By Will Cassell
A candidate in the ANU Students’ Association (ANUSA) election has defended their political poster, which has offended members of the Labor-aligned ‘impact.’ ticket.
The poster included the faces of senior candidates from the impact ticket, and targeted the affiliation of these candidates with the Australian Labor Party. It comes as the annual ANUSA election ramps up.
“If candidates on Impact are unwilling to be publicly associated with the Labor party, then maybe they can take it off their LinkedIn first,” slayyyter4anusa told Observer.
Asked to respond to the offence that the posters have caused against members of the Impact ticket, slayyyter4anusa said, “I’ve received no complaints, and if candidates feel personally targeted they should simply ask and we would remove it quickly”.
“The logo was very deliberately left on these posters so that any requests for removal, issues or concerns could be brought up with us directly or through the Returning Officer,” they said.
Yesterday, the main Presidential candidates, impact.’s Leila Clarke and ELEVATE’s Malakai King, jointly condemned “personal attacks” in a post to Instagram.
For slayyyter4anusa, there is a big difference between the poster they made targeting impact. and the posters, made by someone else, targeting ELEVATE Presidential candidate, Malakai King.
“I stress how different this is with the posters that targeted Malakai, which were mocking, cruel, anonymous and placed such that they couldn’t be seen by him or identified.”
However, for Leila Clarke, the presidential candidate for the impact. ticket, these posters were “not on”.
“On Wednesday night, we were made aware of some posters made about us insinuating that we had some sort of evil past that we were trying to cover up with our faces all over it,” Ms Clarke told Observer.
“We have no idea who did this and we do not support this behaviour. ANUSA elections should not be about personal attacks on candidates. They should be genuine discussions about who can deliver the best outcomes for students.”
Election posters have also been removed around campus. This is an offence under ANUSA Electoral Regulations. It is also prohibited to display posters that breach ANU law or policy, under the ANU’s poster policy.
“I’m proud that both major Presidential candidates were able to call this out and condemn this together,” Mr King told Observer. “It should be a mark of pride for us in ANUSA.”
“At a time when student accommodation tariffs are skyrocketing beyond inflation, reproductive rights are under attack across the country, and racism is on the rise, we need students united behind their unions now more than ever.”
“This behaviour stands in the way of that, and therefore stands counter to the interests of all students.”
In a statement to Observer, Socialists for ANUSA said, “we hope this election cycle can get back to the actual politics of student politics soon”.
Observer understands that complaints have been made with the ANUSA Returning and Probity Officers. Observer reached out to both Officers for comment but neither responded in time for publication.
Under ANUSA Electoral Regulations, it is an electoral offence to publish misleading or untrue material. Bullying is also a breach of the ANUSA Code of Conduct and the ANU Students Code of Conduct.
The Returning Officer has a number of options in relation to a complaint, including disqualifying a candidate, imposing a fine, or requiring that a poster be removed.
Observer does not suggest that anyone in this piece is guilty of misconduct, wrongdoing or criminal behaviour.
Observer has reached out to the ANU for comment but they did not respond in time for publication.
More to come.
Graphic by Laudine Cao
