Independents (Australian NUS faction)
Students who politically organise on an independent basis can be classified into two main groups.
independents (small 'i' indies) are entirely independent voices in that they do not organise together and may have any sort of political affiliation, ideology, pusuits, as well as geography. By and large, small 'i' indies can be found on regional and rural campuses where location has demonstrable isolation effects .
The Independents (big 'I' Indies) operate collectively but are non-binding on NUS National Conference floor. These students have agreed to openly discuss their IDeaS on policy, with the intent of sharing information so that each participant may have access to a broad range of opinions.
The five principles of the Independents are:
- Pro-Student;
- Pro-Union;
- Proactive;
- Non-aligned; and
- Non-binding.
In 2005, the Independents were coordinated on a national level by Susie Byers (WA) and Jason Ngam 1 (Vic), who had been elected to National Executive for the 2005 term. In an amusing yet ultimately victorious twist of irony, the renegging on a vote deal by the National Broad Left faction at the 2004 Conference lead to the Independents getting one of their two candidates (Jason) for National Executive voted into office on a full quota in their own right. Susie was a member of National Executive as President of NUS West.
Susie Byers was President of the University of Western Australia Student Guild in 2004, and Jason Ngam was Higher Education Student Member of Swinburne Council 2 and the 2003-04 President of the Swinburne Student Union.
In late 2005, the Independents cooperated with many other groups to ensure a 'Left' National Office. Despite the failure of Curtin Student Guild President Patrick Gorman, the Labor Left candidate, to defeat Student Unity's Michael DeBruyn - this 'Left bloc' was highly successful, winning every other Office Bearer position, and a majority on National Executive.
The Independents secured one National Executive position at the 2005 Conference, Emeline Gaske, who was the 2006 Education Council President at UWA and coordinated the Independents on a national level.
The 2006 Conference saw the Independents pull off a significant coup , defeating Student Unity for the position of National General Secretary for the first time in 15 years. The Independents worked with various left-wing factions, and also managed to gain the support of the Liberal Students to elect Mathew Chuk, the outgoing President of the UWA Student Guild, who has pledged to use the position to coordinate national campaigns and to reach out to member organisations that have become disenchanted with the way NUS has been run over the past 15 years. The Independents also again secured the position of WA State President with Enrico Burgio from the University of Western Australia holding a vote on the NUS National Executive.
The 2007 Conference also saw the Independents emerge with a good result. Although they were unable to prevent a deal between the leading Labor factions for key office-bearing roles, the Independents did elect two candidates to National Executive: Enrico Burgio and Luke Villiers from the University of Western Australia. The Independent candidate Eden Ridgeway of Murdoch University also picked up the NUS WA State Presidency, meaning that the Independents now hold three votes (and the balance of power) on National Executive.