Australian National University Students Association
| Institution | Australian National University |
|---|---|
| Location | Melville Hall, Building 12 Ellery Crescent, ANU Canberra, 2601 |
| Members | c. 12,000 |
| Website | http://www.anusa.com.au |
The Australian National University Students' Association is the student's union of the Australian National University. It is better known by its acronym, ANUSA. It exists to represent The Australian National University undergraduate students in the University's decision-making, to act as the voice for students in the national higher education policy debate, and to provide direct services to the student body.
It is not to be confused with ANU Union, which is a not-for-profit association that manages catering and retail operations in the ANU Union Building.
The 1996 ANUSA elections saw the losing "Rage" ticket embroiled in scandal. 146 votes for the "Rage" presidential candidate Daniel Jenkins were excluded by the Returning Officer after allegations of ballot stuffing. The fraud was discovered when a student sitting in a cafe saw a voter attempt to stuff a wad of ballots into the ballot box. When the Returning Officer opened the ballot box, five wads of ballots were found, all of which gave their first preference to Jenkins.
The scandal was dubbed "Wadgate" by the student newspaper Woroni and was subsequently reported on the front page of the Canberra Times (05/02/97) and elsewhere. It was also raised at least three times in the Australian Senate by Sen. Eric Abetz (Senate Hansard: 30/10/96, pp.4747-4750; 05/02/97, pp.125-127; and 23/06/97, pp.4929-31).
The winning presidential candidate, Matt Tinning from the "Counter Attack" ticket, secured enough votes to win even if fraudulent votes had not been excluded.
ANUSA moved into its premises in the Concessions Building in Union Court in 1999, following a major refurbishment. The Brian Kenyon Student Space was opened in 2011, named after Brian Kenyon, who drove ANU's late night bus for 26 years until 2014.
In 2011, ANUSA was incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act 1991 (ACT). The ANU Student Newspaper, Woroni, was previously published by ANUSA, however, the successful 2009 Stand Up! ticket ran on a platform to deliver an independent student newspaper, similar to student publications at North American universities. As a result, ANU Student Media was formed in 2010 as an independent association, and incorporated in 2012.
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