PULP GOSS: God, Guns & Gays, Honi Soit Tickets, and Who? Is the 2019 RO

By Pulp Goss

While those of you that live in blissful independence of the Sydney University Student Politics Scene have been enjoying your european holidays, our very own future parliamentary psychopaths have been wheeling and dealing their way into the upcoming SRC elections. Grassroots and the “Moderate” Liberals have pre-selected their presidential candidates, and Honi Soit tickets are rising and falling faster than the pide line at Unibros. 

God, Guns and Gays 

Though we’re yet to hear whispers of anything presidential from Unity, NLS, Advance or SAlt, our sources tell us that Grassroots and the Moderate Liberals have preselected Liam Donohoe and Josie Jakovac respectively. Donohoe won out over current co-convener of the Women’s Collective and SRC Sexual Harassment Officer Jazz Breen, and Josie triumphed over SRC Residential College Officer James Ardouin. 

It’s an interesting choice for the Moderate Liberals, who have historically run on “a-political”, “independent” campaigns. We’re certainly interested to see how they’ll be claiming political neutrality when Jakovac has previously interned for US Senator Jim Inhofe, noted author of The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future and thought to be the most conservative member of the US House and Senate. Inhofe infamously used the phrase “Gods, Guns and Gays” in his campaign for a Senate seat in 1994, which we dearly hope will serve as inspiration for the branding of Josie’s presidential run. The choice to run Josie Jakovac over the infinitely more marketable (and moderate) James Ardouin is certainly curious- will the Liberals finally be running as Liberals? Politics aside, Jakovac doesn’t exactly have the best SRC attendance record, missing enough executive meetings to be dismissed from her position on the Executive.

Though Liam Donohoe isn’t a 2019 OB or a councillor, he is a former editor of Honi Soit (Heat, 2018) and well known Grassroots power-broker. You may remember Donohoe from a minor scandal involving an Honi Soit article about fare evasion.

Both candidates have considerable voter and campaigner bases to draw from, with Donohoe a prominent member of campus activist and debating circles, and Jakovac likely to enjoy the electoral support of the campus climate change conspiracy theorist community, as well as that of any of those Quiet Australians that supposedly landed us a Morrison Government. How Good Is Student Democracy! 

Mon Droit! 

Fervent readers of the Sydney Tory and those that mourn the loss of campus right-wing rag Mon Droit, have no fear! An Honi ticket just for you is near! Headed by SURG member Jamie Weiss and failed USyd Senate candidate Jack Gibson, the ticket looks to be filling the Time/Mint shaped hole in this year’s electoral offerings. Jamie was briefly a member of Spice in 2018, and Jack Gibson responded thusly to Honi Soit’s questions of senate candidates: 

Snitches Get...Spots on Honi Soit Tickets

The second ticket in the race is rumoured to be headed up by Sam Stove and Allison Eslake of CrossSoc, and Vaidehi Mahapatra. Mahapatra leaked information of a Women’s Collective protest in a University Student Ambassador facebook group in 2018 after finding out information relating to the protest from an internal Honi call out for reporters, which is an interesting insight into her sense of journalistic ethics. 

Though Honi have reported on a third ticket organised by Grassroots, Pulp Goss understands that Grassroots will not be organising such a ticket, instead focusing their energy on President and Council. 

Who? 

Caspar Lu, good friend of SRC God-King Jacky He and undergraduate student, has been hired as the 2019 SRC election returning officer, despite concerns from a number of factions as to his qualifications. Fun!