five years ago, though…

For those wondering, Drake ended up winning the 2011 election by the slimmest of margins, while Zoo for Honi won after Banter’s preferences did not flow well enough to Extra. 

Will history repeat itself? Well, that’s up to you, isn’t it?