University of Melbourne Annual Student Election
3 – 7 September 2012
Notice is hereby given that nominations open at 12 midday on Monday 23 July, for the 2012 University of Melbourne Annual Student Election.
Positions to be filled at the election include:
- Office-bearers, committees and Students’ Council of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU)
- Office-bearers and committee of the Burnley Students Association (BSA)
- Members of the Victorian College of the Arts and Music Student Association (VCAMSA) Council
- Student representatives on the board of MU Student Union Ltd
- Student representative (for a two-year term) on the University of Melbourne Council
- Delegates to the National Union of Students (NUS)
- A by-election to fill certain casual vacancies on UMSU and VCAMSA until the end of 2012
A complete list of positions appears at the end of this notice.
Nominations close at 12 midday on Friday 10 August
Polling will take place from Monday 3 September until Friday 7 September (inclusive)
All students are eligible to vote. A detailed schedule of polling times and locations will be posted after close of nominations. Students may also vote by post – applications for postal votes close at 5pm on Wednesday 29 August.
Tickets: Any fifteen (15) students may register a ticket to run in the election by filling in the appropriate form. Applications for Ticket Registration open and close at the same time as nominations. It is not necessary to be on a ticket to run in the election.
Tickets that are running candidates for multi-member positions should also submit a form showing the order in which they wish their candidates to appear. Candidates running for positions that cannot be held concurrently should submit a form showing which positions they wish to hold in case of a conflict.
Ticket registration forms, candidate order forms and conflict of position forms must all be submitted by close of nominations. All forms are available from the Returning Officer or can be downloaded from the election website (see below).
Policy speeches: Candidates may also, with their nominations, submit policy statements for publication in Farrago and on the election website. Policy statements must not exceed 300 words for UMSU office-bearer positions or 100 words for all other positions. A photo session for office-bearer candidates will be organized after close of nominations.
Please note that all deadlines are strict and cannot be extended. Candidates are strongly urged to lodge their forms well before the deadlines. All forms should be delivered personally to the Returning Officer or an authorised electoral official. (The Election Office will be open extensively throughout the election period, and appointments can be made by phone or email.) Where this is not practicable, please contact the Returning Officer to make other arrangements. Do not post forms without prior arrangement, as no responsibility will be taken for late or lost forms under those circumstances. It is not possible to accept faxed or emailed forms.
Contact Details
For all enquiries, forms and other election material, contact the Election Office: Student Resource Room, UMSU Office Area, first floor Union House; Phone: 03 8344 4835.
Or visit the Election website: http://union.unimelb.edu.au/elections
Returning Officer: Charles Richardson (Ph: 03 8060 6597)
Deputy Returning Officers: Jaimie Adam (Ph: 04 3073 4043), Stephen Luntz (Ph: 04 3866 7787)
Email: ReturningOfficer@union.unimelb.edu.au
Mailing address: UMSU Returning Officer, c/o Above Quota Elections, PO Box 2157, Fitzroy, VIC 3065
Notices will also be posted on the Students’ Council notice board, first floor, Union House.
Positions for Election
UMSU Annual Election
Office Bearers:
• President
• Secretary
• Education (Academic Affairs) Officer
• Education (Public Affairs) Officer
• Welfare Officer
• Wom*n’s Officer
• Arts Officer
• Activities Officer
• Queer Officer
• Environment Officer
• Media Officers
• Clubs & Societies Officer
• Indigenous Officer
Students’ Council:
• Queer Representative
• Indigenous Representative
• International Representative
• Mature Age Representative
• Fourteen (14) general members elected by all students
Seven (7) members on each of the following Committees:
• Activities Committee
• Arts Committee
• Education Committee
• Environment Committee
• Indigenous Committee
• Queer Committee
• Welfare Committee
• Wom*n’s Committee
Burnley Student Association Annual Election
President (Education Coordinator)
Vice-president (Welfare Coordinator)
Publications / Media Coordinator
Facilities Coordinator
Sports and Recreation Coordinator
Seven (7) general Committee members
VCAMSA Election
Fourteen (14) members of the Victorian College of the Arts and Music Student Association Council:
• Campus Co-ordinator
• Campaigns Co-ordinator
• Queer student representative
• Indigenous student representative
• International student representative
• Wom*n student representative
• Graduate student representative
• One representative each from the following academic units of the Faculty of the VCA and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music:
o Art
o Drama
o Dance
o Film and Television
o Music
o Production
o Musical Theatre
MU Student Union Ltd.
Two (2) student members of the board of MU Student Union Ltd
Note: One of these positions is for a two-year term, to run from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2014, while the other is for a one-year term from 1 November 2012 to 31 October 2013. Separate ballots will be held for each: please indicate on your nomination form whether you are standing for the one-year position or the two-year position.
University Council
One (1) student member of the Council of the University of Melbourne
Note: This position is for a two-year term, to run until 31 December 2014.
National Union of Students
Seven (7) Delegates to the National Conference of the National Union of Students Inc., in accordance with the rules of NUS
UMSU / VCAMSA By-Election
To fill casual vacancies for terms ending 31 December 2012:
• Education (Public Affairs) Officer
• Queer Officer
• Indigenous Officer
• Indigenous Committee (seven (7) positions)
• VCAMSA Queer student representative
• VCAMSA Indigenous student representative
• VCAMSA International student representative
• VCAMSA Graduate student representative
• VCAMSA Art representative
• VCAMSA Drama representative
• VCAMSA Film and Television representative
• VCAMSA Music representative
• VCAMSA Musical Theatre representative
Restrictions on election
Any student may nominate for any position unless otherwise specified below.
The student representatives on University Council and on the MU Student Union Ltd board (in the case of the first vacancy) must remain students for the full two years of the term (2013 and 2014).
The position of Media Officers must be held jointly by teams of three or four candidates. All other officer positions, except for President and Secretary, may be held either individually or by two candidates jointly. Candidates who are running as a team should each fill out a nomination form and submit them stapled together, with a single policy statement.
Candidates for Wom*n’s Officer, Wom*n’s Committee and Wom*n’s representative on VCAMSA Council must be women. For all other committees, including the general members of Students’ Council and the BSA Committee (but not the NUS delegation), at least half of the members (ignoring remainders) must be women, provided there are sufficient female candidates.
Candidates for Queer Officer, Queer Representative on Students’ Council, Queer Committee and Queer representative on VCAMSA Council must be Queer students. A single candidate for Queer Officer must be a woman; in the case of joint candidates for Queer Officer, at least one of them must be a woman.
Candidates for Indigenous Officer, Indigenous Representative on Students’ Council, Indigenous Committee and Indigenous representative on VCAMSA Council must be Indigenous students.
Candidates for International Representative on Students’ Council and on VCAMSA Council must be International students. Candidates for Mature Age Representative on Students’ Council must be Mature Age students. Candidates for Graduate representative on VCAMSA Council must be Graduate students.
Candidates for the BSA positions must be Burnley students. Candidates for VCAMSA Council must be students at the Faculty of the VCA and Music, and candidates for positions representing specific academic units at that Faculty must be students of those academic units.
No person can stand for election if they are employed half-time or more by UMSU, the University, MU Student Union Ltd or related bodies, or any combination thereof. No person can stand for an office-bearer position if they have already served two terms of office as an office-bearer.
For further information on eligibility to stand and to vote in the election, please consult the Election Regulations, available at the UMSU Office and on the election website. Copies of the Regulations can also be obtained at the Election Office, where further enquiries are welcome.
Charles Richardson
Above Quota Elections Pty Ltd
Returning Officer
20 July 2012
*Updated 24 July 2012 to reflect the alteration in the terms of MU Student Union Ltd board members*
*Updated again 1 August 2012 to clarify the process for electing the two MU Student Union Ltd board members*
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Posted Monday 23 July, 2012. Updated Friday 10 August, 2012.