The Quah Report, 16 October, 2004.
from
http://www.thequahreport.com/20041016.html
On a Fair and Equitable SRC
16 October 2004
A "Representative" body like the USYD SRC or the USYD Union should represent and advocate the needs of the students who claim membership. It should not advocate electoral fraud, dirty campaigns, dirty threats. It should advocate fair and equitable representation for Every student in its membership.
The recent USYD SRC elections have highlighted the flaws of the SRC. It doesn't give a shit about students - it has even committed ELECTORAL FRAUD to deny the Conservatorium its representative.
It is not an unreasonable request for Con students to have its own representative on the SRC. The fact that the Con's main candidate not only received the support of Con students but also Main campus students just illustrates this need for fair and equitable representation on the SRC, and that all five candidates fielded have been eliminated through dubious electoral practices not only insults Con students, but also cheapens the Council and its representatives. Of course, the same people responsible for this fraud, are the same people who threatened myself and my classmates during the VERGE Arts Festival, and actually tried to sabotage our concert. What upsets me is not that I will not be allowed my rightful place on the Council, but that these same fuckers who threatened me and my friends will now represent us on the SRC. Of course, electoral fraud is nothing new to the SRC. Last year, most Conservatorium students weren't even Told about the nominations for SRC until after they had closed, and a couple of the Polling booth attendants had run out of ink in their pens, resulting in hundreds of ballot papers being disqualified at certain Opposition Faction strongholds. Now we're being fucked over by an "SRC" who doesn't give a shit about fair and equal representation.
Then again, the SRC has never been interested in fair and equal representation. Men do not even have an Unpaid Men's Officer, much less the Paid one that men would need to achieve fair representation. It's bullshit that women are still disadvantaged in society, and that the feminists are trying to install a matriarchic society cheapens the whole notion of equal rights. How can they criticise men for running the world when men can't even get representation on the fucking SRC?
What about Ethnic students? The Ethnic Affairs portfolio is dominated by the Arab factions who made preference deals with the Action Fuckers, and will again ignore the Chinese, the Jews and countless other ethnic minorities on campus. The fact that both officers in this portfolio were of the Same ethnic minority on the 76th SRC insults the rest of us.
The worst part about this is that for yet another year, the Affiliated Campuses portfolio will once again go completely ignored. We get two visits to the Con a year by our representatives - one at Union elections, and the other at SRC elections, both to ask for our vote, and until the Diversity campaign we were completely ignored for the rest of the year. I believe that my campaign was a complete success in this respect, in that SRC councillors will no longer be able to ignore the issues we have at the Con.
So while main campus factions may be fighting amongst each other for power, the simple fact is that they are all main campus students, and that representation for Main campus is a priority over other campuses. At the Con, the SECS faction and the CSA faction are united in our wish to be represented fairly. If we don't get that representation, we will stop paying our fees to the SRC.
I can do shitall about the corruption in the election, but I am completely secure in the knowledge that I did get the votes and the support. My electoral defeat does not lie in ideology, but in economics and corruption. Action had the financial support of the Labor Party, the SRC itself, and of course (4 Corners host) Liz Jackson, the single reason why the federal government hates the ABC. Even the Keep Left faction had money, posterage, campus vandalism and thousands and thousands of unused flyers. My campaign was run on a $50 budget, and was attacked at any opportunity by both the Action fuckers and the Keep Left fuckers. Hell, the fucking Union President even threatened me, saying if I didn't drop out of the election he'd do what he could to destroy the Sydney Eclectic Composers Society. So much for union representation.
But before our newly elected "representatives" go off to screw us for another year, I remind them all that SECS/Diversity is now an established force, and we Will be watching the SRC and the Union. Just like the Democrats who were recently wiped out at the recent election, we will work to "Keep the Fuckers Honest".
