SRC funding suspended indefinitely after emergency AUU board meeting
Words by Nicholas Birchall
On Dit can today confirm that the Student Representative Council’s (SRC) funding has been suspended indefinitely by the Adelaide University Union (AUU). This comes in the wake of SRC’s O’Week Counter-Guide distribution. SRC President Ana Obradovic’s honorarium payments have also been suspended. This comes after an emergency AUU Board meeting was called last week Monday evening (21/2), the entirety of which was held in-camera (confidentially, without public record available).
On Dit understands this occurred in accordance with the controversial SRC-AUU funding agreement. Formally a confidential document, its existence was made public by the 2022 SRC in a statement decrying it as “restrictive” and “an attack on free speech and democracy”, as it essentially prohibits the SRC from taking positions that conflict with that of the AUU. This statement by the SRC was flagged by the AUU as a breach of the confidentiality clauses written into said agreement.
Fig. 1: excerpt from the confidential SRC-AUU funding agreement, effectively prohibiting the SRC from taking conflicting positions to the AUU on matters.
This funding agreement was passed on the final day of the 2021 SRC and AUU administration by 2021 SRC President Oscar Zi Shao Ong, and his Progress/Connect coalition, which at the time held a majority on both the AUU and SRC. Despite still holding an AUU majority in 2022, the Progress/Connect coalition presence on the SRC was essentially wiped out at the 2021 General Election.
In an email to the SRC, Ong (who now holds the position of AUU President) suggested that the distribution of the Counter-Guide breached this funding agreement, as it contained an article expressing support for the NUS — National Union of Student (a national activist body representing student interests). This organisation was designated as a ‘Prohibited Affiliate’ by and Ong-led AUU in 2019. According to Ong, distribution of material in support of the NUS breaches s4.2(e) of the funding agreement (Fig 1 above).
Fig 2: an excerpt of an email from Ong identifying an alleged breach of the SRC-AUU funding agreement
Beyond the suspension of SRC funding, SRC President Ana Obradovic’s honorarium payments have also been suspended by the AUU. This came after what AUU President Ong described as the SRC’s failure to “[act] in accordance with the objects in the AUU Constitution”. In an email to the SRC, Ong vocalised his discontent over what he suggested were multiple infractions of the funding agreement by Obradovic. This included failing to submit a monthly SRC President’s report to the AUU, as well as identifying herself as the SRC President and President of the AUU club Socialist Alternative in a previous report. Ong suggested this action constituted a “conflict of interest” as he claimed she did not “provide representation for all students regardless of […] political views,” as outlined in s4.2(b) of the funding agreement.
Fig. 3: An excerpt of an email from Ong identifying an alleged breach of the funding agreement
While the AUU has not yet formally written to the SRC informing them of their funding suspension, as On Dit understands, a verbal message confirming this was delivered by an AUU Board director to the SRC President and General Secretary on Tuesday last week (22/2).
SRC General Secretary Billy Zimmerman called Ong’s and the AUU Board’s actions a “[refusal] to act constructively”, and cited that Ong has failed to accept any calls in relation to the matter and “only communicates with [Zimmerman] through [AUU] directives.”
SRC President Ana Obradovic stated that in the wake of this news the SRC are
“Not going to back down. [The SRC] have a democratic mandate to fight for student interests, and petty attacks are not going to stop us.”
AUU President Oscar Ong was contacted for comment but failed to reply.
