University Of Sydney Students' Representative Council

In addition to a student-elected council and student advocacy portfolios, the SRC coordinates a free legal service and caseworker service for all undergraduate students at the University of Sydney. These services provide legal, academic appeal, migration, tenancy and study advice to students.

Students' Representative Council
University of Sydney
Type
Type	Undergraduate student union of the University of Sydney
History
Founded	1929; 95 years ago (1929)
Leadership
President	Harrison Brennan, Grassroots since 1 December 2023
Vice-President	Jasmine Donnelly, NLS since 6 March 2024
Vice-President	Deaglan Godwin, Socialist Alternative since 1 December 2023
General Secretary	Rose Donnelly, NLS since 6 March 2024
General Secretary	Daniel O'Shea, Student Unity since 1 December 2023
Structure
Seats	37
Political groups	Socialist Alternative (9)   Student Left Alliance (2)   Grassroots (6)   Switch (3)   National Labor Students (5)   Penta (3)   Engineers (1)   Artistry (1)   Student Unity (2)   Liberals (5)
Length of term	1 year
Newspaper	Honi Soit
Motto
Activism, Advocacy, Representation
Website
Students’ Representative Council
Constitution
Constitution as at September 2023

The SRC has a reputation as Australia's most radical student union, and has been instrumental in leading student activism on a range of issues including education, feminist justice, environmentalism, First Nations justice and queer rights. The longest-running weekly student newspaper in Australia, Honi Soit, is funded by the SRC.

Council

The SRC is governed by the Council, which currently consists of 37 Representatives elected annually by undergraduate students. 1 Representative is elected for every 1000 undergraduate students at the University. The Council meets once a month. Motions can be presented by any student (within or without the council), and are debated on for political merit. Motions usually contain action points that can compel the SRC to commit to student issues, and advocate for student interest concerns.

Executive

The Executive of the SRC is elected annually by the Council (bar the President), and consists of the President, Vice-Presidents, General Secretaries, and five general members, elected proportionally out of Council. Meeting fortnightly, the Executive makes most significant decisions regarding the SRC.

The day-to-day operation of the SRC is generally conducted by paid staff and paid office-bearers, being the President (directly elected by students), the Vice-President, the General Secretary, the Education Officer(s), and Women's Officer(s).

Elections

Annual elections are held in September each year, to elect the Council, the President, 7 NUS delegates, and the editors of Honi Soit, the student newspaper. Unlike most student organisations, other office-bearers are elected by the Council, and not directly by students. All undergraduate students have a right to vote in annual elections.

Approximately 4500 students vote each year.

In 1888 the establishment of the Sydney University Undergraduate Association marked the first sign of organised student government on the campus of Sydney University. The Women's Undergraduate Association was formed in 1899 and separate organisations for male and female evening students were to form some years later. In 1929 the four associations agreed to rationalize the governing of the student body, and the Students' Representative Council was established to represent all undergraduates. The first President of the S.R.C. was J. M. Gosper. The 1930/31 Annual Report acknowledges that it is 'largely to the enthusiasm and organising abilities of J. M. Gosper that the Council owes its origins.

Student government was initially concerned primarily with gaining a student voice within the official University hierarchy, and promoting student interests within the University environment. However, student leaders soon became aware of their influence within the wider community, and the scope of student politics extended to include issues of broader social and political significance. At various times student activism has been of considerable importance in moulding public opinion in Australia on issues as diverse as apartheid, the death penalty, censorship, conscription and tertiary fees.

Honi Soit is the SRC's official journal and was first published in 1929. Its longevity is perhaps unintended, as the SRC's Annual Report expressed 'doubt as to whether any useful purpose could be served by the continuation of Honi Soit' and the publication was maintained the following year on an 'experimental basis.'

Prominent former Presidents of the Sydney SRC include a Prime Minister of Australia, Cabinet Ministers, and Members of Parliaments, State and Federal, Justices of the High Court of Australia and the Supreme Court, including a Chief Justice of New South Wales and a Court of Appeal President. Presidents of the SRC have also regularly proceeded to become Presidents of the National Union of Students.

No.	Portrait	President	Factional grouping	Term start	Term end
1		J.M. Gosper	Independent	1930	1931
2		Frank Wood Bayldon	Independent	1931	1932
3		V.J. Flynn	Independent	1932	1933
4		C.R. Laverty	Independent	1933	1934
5		J. Bowie-Wilson	Independent	1934	1935
6		D.R. Lewis	Independent	1935	1936
7		G.P. Campbell	Independent	1936	1937
8		Kevin Ellis	Independent	1937	1938
9		P.J. Kenny	Independent	1938	1939
10		W. Granger	Independent	1939	1940
11		J.H.E. Mackay	Independent	1940	1941
12		J.S. Collings	Independent	1941	1942
13		P.P. Manzie	Independent	1942	1943
14		Moya McDade	Independent	1943	1944
15		Keith Dan	Independent	1944	1945
16		Marnie Watt	Independent	1945	1946
17		John Nash	Independent	1946	1947
18		John Redrup	Independent	1947	1948
19		Ted McWhinney	Independent	1948	1949
20		Alan Beattie	Independent	1949	1950
21		Jim Brassil	Independent	1950	1951
22		Peter J. Curtis	Independent	1951	1952
23		Phillip Jeffrey	Independent	1952	1953
24		Gregory Bartels	Independent	1953	1954
25		Philip Berthon-Jones	Independent	1954	1955
26		Greg Dunne	Independent	1955	1956
27		Tony Reading	Independent	1956	1957
28		Jim Carlton	Independent	1957	1958
29		Malcolm Brown	Independent	1958	1958
30		Brian L. Hennessy	Independent	1958	1959
31		M.G.I. Davey	Independent	1959	1960
32		Robert J. Wallace	Independent	1960	1961
33		Peter Wilenski	Independent	1961	1962
34		John Boyd	Independent	1962	1963
35		Michael Kirby	Independent	1963	1964
36		Bob McDonald	Independent	1964	1965
37		Michael A. Weber	Independent	1965	1965
38		J. Richard Walsh	Independent	1965	1966
39		Geoffrey Robertson	Independent	1966	1967
40		Alan Cameron	Independent	1967	1968
41		James Spigelman	Independent	1968	1969
42		Percy Allan	Independent	1969	1970
43		Barry Robinson	Independent	1970	1970
44		Chris Beale	Independent	1970	1971
45		Chris Sidoti	Independent	1971	1972
46		Brett Mattes	Independent	1974	1974
47		John McGrath	Independent	1974	1975
48		David Patch	Independent	1976	1977
49		Peter Byrnes	Independent	1977	1977
50		Barbara Ramjan	Independent	1977	1978
51		Tony Abbott	Democratic Labor	1979	1980
52		Paul Brereton	Centre Unity	1980	1981
53		Paul Rickard	Centre Unity	1982	1983
54		John Martin	Centre Unity	1983	1984
55		Belinda Neal	Centre Unity	1984	1985
56		Mark Heyward	Liberal	1985	1986
57		Helen Spowart	Council of ALP Students	1986	1987
58		Joe Hockey	Liberal	1987	1988
59		Liz Gardiner	Left Alliance	1988	1989
60		Rod McDonald	Left Alliance	1989	1990
61		Vanessa Chan	Left Alliance	1990	1991
62		Caitlin Vaughan	Left Alliance	1991	1992
63		Amanda Lees	Left Alliance	1992	1993
66		Anna Davis	Left Alliance	1993	1994
67		Heidi Norman	Left Alliance	1994	1995
68		Nadya Haddad	Left Alliance	1995	1996
69		Catherine Burnheim	Left Alliance	1996	1997
70		Katrina Curry	Left Alliance	1997	1998
71		Adair Durie	Students First	1998	10 March 1998
72		Luke Whitington	Socialist Left	1998	2000
73		Natasha Verco	National Broad Left / Activist Left	2000	2001
74		Moksha Watts	Socialist Left	2001	2002
75		Daniel Kyriacou	Socialist Left	2002	2003
76		Jo Haylen	Socialist Left	2003	2004
77		Felix Eldridge	Socialist Left	2004	2005
78		Rose Jackson	Socialist Left	2005	2006
79		Nick Wood	Socialist Left	2006	2006
			National Labor Students	2006	2007
80		Angus McFarland	National Labor Students	2007	2008
81		Kate Laing	National Labor Students	2008	2009
82		Noah White	National Labor Students	2009	2010
83		Elly Howse	National Labor Students	2010	2011
84		Donherra (Dee) Walmsley	National Labor Students	2011	2012
85		Phoebe Drake	National Labor Students	2012	2013
86		David Pink	National Labor Students	2013	20 March 2013
			Sydney Labor Students	20 March 2013	2014
87		Jennifer Light	Centre Unity	2014	2015
88		Kyol Blakeney	Grassroots Left	2015	2016
89		Chloe Smith	National Labor Students	2016	2017
90		Isabella Brook	National Labor Students	2017	2018
91		Imogen Grant	Grassroots Left	2018	2019
92		Jacky He	Panda	2019	2020
93		Liam Donohoe	Grassroots Left	2020	2021
94		Swapnik Sanagavarapu	Grassroots Left	2021	2022
95		Lauren Lancaster	Grassroots Left	2022	2023
96		Lia Perkins	Grassroots Left	2023	2024
97		Harrison Brennan	Grassroots Left	2024	present

From the mid-1960s the SRC has been at the centre of student activism in Australia. Most activist groupings in the National Union of Students have a presence at Sydney University, such as National Labor Students, Socialist Alternative, Student Unity (Labor Right), the Australian Greens, Grassroots Left and the Liberals.

Since 2000 the SRC has been heavily influenced by what is now National Labor Students (formerly the National Organisation of Labor Students), the student arm of Labor's Socialist Left. Prior to that, from the late 1980s until 1997, the SRC was controlled by the Left Alliance, a former NUS faction made up of a coalition of students to the left of Labor such as Socialists, the Australian Greens, anarchists, queer activists, and environmentalists. Labor Party affiliated factions dominated the SRC presidency from 1998 to 2014. In recent years Labor's hold on power was challenged by independent/non affiliated alliances, internal conflicts within established Labor factions and the emergence of the Grassroots Left. Grassroots Left quickly developed into a national NUS faction with a presence on several campuses. A member of Grassroots, Kyol Blakeney, was elected the second Indigenous president of the University's SRC in 2014. However, in 2015 and 2016, Labor Left faction National Labor Students re-secured the SRC Presidency, in cooperation with Grassroots in 2015 and in cooperation with moderate Liberals in 2016, who supported Edward McCann for the Vice-Presidency of the SRC. However, following the election this coalition collapsed, with a broad left grouping of Labor left, Socialist Alternative, independents and Grassroots elected to all remaining positions. In 2017, Grassroots returned to the presidency, electing Imogen Grant as the 90th President of the SRC. In 2018, an independent party of international students labelled the Panda Warriors won the presidency, electing Jacky He as the 91st President of the SRC. He is the first President to have been elected on primarily the votes of international students within the university. In 2019, Liam Donohoe won the Presidency, returning the SRC to a Grassroots president. In 2020, Swapnik Sanagavarapu was elected to the SRC Presidency unopposed, leading to a back-to-back Grassroots victory. In 2021, Lauren Lancaster narrowly retained the Grassroots hold on the presidency against Student Unity opponent Matthew Carter, in the largest election in USyd's history.

The SRC's current President is Harrison Brennan (Grassroots), who secured a narrow victory against National Labor Students' candidate Rose Donnelly, marking Grassroots' fifth consecutive year in the position.

Current composition (2023−2024)

2023

2023 SRC election
Structure
Political groups	Left (26)   1   Liberal (5)     Penta (3)     Left Alliance (2)   1   Engineers (1)   2

Faction			Seats	Change
	Left Action		9	1
	Grassroots		6
	Switch		3
	Amplify (NLS)		5	2
	Penta		3
	Liberals		3
	Student Left Alliance		2	1
	Engineers		1	2
	Student Unity (Labor Right)		2
	Artistry		1

2022

Faction			Votes	Seats	Change
	Left Action		400	10	9
	Grassroots		244	6	4
	Switch		185	3	7
	Amplify (NLS)		131	3	2
	Penta		129	3	2
	Lift		111	3	3
	Student Left Alliance		106	3	3
	Engineers		102	3
	Independents for Change		61	1	1
	Stand Up (Student Unity)		46	1	4
	Artistry		44	1
	Gymbros		38	1	1
	Colleges		36	1	1
	INTERPOL		29	1	1
	Your Mom (Student Unity)		26	1	1
	Lefties		19	0

• University of Sydney Union
• Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association
• Honi Soit