Independents to Contest General & College Representatives

Two independent tickets have today announced that they will be contesting the ANUSA elections. Lauren Kightly and Kai Clark are contesting College Representative positions for the College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP), while Brandon Tan is running for General Representative.

Kightly and Clark for ANUSA promises to “[make] the college a better place”. Their Facebook page is currently blank, but statements on the candidates’ personal pages sketch out a policy of inclusion and accessibility for the college. They pledge to ensure that student feedback is implemented, to support smaller CAP courses in the transition from in-person to online teaching, and to have greater marketing for CAP courses.

The ticket plans to actively advocate in broader issues impacting CAP students, including advocating for a return of the Diploma of Languages which was discontinued this year due to federal budget cuts. They also want CAP’s extensive overseas research courses to be available to a wider variety of people, including international students.

Kightly is a member of Labor Right. She previously ran for General Representative on the Lift ANUSA ticket in 2017, and currently serves on the Board of the ANU Union. Both Kightly and Clark were first-year reps on the CAP’s Student Society. Currently, only Refresh ANUSA is contesting this position.

Tan is a third-year student running independently, under Believe Brandon Tan for ANUSA, for Gen Rep. Tan says he is a “jack of all trades”, listing experiences running Faces of ANU,  writing for Woroni, and organising events like Beyond the Margin.

Tan says a substantial amount of his policies are built from his personal experiences as a Malaysian student at the ANU, including his difficulties becoming involved in ANU life. Tan aims to create a comprehensive guide to events, programs, and application deadlines throughout the year, for distribution to all students.

He also wants to run introductory skills-based workshops throughout the year, and to push for greater recognition of student-run initiatives that may take place outside of clubs and societies. Tan also wants to have ANUSA organise events during university breaks, for the benefit of those who remain in Canberra.

Tan will be going up against Refresh ANUSA, Reform ANUSA, and Ignite ANUSA in the elections in Week Four. The release of nominations by ANUSA has been continually pushed back since Thursday and will now likely occur at close of business Monday.

Kai Clark was a member of the Observer team, and resigned in Term One of this year. He has no ongoing role in the organisation.

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