I don't support VSU. I've NEVER supported VSU. I'm just a bit more reserved about the current practices. I think that student community is incredibly important to the university experience, and that to lose it would be a tragedy. Student community DEFINES the university experience, and without the subsidised clubs and societies, cheaper food (theoretically), activities and concerts on campus and all the other stuff our student organisations are Supposed to provide, our unis would be no more than degree factories.
I do, however, believe that the fee is far too high at USYD, and that provisions should be made to defer payments - as the groups that are supposed to benefit most from student welfare (the poor and disadvantaged) are the ones who pay the highest percentage of their savings towards the student organisations. Because there is no incentive to become more cost effective, our student organisations have become incredibly wasteful, and the money that IS going into them is being wasted. Under my leadership, these wasteful programs would be cut. The latest Quah Report discusses the impact of these sorts of programs, and why if they had taken my advice years ago (yes, I've been writing the Quah Report for a LONG time), the VSU legislation wouldn't be so popular.
When it comes down to it though, what the SRC needs now is a President and a Council who accept the reality that nobody likes them, and can work to increase support of these organisations among the students they represent. This means abolishing collectives like the Global Solidarity Collective, and merging things like Welfare and Women's Collectives/Officers into combined portfolios. If the students affected are so upset about the cutting of funding to these collectives, they are more than welcome to get outside organisations involved in the student movement. The Democratic Socialist Party (Socialist Alliance) are a much better organisation to subsidise the work of Keep Left and other such groups on campus, than the students who may even disagree with their approaches.
Likewise, I will be addressing the child care issue with a different perspective. Yes, we most definitely need subsidised (if not free) childcare and healthcare on campus. But it should be the Government that provides the funding for these services - not the poor student who can't afford lunch because he had to pay his union fees - so I would urge our Government, or even large businesses who are looking to do good things for the community, to consider using their resources to ease the squeeze on the student's wallet. Over a few years, we might even be able to alleviate the cost off the student organisations onto these outside groups. It's this sort of work that students need - not fighting and protesting and vandalising.
So what it comes down to, is the fact that I will work, not fight for student rights. This means an approach that looks at student issues apolitically, and recognises that even though the Liberal Government are full of fuckers who want to take money from the grossly underfunded public school system and give it to the wankers at the Kings School, they still ARE the government.
And besides, I'm only technically a Con student now - for the last three semesters, my time has spent equally between the two campuses, and I am technically based in the Arts Music unit at the Seymour Centre on the Darlington side of main campus. My solutions come from my time on the fringes of the student community, and have been given much consideration as to how they could benefit all students. The thing is, it's not that I'm a Con student that has disadvantaged me in the past - but that I'm a Music student who isn't working towards a Law degree. This is something I will need to overcome.
As for the issue of Falun Gong, a number of Falun Gong protests were coordinated through the Global Solidarity Group of the SRC, and publicised through the Education Action Group. The Union has also been involved in the past, in providing funding to Falun Gong, and they too have received a number of protest letters from myself and others who share my concerns. My problem with supporting Falun Gong is that I have seen firsthand the results of their actions, which is why I refer to them specifically.
Fact is that even if it hurts my reputation - if I cannot be honest and upfront about my beliefs, then I am not suited to the responsibility of leading our student representative body.