Divorced Dads, Communism and “A Bunch of Jedis”: History of Joke Tickets in ANUSA Elections

By Nuria Olive

Although there does not yet appear to be a ‘joke’ ticket running in the 2023 ANUSA election, Observer has delved into some of the joke tickets of past years’ election campaigns, some of which faced significant controversy amongst the ANU student body and beyond. 

A ‘joke’ ticket is a group of students running for positions within the election that is usually not running with serious intent. It often includes pop-culture references or satirical content. 

‘Nick Xenophon Team 4 ANUSA’ launched their Facebook page in July 2017, claiming to be run by former Australian Senator Nick Xenophon. The group’s policies included developing “ANUSA submarines in South Australia”. 

Xenophon’s office reached out to the page, stating they were violating Xenophon’s “intellectual property rights” and that the page and all references to the Senator be “removed immediately”. ‘Nick Xenophon Team 4 ANUSA’ posted this warning on their Facebook page, calling it “another attempt by the establishment media to tear down the only voice for South Australian students on campus”. 

In 2018, although no joke tickets ended up on the ballot itself, many meme pages were launched. These included ‘Class War for ANUSA’ whose proposals included an “overthrow [of] the university’s administration to be replaced with full communism” and a pledge to “abolish the [residential] colleges”. Another 2018 page- ‘So Fresh ANUSA’- had Pitbull running for Education Officer and promised “the greatest hits on loop over speakers placed every five metres”.

In 2021, ‘Divorced Dads for ANUSA’ withdrew from the election, following student disapproval for the party being “misogynistic” and “classist”. The ticket’s proposed policies promised to “make sure that Unis are safe places for divorced dads” and “winning back our wives”. Students Observer interviewed at the time spoke of the ticket as misogynistic and “allu[ding] to domestic violence”. Following withdrawal from the election, the ticket’s representatives released a statement recognising the negative impact they had on the student community and apologising for the harm they had caused, withdrawing their campaign to “prevent any further harm”.

The latest joke ticket was 2022’s ‘The Jedi Council’. The Jedi Council were open about their campaign “taking the piss” and encouraged ANU students to elect “a bunch of Jedis” for the purposes of “restor[ing] balance to the universe”. The ticket’s Facebook page mentions mass course cuts, which alludes to the 2021 disestablishment of 126 CASS courses and a further 129 courses across other ANU faculties. The Jedi Council asserted that ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt who “managed to get himself a payday that’s higher than the Prime Minister’s salary” in 2021 would be made to meet with the Jedis fortnightly. The Jedi Council ensured publicly to be in full Jedi robe attire for each of these meetings. 

One candidate from The Jedi Council- Noah Edwards- was elected as a General Representative (Gen Rep) in the 2022 election. However, he turned down the position. Edward’s election promise was to “Make the week of May the 4th a national holiday”. Hayden Mendoza, another candidate from this ticket, was elected as a college representative for the College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics. Although Mendoza accepted the position, he stepped down prior to the first Student Representative Council meeting for 2023. 

Voting for the 2023 ANUSA election opens at 9am on September 25. 

Graphics by Will Novak

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