Slogan: All In With Archie
Colour: Black
Faction: Independent
Degree: Commerce/Arts and Advanced Studies III
Quiz Score: 53.9%
Favourite USU venue on Campus: Sunrise Kitchen in Manning
Biggest Campus Pet Peeve: Seeing fellow gingers on campus
Most Toxic Trait: A ginger on campus
Favourite Bathroom to ‘go piss girl’ on Campus: Social sciences building
Archie Wolifson is a third-year Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts student, majoring in Finance and Political Economy. He is an independent candidate who identified his politics as “progressive”. He referred to his upbringing with a single mother who worked as a fundraising manager for a charity that provides legal rights to refugees as evidence of this. Archie has had experience being heavily involved in the USU Debating Society and Sydney Consulting Club.
In his interview with Honi Soit, Wolifson stated his stance on USU incorporation was positive in theory and more nuanced in practice, saying that incorporation has been “immensely rushed” and he was “not enthused” with the amendment proposed at the recent SGM.
Some of Wolifson’s policies revolve around ending sexual violence, including expanding services for victim-survivors at student accommodation, and investigating the tearing up of the RedZone Report at the Students’ Representative Council RepsElect in 2024.
Wolifson was able to articulate the role that politics has to play in the USU, explaining that any student union must address students’ political struggles. He made the astute observation that the USU has made political decisions before, couched under the guise of practicalities, when disrupting the 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment in order to make space for Welcome Fest. This was a clear and very smart example of a tangible moment in which the USU has made political decisions, and provides Wolifson with mechanisms to plausibly suggest change in the future.
He also outlined his most ambitious policy in one word: accountability. Wolifson would admirably like to ensure the Board’s financial statements are not “sequestered away”, and wants to ensure “maximum access” for students journalists — Honi and PULP — regarding Board meetings and decisions. This is a policy that is both important for Honi and also for the student population; hopefully, one Wolifson will be able to deliver.
While Wolifson was able to identify basic information about all sections of Honi’s quiz, his knowledge was not detailed and not consistently accurate. Wolifson scored at 53.9 per cent overall.
Concerningly, Wolifson incorrectly identified the legal rights of casual workers. He failed to identify casual loading, presuming that casual workers received a lower hourly rate than non-casual workers for the same work, and inaccurately stating that casual workers did not receive superannuation benefits. However, he did correctly identify the non-going nature of casual work.
When he was asked about recent changes in higher education legislation, Wolifson did not identify any specific legislation but instead referred to international student caps, an attempt at legislation that was defeated in parliament in 2024 and later passed as Ministerial Direction 107.
When asked about the SSAF allocation at USyd, Wolifson answered that the SRC received “slightly more” than the USU in SSAF. If only this were true! In 2025, the USU was allocated $8.35 million in SSAF, while the SRC was allocated $3.19 million.
Wolfison displayed gaps in knowledge in higher education legislation and campaigns more broadly: only vaguely identifying that “education” and “medical” degrees would be given a Commonwealth Prac Payment (marks docked for vague language: the degrees are teaching, social work, nursing and midwifery); could only say that HECS repayment would be wiped by a “fair amount”; thinking that the concession Opal card weekly fare cap was $12.50 (it’s double that); and being unable to identify the petition for international students to be granted Opal concession fares submitted to the NSW Parliament last year, despite the campaign being a prevalent and long-standing endeavour.
Wolifson had some knowledge of FoodHub, which was important given that one of his policies is to expand FoodHub and this service is “one of the most important things the USU can do.” Wolifson incorrectly identified FoodHub’s opening hours as 9am-5:30pm, and did not identify FoodHub’s 5 item limit. As part of his campaign he seeks to provide more products at the existing FoodHub outlet through partnerships with external suppliers, and later attempting to increase the number of FoodHub outlets, which is currently limited to the single location on Level 3 of the Wentworth Building.
Overall, Wolifson’s USU knowledge is unfortunately middling. Where he shines best is his policy proposals, which, despite their ambitious nature, succeed in outlining concrete mechanisms for achieving progressive results on USU Board.
Watch Archie’s interview here!
