Sydney University Liberal Club

The Sydney University Liberal Club (SULC) is a student association operating under the auspices of the University of Sydney Union (USU). The club hosts policy debates, annual dinners, student election campaigns, and guest speaker events with members of parliament. It is an affiliate of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation.

Founded in 1933, the Sydney University Liberal Club has a historical rivalry with the Melbourne University Liberal Club, which was established a few years earlier in 1925.

The Patron of the Sydney University Liberal Club is Former Prime Minister 1996-2007, John Howard. Whilst historically the Liberal Club claimed two state delegates within the Liberal Party of Australia, the club itself is no longer formally affiliated with the Party.

The club attracted attention for its early opposition to the White Australia policy. In 1958, it circulated a memorandum called "White Australia in a Changing World" at a Liberal Party Convention in Sydney, describing the policy as the "greatest stumbling block in our foreign policy that exists today."

A defining debate in the club over the past 30 years has been Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU). With the exception of a short period in the late 1990s, the Sydney University Liberal Club has been a consistent supporter of voluntary student unionism, and has attracted national media coverage in recent years for its pro-VSU counterprotests.

In 2010 the club launched the annual John Howard Debating Cup with the purpose of celebrating the legacy of the Howard Government and providing a forum for public policy debate amongst Liberal Students. The Howard Cup is an intervarsity debating competition between six Liberal Clubs across New South Wales, consisting of preliminary rounds and a grand finals.

In 2011 over 250 attendees from Sydney University, Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Western Sydney, and the University of Wollongong attended the competition.

Each year the grand finals features an adjudication and keynote address by John Howard, and adjudications by notable conservatives like Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Janet Albrechtsen, Piers Akerman, Alexander Downer, Natasha Maclaren-Jones, Tom Switzer, and Paul Fletcher. The Cup was initiated by then Vice President Alex Dore. Winning teams of the competition have been:

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