#LIVE: Pulp does #RepsElect 2018

Words by Terence Duggan

The meeting is rescheduled to week 2 of exams. All the elections made are valid.

9.20pm

Whilst there is a possibility they could find another room, this remains abstract, with a number of councillors seen leaving the site after the announcement

Well I guess that concludes and extremely dramatic #repselect. Hopefully you’ve had enough stupol hackery and drama to last you through the summer. As for me, I’m going to cool off the tension with Netflix and herbal tea in bed. Goodnight.

8.51pm

We’re currently outside being made to line up by security. This is rather cooked.

Announcement from EO “seeing as the room is now flooded we will not be allowed to return... I don’t know if or when we will get back into the room”

Potentially looking for another room but she “suspects it is unlikely”

8:20pm:

THERES A FUCKING FIRE ALARM.

8:11pm:

Gabis time is running out having been dominated by screaming. Someone screams “shut the fuck up” a physical alternation ensures worthy of an ice hockey match.

8:09pm:

Gabi Striker Phelps takes the stand. It obviously runs in the family is Gabi is the daughter of newly elected member for Wentworth Dr Kerryn Phelps

She is being constantly shouted down with cries of shame. Groots and Left males shouting down and intimidating women in the name of sexism. Interesting.

8:07pm:

Groots joint ticket preselected by Woco informs councillors that “Anyone who votes against us or abstains is a sexist piece of shit” and will be voting against “what the women’s collective has done”.

8:05pm:

Nominations received from five people for the position of women’s officer. (I’ve been reliably informed by stupid insiders that “this is the spicy one”)

8:03pm:

Labour left wins the position of education officer. Nominations for Womens Officer now open.

7:57pm:

Much of the debate for the education officer position is focused on the Ramsay Centre; News Corp would have a field day with chants such as 'fuck the west' coming from the grassroots benches.

7:50pm:

A candidate mounts the podium; chants of "scab" and "1,2,3 fuck the ALP" erupt again. And then the lights go out.

7:44pm:

Alex Yang, Adrianna, Ju Ming Li, Prudence Wilkins, elected to general committee- and onto nominations for education officer.

7:37pm:

Madeline Ward and Lara Sonnenschein just walked out of the chamber with a magnum bottle of Champagne. Not sure why. But it confers new meaning on the cliche of Champagne Socialism.

7.31pm

The election for General Executive is currently occurring. Everyone is doing their best to disrupt everyone else. Each speaker is limited to 1 minute, which ensures that convulsions of applause at very frequent intervals. Grassroots councillors assure they will 'keep striking until we strike you all down.' Another claims that the libs are 'monopolising SRC.'

There's general white noise as votes are taken. Someone brings uber eats into the chamber. Georgia de Mestre plays mum and hands out coca cola for BOTH unity and liberal councillors. Now that's coalition building.

7.12pm

Election of general executive currently taking place. Councillors are reminded of the existing system of quotas for non-cis-males. They are also being told that to claim the status of non-cis-male one needs to sign a statutory declaration to that effect. This new requirement came to the fore when a rightist councillor in 2016 tried to claim non-cis-male status to make quota.

7.07pm

The theme of tonight appears to be grassroots reacting to their new, more impotent, position. Grassroots know this. They have been endlessly targeting Unity and NLS over the perception they have allied with the right to cut them out of executive positions. The relentless, earth-shaking, chanting and screaming from grassroots can't hide this reality.

6.55pm

Joint ticket has been elected. A victory for the Panda/Liberal coalition which is expected to dominate this years repselect.

Loud cheering and screaming occurs – the ground shakes.

6.53pm

Now a brief historical interlude while nomination forms are being received. Those old enough to remember will recall 2016 repselect when identical twins Will and Pat Ryan held the balance of power. William Ryan recalls how he turned down the offer of Vice President to secure positions on the executive such as colleges officer and education officer. Both the twins remain at this university finishing their degrees yet they assure me their days of stirring the stupol pot are finished.

6.45pm

Call for nomination forms for the position of VP; Will Edwards, and Dave Luo and WanLin Chu (jointly), have nominated. Confusion over the status of speakers.

Lily Campbell now-speaking even though she wasn't nominated. She labels her Labor colleagues as sell outs and CV stackers. She pillors them for doing a deal with the liberals as detrimental to their leftist agenda.

Now it's 1,2,3, fuck the ALP. Not sure who sits where on the political spectrum. Reminds me of #libspill2018

6.40pm

Moonlight moment. The electoral officer points out that she is not in fact the electoral officer. A motion put forward by Jacky He. Vote currently taking place. Karen Chau has officially been appointed elections officer.

6.35pm

Outgoing President Imogen Grant is currently at the podium giving her speech. The meeting has started after much humdrum and fuss. She starts with an acknowledgment of country and says she has doubts as to whether a more right leaning SRC will continue this mission.

Chair has been passed to Jacky He. Loud liberal cheering and cue more Groots screaming. The cacophony is cray.

6.30pm

The observer side appears to be primarily populated by Grassroots — there's loud screeching and cheering whenever Paulene calls one of their councillors. They may not be as electorally significant as they once were, nor can they hope for much influence over the events of tonight, but they've certainly succeeded in making themselves heard.

6.27pm

The SRC chamber — at least that's what we shall call it for now — is hot, stuffy, and filled with councillors and observers on all sides. It's crowded. Observers are sitting on the table and floors and councillors are entertaining themselves while ballots are distributed in alphabetical order by Paulene Graham. Food and snacks are everywhere, and the low hum of conversation is gradually rising as the crowd grows restless. A few SAlt old hands are also hanging around along with Stupol icon Cameron Caccamo. This should be interesting. Stay tuned for drama.

6.12pm

We've started. The chair has notified everyone that there is a charity event on upstairs and hence encouraged your newly-elected councillors to keep quiet. Buckley's chance of that happening.

P.S. Can the first motion passed by the SRC please be an air conditioner in this room?

6.05pm

Pulp is online for this years #repselect. We can already hear the chanting of 'racist, sexist, anti-queer, liberals are not welcome here.' A liberal councillor asks them to keep going. Indeed, they keep going before tiring themselves out.

Welcome to stupol.

As everyone's getting settled (somewhat) let's go by way of an explanation. #Repselect is the inaugural session of a new SRC in which various office bearers — such as Education Officer, Women's Officer, Secretary — are chosen by the council. So why all the fuss? Repselect has near-cult status in the annals of campus politics because of the intense drama that the process of selecting representatives causes. Two years ago police were called, and it made the national news. Despite the earlier yelling heard earlier, Repselect 2018 will not likely repeat the drama of past years. Mainstream factions such as Panda, the Liberals and Labour are expected to win the majority of positions convincingly. Aided by the fact that the new President, Jacky He, comes from the International student based Panda faction.