BY LAURA PLACELLA and PRANJALI SEHGAL
The 2020 MONSU Caulfield election has been no stranger to controversy – whether that be arising from the recalling of the election, an “unofficial group of candidates”, a relationship between MSA’s Together and new kid on the block, Ignite, or five-day campaigning bans.
As students will be casting their votes in the election in just a few days, MOJO News has set out to investigate all that has unfolded so far.
With seven students already declared elected unopposed to certain positions, there are still eight positions up for grabs.
Each position is being contested by one Ignite candidate and one independent candidate.
ANOTHER POSTPONED ELECTION
On March 17, the Executive of the MONSU Caulfield Student Council (SC) passed a motion delegating the SC’s powers to the members of the Executive, a day after a state of emergency was declared in Victoria due to COVID-19.
From March 17 to September 23, only the Executive met to govern and manage MONSU Caulfield. There were no SC meetings.
This meant on September 10, it was the Executive who met to set the dates of the election, which was initially to take place online from October 12 to October 14.
Only days before, on September 7, the Executive also met to pass updated election regulations and to appoint a Returning Officer.
However, according to clause 26 of the MONSU Caulfield constitution, only the SC can delegate its powers – not the Executive, which is only a committee of the SC.
This meant the calling of the election and the changes to the election regulations were invalid, among other resolutions the Executive had made.
This year’s MONSU Caulfield President Caitlyn Dunne said the SC reconvened on September 23 to ratify the minutes of the Executive’s meetings from March 17 to September 7.
This allowed the SC to confirm, and validate, all the resolutions made by the Executive.
Then, on October 2, according to Ms Dunne, the SC “updated the election regulations, re-appointed the Returning Officer and re-set the dates of the election”.
The election was validly recalled on October 5, to take place online from November 2 to November 4.
“MONSU does understand the importance of legally robust election processes and has been striving to make the process fair and equitable and safe for all Caulfield students,” Ms Dunne said.
“This is why MONSU recalled the election, to ensure all processes were met.”
Ms Dunne and Daniel Stonehouse are the only two candidates running in the election who were members of the Executive this year.
However, this is not the first time the election has been postponed to Week 12.
In 2019, the SC came under fire for making a “racist” change to student role descriptions in a meeting which moved into “camera” (became private).
This change implemented a minimum of 22 working hours to nine out of 13 portfolios, which instantly ruled international students out of last year’s election.
The election was postponed in order for this change to be overturned.
Ms Dunne, Mr Stonehouse and another independent candidate running in the election, Anne Gordon, were present during that 2019 meeting.
TICKETS IN A TICKETLESS ELECTION
In a statement provided to MOJO News, a 2020 MONSU Caulfield spokesperson said this year’s election would “only allow individual candidates to nominate” and has “removed tickets from the nomination process”.
The spokesperson said MONSU Caulfield had received feedback from students, who did not feel comfortable with the way elections have been conducted over the past few years.
“Students have informed us that in previous elections they felt harassed by campaigners, were made to feel anxious about being on campus and did not want to get involved with MONSU, or the election process,” the spokesperson said.
MONSU Caulfield believes this change would “encourage more students to feel comfortable to participate and nominate in [elections]”.
Returning Officer Jarrod Allen has described Ignite as an “unofficial group of candidates”.
There will be no reference to the name Ignite on the online ballot, meaning students seeking to vote for Ignite candidates will have to rely on its campaign publicity.
Ignite’s candidate for President, Anna Purtill, was asked by MOJO News why Ignite decided to run like a ticket, when tickets have been removed from the nomination process.
“Our team shares the same values and vision for MONSU; a student union that is effective, representative and transparent,” Ms Purtill said.
“A student union that will spend more time delivering for students, than it does defending itself from scandals.
“We are not afraid of showing students that this is who we are and giving them a clear choice; our team of experienced leaders who care about delivering for students or our opposition who aren’t even willing to be upfront about who they are.”
Independent candidate for President, Ms Dunne, was asked by MOJO News to describe the non-Ignite candidates’ relationship and whether there was a coordinated effort by them, as independents, to band together and defeat Ignite.
“A number of people have banded together because we recognised that there’s a responsibility to defeat Ignite,” Ms Dunne said.
“At the end of the day, every student deserves a union run by honest people who’ll give everyone a fair go, and acts in-line with students’ interests.
“This isn’t about one group against another, but individual students fighting to ensure that their union is run by good, honest people.”
Ms Dunne said she does not know every independent, but knows the majority.
“Many of them I have encouraged to run for MONSU due to their keen interest in MONSU and commitment to the student experience,” she said.
“However I must stress, all of these candidates ran on their own accord.”
When asked about Ignite’s decision to run like a ticket, Ms Dunne said she was “not surprised” that it has happened, “just disappointed”.
She is concerned tickets, or the like, lead to students being elected into positions they do not understand and lack the dedication to fulfil.
“It is common that students run because they have a friend who dragged them into it to fill a spot in a ticket, or thinking it’ll look good on the resumé,” she said.
Ms Dunne said she was also concerned students will vote “on the basis of the ticket’s overall image” and not on the basis of the individuals involved.
“At the end of the day, it’s about putting yourself out there as the best person for the role, and not hiding behind the image of a group,” she said.
A TALE OF TWO TICKETS: TOGETHER AND IGNITE
MOJO News understands James McDonald, a prominent member of the Clayton-based ticket Together and this year’s MSA President, created the ‘Ignite 2020’ private Facebook group on July 30.
The Facebook group describes itself as a “private group for candidates, campaigners and supporters of our team”.
This did not go unnoticed by students, with a Monash StalkerSpace comment drawing attention to the fact Mr McDonald is involving himself with a Caulfield-based ticket.
MOJO News approached Mr McDonald to ask whether he created the ‘Ignite 2020’ Facebook group, whether he was involved with Ignite in any way and how he would describe the relationship between Together and Ignite.
“While I am forbidden by MONSU from attempting to campaign or persuade students voting in their election, I make no secret of my years-long friendship with [Anna Purtill],” Mr McDonald said.
“Her and I share the same vision for student unionism that is diverse, representative and honest.
“I have no doubt her team will realise that vision at MONSU if they’re elected.”
Mr McDonald also said he led the MSA “guided by principles of integrity, accountability and transparency”.
“Those values should be the expectation for all student unions at Monash, not the exception,” he said.
Mr McDonald has been elected as next year’s student member of the Monash University Council.
When MOJO News asked Ms Purtill the same questions as Mr McDonald, she said “students at [the] Caulfield campus are desperate for a strong student union that puts their needs front and centre”.
“My opposition clearly prefers to talk about wide-ranging conspiracies, rather than student needs.
“I’m focused only on how to deliver a better student union and, frankly, I think that’s what students would prefer.”
CAMPAIGNING BANS
Last Tuesday, Returning Officer Jarrod Allen issued a ruling which saw all Ignite candidates banned from campaigning for five days from 6pm October 20 until 6pm October 25.
The ruling was sparked by two complaints received by Mr Allen.
One of the complaints regarded two posts written solely in Mandarin found on WeChat and in a group called ‘Melbourne Campus Micro News’ on website Australia51.com.
According to the ruling, the posts were not provided to Mr Allen for approval, nor did they include the details of the student who authorised the publicity.
They also included “multiple misleading or deceptive comments”, such as “the current core members of MONSU are trying to make international students lose their right to vote and be elected”.
This meant the two posts breached numerous election regulations, specified by Mr Allen in his ruling, stating:
“It is reasonable through implication that individuals campaigning as a group...can be sanctioned as a group even if not every person in that group directly breached the [election] regulations.”
“These [posts] are examples of actions that cause a defect in the conduct of an election that could materially affect the result, meaning these actions could result in a successful appeal against the result of the election,” the ruling read.
Mr Allen requested a response from Ignite candidate Riley Fenn regarding these posts.
Ms Fenn claimed, according to the ruling, “no candidate or campaigner involved with the Ignite candidates had any involvement with the preparation...of the posts”.
She also claimed the posts were made by an individual who is aware of “the momentum that has been building behind the Ignite campaign”. This individual is not a Monash University student.
However, Mr Allen concluded in his ruling that Ms Fenn’s response breached election regulations by “providing false, dishonest and deceptive information to the Returning Officer”.
This was partly because he did “not believe it is credible that no candidate or campaigner was involved in the preparation of these posts”.
Ms Fenn was banned from campaigning for an additional four days (nine days in total).
Ms Purtill appealed Mr Allen’s ruling. The election tribunal handed down its decision on her appeal on Friday.
The tribunal found “based on facts and evidence as presented before [Mr Allen], he acted appropriately in his deliberations”. The appeal was dismissed.
“It was very disappointing that we [Ignite] were not able to campaign on our positive plans for Caulfield over the past few days but we are focused on the next two weeks,” Ms Purtill said.
“Unlike others – though we may be unhappy with some parts of the rules that govern this election, we respect those rules.”
MOJO News asked Ms Purtill if she had any knowledge of the posts on Australia51.com before a complaint was received by Mr Allen.
“Given that a large cohort of the international student population are active users of WeChat, our international candidates use this platform to campaign,” Mr Purtill said.
“As I don’t speak Mandarin, I am not responsible for our team’s communications on this platform.”
Ms Purtill’s opponent, Ms Dunne, said “this isn’t how leaders should act”.
“I’m glad the Returning Officer was able to hold [Ignite] accountable for having breached so many articles of...the election regulations,” she said.
Campaign publicity could only be made available by candidates from October 19, but the two posts were made available on September 23 and October 16.
“Ignite already had a hugely unfair head start on the other candidates in this election, so other candidates having the opportunity to share their message feels fair and reasonable.”
Ms Dunne said she would not want her union to be led by people “who’ve cheated and then tried to deny responsibility”.
“MONSU deserves good and committed student representatives. I’m proud of everyone that’s called it out and is doing their best in an uphill battle to make up for unfairly lost time.”
The 2020 MONSU Caulfield election will take place online from 9am November 2 to 4pm November 4. Only MONSU members can vote in the election.
Click here to read all the candidates’ manifestos on the MONSU Caulfield website.
Click below to head to Ignite’s Facebook page and the Facebook pages of independents.
Caitlyn Dunne - Candidate for President
Click here to contact MOJO News if a Facebook page has been created for any of the other candidates.