After a long-fought and sustained campaign, Harrison Brennan has been provisionally elected as the 96th President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC).
Brennan is the fifth consecutive Grassroots President — following Lia Perkins (2023), Lauren Lancaster (2022), Swapnik Sanagavarapu (2021), and Liam Donohoe (2020) — narrowly defeating Labor candidate Rose Donnelly by a margin of 153 votes (7%), winning 1088 total votes (53.7%). Brennan won at every polling location except the Peter Nicol Russell Building (Engineering) and the Conservatorium of Music.
Brennan, currently a Welfare Officer and member of the General Executive, campaigned on a platform of strengthening the SRC’s activist mandate and combatting cost-of-living pressures such as student housing and sweeping course cuts. Brennan’s platform differed from Donnelly’s in his approach to service provision and prioritisation of activist campaigns.
Brennan’s victory was assisted by support from other left-wing factions including Switch, Left Action (Socialist Alternative), and Student Left Alliance (SLA). Donnelly held support from Artistry, Engineers, and Penta — though this wasn’t enough to get her over the line.
This year’s election saw 2155 students participate in-person (plus 13 online absentee ballots) — resulting in a turnout of 5.5% of USyd’s approximately 39,000 students. This is a far cry from the record numbers seen in previous years, the data from this year’s election reflecting a continuing downward trend in engagement with student politics.
Grassroots candidates and campaigners were celebrating at the Lord Gladstone for PULP’s Issue 10 launch party when results were announced.
“I am excited to have been elected as the 96th President of the SRC,” said Brennan when Honi called him shortly after the announcement, “I’ll be working to follow through on my election commitments, and continue fighting for students no matter what.”
The Revive campaign was at the Botany View Hotel when the results came in. Rose Donnelly did not respond to Honi’s call, but sent a written statement over Facebook Messenger the following day.
“There were many disappointing moments in this campaign. Our opposition resorting to personal attacks, unfair and unequal treatment by the student media, and the end result. What never disappointed me was the courage shown by the Labor students team and our supporters. They fought tooth and nail in the face of adversity and I am incredibly proud of them. They maintained positive vibes and kept smiles on their faces until the end. They are a force to be reckoned with. They will be amazing advocates for USYD students.
Love hard, slay hard
Rose Donnelly xx”
The results for Council and NUS will be counted in the following days.
This article was amended on 23 August to include Rose Donnelly’s comment.
