TAFE Crusaders

TAFE Crusaders

By Jo Williams

MELBOURNE — Student union elections are taking place on the university and TAFE campuses of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. On the TAFE campus, two tickets are running, the TAFE Crusaders and the TAFE Team.

The TAFE Crusaders are campaigning for a student union that defends student rights. The campaign gives the Crusaders a chance to make the student union more visible and relevant to students.

Natasha Izatt, Crusaders' candidate for women's officer, told Green Left Weekly: "We are campaigning for better education and to stop the government and TAFE administration from increasing fees. We also want to make sure students are able to get involved in their union. We want to combine political campaigning with creating a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere on campus."

Izatt and Mark Abberton, who is standing for welfare and education officer, are Resistance members. The experience they gained in organising the recent high school walkouts against racism will be useful in running similar campaigns on campus.

The TAFE Crusaders are also standing Richard Winters for campus coordinator, Julio Dunn for activities chairperson, Nicole Berner for secretary treasurer, and candidates for the four general representative positions.

The TAFE Team is running on the slogan "More free beer, bands, BBQs and some lefty politics".

The TAFE Crusaders will work closely with the left-wing "Activate" ticket, which is standing for the RMIT university student union positions.

From GLW issue 333