By Myriam Robin

There are two faces to the national Union of Students (NUS). One is that of an effective lobbying organisation that exists on the behalf of students. The other is that of a body at war, a training ground where the Labor Left and right feast on the bloody flesh of their enemies’ political careers. In this year’s national conference, the warlord threatened to overcome the activist.
Disagreement on how many votes the right and Left each held led to a failure to hold a ballot at this year’s December Conference. With no office bearers being elected, a special meeting of nUS was called. The Left and right agreed to split the spoils this time, and the ballot went ahead. Carla Drakeford succeeded David Barrow as President (both are Labor Left). South Australian State Presidency of NUS was transferred from Robert Fletcher (Labor Left) to Simone McDonnell (Labor right). Despite fears it wouldn’t make it, NUS lives on.