5 minute read
Years
by Woroni
Dan Crane
Shortly after the election, Woroni surveyed over 400 ANU students, both on and off-campus to determine a rough picture of how the ANU voted in the 2022 Federal Election.
We all have our theories about each of the colleges. Is Burgmann College ruled by a cabal of Liberal Party elites? Is Burton and Garran Hall (B&G) truly a greenie paradise? Does Toad Hall even exist? Thankfully, we finally have the answers to your burning questions.
The stereotype of B&G residents as Greens voters is probably true, as it is of all other ANU colleges. Climate change dwarfed all other election issues for ANU students in the election.
The median voter at ANU is a Greens voter who regards climate change as the most important issue in every college apart from Burgmann. Burgmann has a much larger proportion of Labor voters than other Colleges.
Finally, the ascendency of independents in the ACT such as David Pocock was evident, as those who lived off campus tended to favour minor parties in the Senate.
Climate change was by far the most important issue to ANU students across all colleges. In fact, climate change received almost six times as many responses as the next answer (cost of living). This may somewhat explain why the greens, who made up roughly 12 per cent of the vote nationally and 19 per cent in the ACT, attracted 55 per cent of the votes from our respondents.
The election issue with the fewest responses from ANU students was religious discrimination. This is despite the significant election coverage on this topic following the Morrison Government’s decision to not introduce its watered-down Religious Discrimination Bill before the Senate.
Amongst the colleges, Burgmann had the highest proportion of Labor voters and the lowest proportion of Greens voters. Hopefully this means we can finally put that stereotype about the college being run by a bunch of young libs to bed. It is interesting to note that Burgmann did have the highest proportion of students who voted for the United Australia Party, though they only made up 7 per cent.
Another rather interesting finding is that apparently Wamburun residents skew towards the Greens and independents, largely ignoring Labor. The same could be said about UniLodge and One Nation - with four 4 per cent of just 24 respondents voting for One Nation. These discrepancies could be partially due to the relatively low sample-size from Wamburun and Unilodge.
Finally, though not pictured here, the influence of independent candidates David Pocock and Kim Rubenstein in the ACT’s senate race was evident amongst our off-campus respondents. 36 per cent of off-campus respondents voted for candidates outside of the major parties (excluding One nation and UAP), compared to the ANU-wide average of 21 per cent.
Obviously, this poll is bound to be riddled with enormous amounts of bias given how difficult it was logistically to get enough responses from each of the halls. So, take absolutely everything with a grain of salt.
If you would like to see our full coverage of this data, you can view it on the Woroni website. Thanks to all our respondents and distributors involved in the creation of this article.
Big Night Out Returns After Two Years
Sharlotte Thou Photography by Eliz So, Himashri Panaganti, and Jocelyn Wong
After a two-year hiatus, the ANU Interhall Arts Committee’s (IAC) long awaited Big Night Out (BNO) is back. Taking place on Thursday the 5th of May at Wamburun Hall, BNO saw Unilodge, Burton & Garran, Bruce, Johns, Wright, Burgmann, Griffin, Ursula, Wamburun and Wright Halls battle it out for the coveted title of BNO champion.
IAC told Woroni that there were 1347 tickets scanned. Ranking the halls in order from most tickets to least tickets sold are: Burton and Garran (172), Fenner (165), Bruce (162), Burgmann (156), Ursula (144), Wright (132), Wamburun (106), Unilodge (58), Griffin (40) and Johns (31).
The bands each had 20 minutes to impress the judges, and the repertoire featured tracks from artists including Olivia Rodrigo, the Beatles and Taylor Swift.
Ultimately, Burgmann College clinched the title of champion, claiming the trophy from 2019 winner Ursula Hall.
The final rankings were as follows: Burgmann College, UniLodge, Ursula Hall, John’s XII College, Bruce Hall, Griffin Hall and Fenner Hall (tied), Burton and Garran Hall, Wamburun Hall, and Wright Hall.
Bands were scored by three judges, sourced from local Australian bands. Bands were judged on the basis of band dynamic, musical interpretation, technical ability and crowd response.
IAC President Lachlan Houen called the event “magical” and said it was “ridiculously heartwarming to see people from every single college on campus to support not only their own bands, but also the bands of other colleges.”
“Returning to BNO after so long was a breath of fresh air, because it showed that IAC and the ANU can run large scale music events on campus, something that we are so incredibly proud of,” he added.
BNO Director Jeffery Yang said he was “optimistic” about the event’s future after “two years [of] doom and gloom.” Yang also said the success of this year’s event has put IAC in a “more comfortable financial position to continue the event in perpetuity.”
“We would like to extend our thanks to the wider university community who put their trust in us by purchasing tickets and showing up. Without you, BNO is nothing,” the director continued.
Fenner vocalist Bianca Tzioumis described the night as “immaculate”, saying she “genuinely had never been to anything like it.”
As a first year, she said she was nervous about the night, but “getting to perform in front of so many people, with all of them screaming the words is something I’ll never forget.”
Rehearsals were “long and tiring,” with two two-hour long rehearsals a week, and intensive rehearsals in the mid semester break. Despite this, Tzioumis said that seeing the band improve between rehearsals was “so rewarding” and they “felt like a bunch of mates jamming out and having a good time.”
