There is a long (long, long) list of candidates competing for your vote during election season next week. As part of Pelican’s meet the candidates series, we will be bringing you some of the responses that Office Bearer (OB) candidates gave to questions we asked them.
Next up, Left Action!
KYE FISHER
Running for: General Secretary
Studies: Philosophy
What motivated you to run for your position this year?
The fact that our education has been under attack from management, and the guild needs to re orient away from its current dead end strategy of working hand in glove with management to one that’s oppositional to the vc and any cuts to education
Do you know what the Guild actually does?
Its first and foremost a union to defend the rights of students and to intervene into social justice issues. Voting left action is to overhaul its current nonsense of bureaucracy
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
The cuts to 400 staff and increasing job losses as well as course cuts
What are your hobbies or passions outside uni?
I’m an activist and I like reading
What is your favourite movie?
The Death of Stalin, but after the excitement of Stalin’s death, it got a bit boring.
Why are you the best person for the job?
Because unlike the other candidates willing to roll over for a line on their resume and continue to lick the boot of the VC, i will actually stand up and fight for everyone’s education no matter who or what the attack is.
Convince us to vote for you in ten words or less:
Voting Left Action is voting to get shit done.
ESA CHRULEW
Running for: Societies Council President
Studies: Anthropology and Sociology
What motivated you to run for your position this year?
My experience on Guild Council this year has shown me the importance of having left wing activists involved – we’re the ones pushing the Guild to be political and actually fight for students rights – especially when education is facing the drastic cuts it is today.
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
The corporatisation of UWA – the people in charge or our uni happily take money from climate criminals to conduct research into fossil fuel extraction whilst firing staff and defunding whole departments that do critical work around climate science and social issues. Students need to challenge this model of running the university like a business and fight against staff cuts.
What is the policy you are most passionate about?
Orienting all the guild resources around fighting the education cuts. Hundreds of staff are set to lose their jobs which will have a devastating impact on the university. Student unions should do all they can to defend staff and students and the UWA Guild needs to do more than it has under Star and Spark.
What are your hobbies or passions outside of uni?
Hiking, reading, plotting the overthrow of capitalism.
What is your favourite Simpsons quote?
“Maybe Adil’s got a point about the machinery of capitalism being oiled with the blood of the workers.” – Homer Simpson
Do you know what the Guild actually does?
It is MEANT to defend students against attacks from management and fight for students interests, but whether it actually does that with Star/Spark in power is another question…
SCOTT HARNEY
Running for: Public Affairs Council President
Studies: Honours in History
What motivated you to run for your position this year?
The unprecedented cuts to education quality at UWA. My ticket has been leading the fightback against them. There needs to be more activists like us in the Guild to continue this fight back.
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
The state of higher education. Amit Chakma’s $40 million restructure will see massive cuts to courses, staff, and services across the university. How we stop that needs to be the major discussion in this Guild election and on campus in the coming year.
Your dream job?
There’s no good job under capitalism.
Sex, Marry, Kiss: Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Jair Bolsonaro.
There’s usually a kill option…
What is the policy you are most passionate about?
Left Action wants to shake up the entire approach of the Student Guild. Our activists want to give it an approach which looks to mobilising students in their numbers and in protest. This is the only way we have power and leverage over the university. We have demonstrated what that looks like this year, and we want to continue doing this work when elected.
What are your hobbies or passions outside of uni?
I am an activist that fights against racism, climate change, sexism, and for workers’ rights among other things. I also like reading and photography.
Why are you the best person for the job?
I have been a left-wing activist for years, and involved in leading the fight back to defend education on this campus.
Who’s your favourite Simpsons character?
Lisa Simpson. She’d definitely vote Yes in the referendum to stop cuts to education and be a left-wing activist.
What Simpsons quote best describes you?
“Can you imagine a world without lawyers”. But replace lawyers with capitalism.
Convince us to vote for you in ten words or less:
We’ve organised the campus biggest protest in the last two decades.
JAMES FOX
Running for: Environment Officer
Studies: Political Science and Electronic Music
What motivated you to run for your position this year?
The cuts students face to their education and the increasing corporatisation of universities.
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
Chakma’s cuts. Also the increasing role fossil fuel and mining companies play in directing research on campus.
Have you ever, as a kid, shone a light through a magnifying glass to burn an ant, and at first you felt ashamed and upset but something just kept you holding the magnifying glass. and you watched the ant burn head, thorax and legs. and eventually, after the upset, shame and guilt, you realised you truly felt nothing and moved on?
🕵️♂️
What is the policy you are most passionate about?
I think bringing a socialist approach to student issues is sorely needed. Often times on campus we are dismissed by those in the guild as too boisterous and radical, and that instead student reps should just ingratiate themselves with management or business and hope for the best. But clearly the current education campaign has proved them wrong, we can take a stand, attract large numbers, piss off the powers that be, and stave off the cuts better than they ever did. Around environmental issues, the current Star led department has the same basic strategy as that rest of the guild, a focus on ‘dialogue’ or ‘conversation’ with the uni administration. This can often sound nice, but with no student campaign, no broad mobilisation and an aversion to hostility with the administration, there is absolutely nothing to back up any demands we place upon the uni. So in practice Chakma gets the progressive gloss of talking to the greenies, all while sacking staff and maintaining a relationship with the mining companies. I think we need to take the strategies we’ve used in the ed campaign and apply them to the environment. Get students out and angry, prepared to raise hell, and not be afraid to step on a few toes in the process.
What is your favourite book?
Left Action How To Vote pamphlet.
Thoughts on The Dry featuring Eric Bana?
I think students should vote yes in the referendum, and get involved in the campaign against education cuts, rather then ask inane questions about movies.
(Editor’s Note: Pelican agrees with James. The Dry was indeed an inane film.)
Why are you the best person for the job?
Because when it comes to the environment I don’t buy the lies about lifestyle choices or the bullshit that is green capitalism. And think the enviro dept should be talking about Greta and extinction rebellion, not what plants they think would look pretty on campus.
What are your hobbies or passions outside of uni?
Cycling and techno music.
Do you know what the Guild actually does?
At the moment it seems interested in advertising chilli festivals and cultlike young entrepreneur seminars. If you vote left action some of the money and resources will go towards more useful events.
Convince us to vote for you in ten words or less:
Direct action gets the goods, no more yuppies in guild.
PHOEBE BURRAGE
Running for: Welfare Officer
Studies: Linguistics and History.
What motivated you to run for your position this year?
The necessity of getting genuine activists onto guild council. This year UWA has seen it’s most horrific attacks on our education in decades, and the guild has done next to nothing to fight them. I’m running with Left Action because we’re the ones who have been actually leading the campaign, and we need someone with an activist strategy to pressure the guild to fight for student interests.
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
The cuts to our courses and staff, and the restructuring of the university that will mean we will only be seeing more of these in the future. All of the proposals, as well as horrendously attacking learning conditions and staff livelihoods, have an underlying motive of linking education to profit making and industry. This is appalling; education should be a public good that is free for all!
What is the policy you are most passionate about?
Having an activist approach in guild. Although the cuts are the most pressing issue, the gripes of students include issues that go beyond them, such as racism and sexism on campus, difficulty of finding accommodation and having to support yourself while studying, and not to mention the exorbitant fees international students pay. None of these can be changed however without an activist strategy, that looks to fighting campaigns that are broader than just what happens inside the university. None of the other tickets have this approach, and so anything they promise will either never be reached or only scratch the surface of the issue.
Why are you the best person for the job?
Because I recognise that the problems affecting student welfare are broader than just what occurs on campus. Students struggle with centrelink, experience sexism, racism and all sorts of oppressions, have to work in exploitative jobs while studying, get treated like cash cows if they’re international students and get saddled with debt if they’re domestic. Campus services that could alleviate the pressure, like childcare, mental health services and financial aid are woefully inadequate and hard to access. And to top it all off, there’s a raft of unprecedented cuts that the guild has done little to stop. None of these issues can be fixed if you only see the guild as a service provider; it’s up to a fighting activist campaign, like the ones that stopped fee deregulation or won us marriage equality, that can change things to improve the lives of students. The guild has immense resources and reach that could be used to lead these campaigns, and Left Action is the only ticket that recognises that.
What are your hobbies or passions outside of uni?
Activism, reading about cool historical struggles and crocheting tiny monstrosities
Do you know what the Guild actually does?
I’m the only welfare candidate who does. The guild is a union; it’s meant to stand up for student interests in the face of attack from the University admin and the Liberals. It is not a body designed to get you a seat at the table to sell out students, nor is it meant to be a service provider that looks good on your resume.
Convince us to vote for you in ten words or less:
I’ve been fighting education cuts since I got to UWA.
SAV WALKER
Running for: Women’s Officer
Studies: Media and Communications, and Gender Studies.
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
The cuts to anthropology, sociology & chemistry, as well as the threat of other degrees being cut too. We need to not only fight for our education now, but for the education of others in the future.
Why are you the best person for the job?
I believe a woman’s place is in the struggle!
What are your thoughts on the Lil Nas X album rollout?
His commitment to the bit is outstanding. Truly a queer icon.
SIMON APLIN
Running for: Sports Representative
Studies: Honours in Anthropology and Sociology
What motivated you to run for your position this year?
The attempt to eliminate my degree, the need to fight against this and all the cuts across UWA, and my fierce advocacy of UWA sports culture.
What do you think are the biggest issues on campus now and into the future?
The huge cuts in motion at UWA at the moment, and the further cuts that are planned.
What is the policy you are most passionate about?
A guild that actively campaigns against the cuts, using its resources to ensure all students know what is happening, and to mobilise their opposition to the cuts to ensure university management can’t get away with it.
What is your favourite movie?
Da Kath and Kim Code (2005)
Why are you the best person for the job?
Because I have a long history of fighting for students’ quality of education at UWA, and have no interest in sucking up to University management.