One of the most popular election promises made by most candidates at the annual USU Board elections in May this year — and every year — revolves around pledges to make campus an affordable place to eat and expand existing USU services such as Food Hub and discount deals. With the USU recording another large surplus in 2023 of $1.59 million, they are well-positioned to be able to offer students support in relation to affordable food and drink on campus, at a time of persistent cost of living pressures. Even with current efforts many students choose to avoid purchasing food too frequently on campus and/or purchasing it from nearby locations off campus.
Reflecting on how the current USU Board is delivering on its promises to increase affordability is especially interesting when you consider how political USU Elections are becoming. Candidates in the left-bloc like Ethan Floyd (Grassroots) and Georgia Zhang (Grassroots) argued during the campaign that the USU needed to take on more overt positions. To what extent those policies and visions can be implemented, however, is more complicated.
When asked to comment, newly elected USU president for 2024-25, Bryson Constable (Liberal) said that among the five newly elected Board Directors there had been a general consensus for supporting cheaper food on campus. This, according to Constable, was one of many commitments, with the new board appearing to prioritise other policies related to international student support and student safety. In relation to implementing the policy of reduced food prices, Constable said that the “USU management team will directly engage with the proposals put forward by candidates in the election campaigns to ensure that student voices are incorporated into new and existing policies.” One of the criticisms during the election from Honi Soit and the current CEO Michael Bromley was that the most ambitious goals of some candidates to divest from problematic companies conflicted with the desire to spend more money on services. It is clear that incoming Directors are consulted on their election promises when they arrive, and Constable said that many of these policies will be represented in their SAAF applications and in the 2025 budget later this year. The trade off, it seems, is that policies to drive the USU in a more activist direction are being shelved in favour of service expansion.
Services such as FoodHub underpin an essential aspect of what the USU offers to its members. In Semester 1 this year, the USU has made substantial gains on addressing this issue of accessibility and offering the service to a large number of students. There were 25,268 students who accessed Food Hub in the first half of this year, representing a 1054% increase in visits compared to Semester 1, 2023. There have also been 126,340 items of free food provided to students. The push to prioritise lower income students, in greatest need of the program, appears to be heading in the right direction, with 828 students served on at least ten occasions. Similarly, food security initiatives have continued to be a strong USU initiative in Semester 1 this year. With the USU providing 12,733 free USU Eats Food truck lunches, 4,420 bonus dinners, 7,217 bonus breakfasts.
The focus on services and increasing revenue instead of a more overt political stance is not necessarily a tension. Board candidates advocating that the USU improve who it chooses as suppliers alongside BDS or environmental principles are worthy ideas candidates the left faction advocated for in May. However, the current centre right domination of the executive makes any movement in that direction unlikely. James Dwyer (Unity), Constable, Ben Hines (Libdependent), and Julia Lim (Independent) made no such commitments and with the help of University Senate votes, have no personal incentive to vote with the left faction.
The USU deserves credit for their strong efforts this year on core initiatives such as FoodHub and FoodTruck initiatives, particularly for the former, making substantial gains in expanding its accessibility and doing a better job at prioritising lower income students. However, given the stubbornly high food and drink prices across USU outlets, making campus an unaffordable place for most students to eat at a time of constant cost of living pressures, more can always be done The current executive should be taking more risks and consider the full range of ideas that were contested in this year’s election, even more radical ones that are traditionally outside of the USU’s scope.
