Nominations to elect representatives to the UNE Council opened on 27 May. The nominees to be elected to Council from the UNE community include:

• an Academic Staff Representative, for a term of two years;  
• a Professional Staff (non-academic) Representative, for a term of two years; and
• a Student Representative (may be undergraduate or postgraduate), for a term of two years.

Current Council members, Dr Richard Scully and Charles Hebblewhite, have shared their experience to give staff interested in nominating an idea of what it means to be a representative.

Dr Richard Scully – Academic Staff Representative

“Serving on the UNE Council is a rewarding, but very challenging, experience. Having been elected by the academic staff in mid-2018, I was required to come up to speed very quickly on a whole suite of governance, finance, and management matters, as well as to get a handle on the personalities around the Council table.

“While everyone has the best interests of the university at heart, the expertise and experience of councillors is varied, and largely corporate in nature. As one of only two ‘academics’ (not counting the Vice-Chancellor, the other is the Chair of Academic Board), I’ve found my chief role to be giving everyone a sense of the realities ‘at the coalface’; giving voice to the concerns of the overstretched, too-much-marking, no-time-for-research, overloaded-on-admin academics on which the UNE depends absolutely.

“Happily, this is a perspective that our Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and other Council members have found very helpful, and everyone at that table has the utmost respect for the academic voice in high-level decision-making. This makes it all the more important that staff get involved in governance, stay in touch with their elected reps, and work with management and Council towards common goals.”

Charles Hebblewhite – Professional Staff Representative

“It’s a difficult job but important and a very responsible position. A UNE Council member has do whatever and ask whatever they deem necessary to assure themselves that all is OK. Each meeting would have at least 500 pages of papers to read, including the university’s financial statements. Through the papers and operational knowledge of UNE, I have to ‘satisfy myself’ that all is OK. I’ve lost way more sleep over council issues than for any difficulties of my substantive positions.

“A staff representative is a representative of staff, not a representative for staff, i.e., my role is not to take staff concerns to Council like a member of parliament, but to take my understanding of the university as a staff member to Council. Hence, one of the important components of the role is the informal times with the other Councillors, discussing what’s going on, bouncing issues off them.

“On the less serious side, I attend most graduations and will go to other official events such as the commencement ceremony and external events as a representative of council. It’s good to be a part of these times and see expectant students at one end and happy graduates at the other, and also be a part of the university’s connectivity into the community. Graduations especially, remind you what we’re here for.  It’s a joy to see lives being changed and people setting out with a genuine desire to make the world better.  After all, that’s what we’re here for.”

Information about the UNE Council Election can be found on the Council Elections 2020 page. It covers duties of the Council, the election process, what it entails, and, importantly, how to nominate. Answers to frequently asked questions regarding the election can also be found on the General Election Information page.

Fully completed nomination forms must be received by the Deputy Returning Officer no later than Wednesday, 17 June 2020 at 5pm.