UMSU International 2025 Annual Elections
Information for voters
Voting opens at 9am on Monday 12th May 2025, and closes at 5pm Friday 16th May. All international students are eligible to vote.
Your voting link will be sent to your student email. Check your spam folder if you don’t see it. We expect all emails to be delivered by around mid-afternoon Monday; if you haven’t got it by Monday evening, please send us an email (from your student email account and including your student number) and we’ll investigate.
Not sure who to vote for?
- Candidate policy statements are on the ballot
- A recording of the policy speech session will be posted shortly
Got a complaint?
See below for information on making a complaint
More information — see below, including how to contact the Returning Officer (who’s in charge of the election and able to assist with election-related inquiries)
Table of contents
Nominations
A provisional list of nominations is now available:
The deadline for nominations was 5pm (Melbourne time) Wednesday 30th April 2025.
See also information for candidates.
Notice of election
Notice is hearby given of the 2025 UMSU International Annual General Election.
The election will take place online from the 12th–16th May 2025. All voters will be sent a personalised voting link to their student email account. A full timetable for the election is set out below.
All international students enrolled in a higher education award course are eligible to vote. Full details about eligibility to stand, including the list of positions available, are given below.
Nominations are open from Friday 11th April 2025 and close at 5pm (Melbourne time) on Wednesday 30th April. This deadline is strict and cannot be extended; candidates are encouraged to submit their nominations well in advance.
Patrick Clearwater
UMSU Intl Returning Officer
Above Quota Elections Pty Ltd
Monday, 11th April 2025
Election timetable
- Monday 11th April — formal notice given and nominations open
- 4.15pm, Monday 28th April in Masson Theatre, Chemistry — Candidate Information Session. All welcome, no need to book in advance
- Friday 18th to Sunday 27th April — Non-teaching period
- Monday 28th April — a provisional list of nominations will be published
- 5pm, Wednesday 30th April — close of nominations
- 4pm, Monday 5th May — Policy Speech Session, Hercus Theatre
- 9am, Monday 12th May — Voting opens
- 5pm, Friday 16th May — Voting closes
All times are Melbourne time.
Positions to be elected
Executive Committee
- One (1) UMSU International President
- One (1) UMSU International Vice-President (Education and Welfare)
- One (1) UMSU International Vice-President (Cultural and Social)
- One (1) UMSU International Vice-President (Media and Marketing)
- One (1) UMSU International General Secretary
- One (1) UMSU International Treasurer
Directors
- One (1) UMSU International Education Director
- One (1) UMSU International Welfare Director
- One (1) UMSU International Graduate Director
- One (1) UMSU International Cultural and Social Director
- One (1) UMSU International Media and Marketing Director
- One (1) UMSU International Human Resource Director
- One (1) UMSU International Partnership and Sponsorship Director
Officers
- Three (3) UMSU International Education Officers
- Five (5) UMSU International Welfare Officers
- One (1) UMSU International Graduate Officer
- Five (5) UMSU International Cultural and Social Officers
- Three (3) UMSU International Media and Marketing Officers
- One (1) UMSU International Partnership and Sponsorship Officer
- Two (2) UMSU International Human Resource Officers
Information for candidates
Nominations are now closed.
Campaigning
All campaigning for the elections must follow the rules laid out in the Regulations. The below gives a simplified outline of the rules, but all candidates are responsible for reading the Regulations, particularly Electoral Regulations 13 and 14, and ensuring they follow them.
All rules in the Regulations are enforced, not just the ones listed below.
New in 2025: campaign lanyards
This year we are introducing campaign lanyards to identify campaigners, who must wear their student ID in the lanyard.
This rule is introduced on a trial basis and we welcome feedback.
Lanyards will be available from our office from 8.30am on the Monday of election week.
Key rules simplified
- Campaigning is any “organised course of action to arouse public interest in any candidate(s)”. Simply put, if you (or someone else) are doing something that tends to make someone vote for you, it’s campaigning. (EReg 12.2)
- Campaigning includes things you do in person, things in real life (like posters) and things online (like social media)
- Generally, you can do anything not prohibited by a regulation. For example, you can hand out “how to vote for me” flyers to students around campus, post on social media, place posters on general-use noticeboards throughout the university, or publish an election manifesto.
- If you’re not sure if something you’re planning is permitted, talk to us first
- You can only campaign during election week, 12th – 16th May. (EReg 12.2)
- You can prepare beforehand (e.g. design posters, save private drafts of social media)
- Only candidates and their registered student representatives (see below) can campaign. (EReg 12.1)
- For example, this means you can’t get your friends to help you campaign (except if they are your registered student representatives)
- All publicity (including written material, pamphlets, videos, things posted to social media) must be registered with the Returning Officer (see below). (EReg 12.7)
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If you intend to campaign at events (including campaigning down queues of students) we’d like you to be very careful and bear some things in mind. First, event organisers are in charge of their events (not us), and are entitled to prohibit you and other people from handing material out. Therefore you need to seek permission from the event organiser to campaign. (It’s only relevant to us if the event organisers are applying rules to benefit or harm specific candidates.) Second, the Regulations prohibit endorsements, distribution of incentives, and the use of UMSU/University resources to campaign. While your mere presence campaigning at an event doesn’t necessarily breach these rules, you have to take care to make sure no reasonable student could perceive that you are endorsed by the event organisers, and that your campaigning is in no way connected to anything being handed out for free at the event. We get complaints about this every year and many result in penalties.
- There are some things you cannot do:
- You can’t form a group (sometimes called a “ticket” or “slate”) and campaign together as a team. (EReg 12.4) This also means you can’t hand out how-to-vote material endorsing someone else. (EReg 12.5)
- You can’t campaign to someone who is actively voting (that is, if someone has their phone out and is finding the voting link in their email, or is on the ballot page, you must not be near them, must not be campaigning to them and most not be able to see their phone screen) (EReg 12.3)
- You can’t bribe, use inducements, or offer things to people to get them to vote or to vote for you. This means, for example, you can’t hand out lollies with your fliers, or offer people a chance to win something if they read or like your post. (You can make campaign promises, i.e., promises to do certain things if you win, but you must be clear they are campaign promises that benefits student generally, not offers to specific individuals in return for their vote.)
- You can’t use the resources of UMSU, UMSU International or the University to campaign (unless they are resources generally available to all students). (EReg 13.3[f])
- You can’t campaign in a way that harasses or intimidates others (including voters, other candidates, and members of the public). (EReg 13.3[e])
- You can’t use the logo of UMSU International in your publicity, or in any way suggest that UMSU International officially endorses you. (EReg 12.7[c])
- You can’t send messages in bulk, using lists of phone numbers or email addresses. (You can email people you know individually to seek their vote.)
Registration of material
All publicity materials must have a copy registered with the Returning Officer before they are distributed, posted or made publicly available. (EReg 12.7)
Things that need to be registered include: pamphlets, “how-to-votes”, posters, social media posts, videos posted on social media, widely-distributed messages,
What doesn’t need to be registered: private messages you send to your friends (not publicly viewable), conversations you have with potential voters.
All material needs to identify who is responsible for it to avoid being misleading or deceptive (EReg 13.1). If it is clear who is responsible for it (e.g. it says “Vote for [my name]”), then nothing more is needed. If it is not clear, or your unsure, it should include the words “Published by [my name]”.
To register material, you should send a copy to the Returning Officer. If you are using Google Drive, Sharepoint, Dropbox or similar services, make sure it is a file we will be able to download without needing your password.
When material is registered, we will give it a quick review and respond to you. We may ask follow-up questions, draw your attention to certain issues, or ask you to substantiate claims. Therefore:
- If you are confident the material is not controversial, or it substantially restates previously-registered material: you can begin distributing it as soon as you have sent us a copy. You bear the risk if something is subsequently found to be improper.
- Otherwise, you can wait for us to reply to see if there are any issues we can spot. This reduces the risk somewhat.
- If there is something specific you’re unsure about, draw it to our attention so we can give it extra consideration.
- If your material says something negative about another candidate, you must wait until we have replied before it is considered registered. Please draw our attention to the negative statement.
All registration is provisional. Anyone can complain about your material, or we may conduct further investigations of our own initiative. All such complaints are investigated on their merits. Note that even if we have said that we don’t see any issues, problems with publicity may be subsequently identified.
Registered campaigners
All candidates can campaign for themselves, and in addition can nominate up to two student representatives who can campaign for you. A list of all registered campaigners will be published on this website, update at 8am each day of election week.
Important rules:
- You can have up to two campaign representatives, who must be students (you don’t need to have any, if you don’t want to)
- Your campaigners can’t begin to campaign until they have been both registered (above) and have been published on the candidate representative list (which will happen at 8am each day during the elections)
- All the rules that apply to your campaigning apply just as much to your registered representatives
- Other than you, and your campaign representatives, no-one is allowed to campaign for you
- This means your friends can’t try to convince others to vote for you (unless they are registered campaigners)
- You are responsible for the conduct of your campaign representatives (even if you didn’t know they did something)
- You can’t change campaigners after publication of the representative list (except if you originally submitted only one campaign representative, you can subsequently submit a second one)
Eligibility
Generally, all international students are eligible to run for any position. You can’t run for more than two positions.
The following specific rules apply:
- Candidates for Graduate Director and Graduate Officer must be Graduate Students
- To be eligible, you must be able to complete your full term within the duration of your course
- If you are going on exchange during your term of office, you are not eligible
- All non-International Students who hold an Australian Permanent Residency or New Zealand Citizenship are eligible to run for Director and Officer positions only (Electoral Regulation 6.2)
- Australian Citizens are eligible to run for Officer positions only (Electoral Regulation 6.3)
If you are not sure about your eligibility, please get in touch early.
Candidate information session
We held a candidate information session on Monday 28th April. A recording is available here:
Nominators and seconders
All candidates must have a nominator and seconder (Regulation 10.1 and Electoral Regulation 9.5). The nominator and seconder:
- Must each be international students
- Must not themselves be candidates
- Can’t be you (you can’t nominate yourself)
- If you are running for Graduate Director or Graduate Officer — must be graduate students
You’ll have to provide contact details of the students nominating and seconding you on the candidate nomination form. We will write to those students to seek their consent to the nomination process—this just requires them to click a link and a button in their email, but must be done by close of nominations. We strongly encourage you to nominate well before the deadline so any issues with nomination can be worked out.
Policy speech session
The UMSU International Policy Speech Session is your opportunity to put your position to the voters. As well as those who attend, it is also recorded and posted on the elections website. All executive and director candidates, for contested positions, are invited to speak; and all candidates for contested positions have an opportunity to answer questions from the audience.
The policy speech session was held on Monday, 5th May 2025. A recording will be available shortly.
Information about the roles
Part V of the UMSU International Regulations (linked below) sets out the duties and powers of elected representatives.
Returning Officer’s determinations
The following determinations have been made and are binding on election participants:
Regulations
Together, the UMSU International Regulations and the UMSU International Electoral Regulations set out the rules and procedure governing the elections. All participants in the elections must follow the regulations.
How to make a complaint
The election is a rules-based activity. All candidates and their registered campaigners are required to adhere to the rules throughout the election, and the Electoral Regulations provide penalties, including disqualification, for breaches. The Regulations above lay out the rules in detail, but key expectations are reiterated below.
- A campaigner remaining near a student who is voting is prohibited
- A campaigner may not: vote on behalf of a student, take a student’s phone and vote for them, or “assist” a voter in making a vote. Any voter who requires assistance casting a vote should contact the Returning Officer who can arrange for a neutral poll clerk to assist
- Harassment, coercion, bullying and other forms of intimidation directed at voters or campaigners is prohibited
- In this election, campaigning is permitted only by candidates and their designated campaigners
If someone coerces you to vote a certain way: If someone places you in a position where you feel coerced, or they apply duress to make you vote a certain way, we can cancel your vote and assign you a fresh vote. Please email the Returning Officer with a brief description of the incident, your student number, and a request that your vote be cancelled. This applies in cases where rules have been breached, and is not an opportunity to revote if you change your mind.
To make a complaint, please email the Returning Officer including as much detail as possible. Anyone, whether student, staff or community member, can make a complaint.
Returning Officer contact details
The Returning Officer is responsible for running the election.
If you have any inquiries, complaints or feedback, please email the Returning Officer: returningofficer@union.unimelb.edu.au. You can also make an appointment if you’d like to discuss something in detail with us, in person or by videoconferencing.
Office hours: We will be available from 10am – 4pm every day of election week in Room 201, Building 168. Appointments outside these times are available by prior arrangement.
Contact details for the RO and Deputy RO are below.