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The Sydney University Liberal Club (SULC) is a student association operating under the auspices of the University of Sydney Union (USU). The club hosts policy debates, annual dinners, student election campaigns, and guest speaker events with members of parliament. It is an affiliate of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation.
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History
Founded in 1933, the Sydney University Liberal Club has a historical rivalry with the Melbourne University Liberal Club, which was established a few years earlier in 1925.
The Patron of the Sydney University Liberal Club is Former Prime Minister 1996-2007, John Howard. Whilst historically the Liberal Club claimed two state delegates within the Liberal Party of Australia, the club itself is no longer formally affiliated with the Party.
The club attracted attention for its early opposition to the White Australia policy. In 1958, it circulated a memorandum called "White Australia in a Changing World" at a Liberal Party Convention in Sydney, describing the policy as the "greatest stumbling block in our foreign policy that exists today."
A defining debate in the club over the past 30 years has been Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU). With the exception of a short period in the late 1990s, the Sydney University Liberal Club has been a consistent supporter of voluntary student unionism, and has attracted national media coverage in recent years for its pro-VSU counterprotests.
John Howard Debating Cup
In 2010 the club launched the annual John Howard Debating Cup with the purpose of celebrating the legacy of the Howard Government and providing a forum for public policy debate amongst Liberal Students. The Howard Cup is an intervarsity debating competition between six Liberal Clubs across New South Wales, consisting of preliminary rounds and a grand finals.
In 2011 over 250 attendees from Sydney University, Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Western Sydney, and the University of Wollongong attended the competition.
Each year the grand finals features an adjudication and keynote address by John Howard, and adjudications by notable conservatives like Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Janet Albrechtsen, Piers Akerman, Alexander Downer, Natasha Maclaren-Jones, Tom Switzer, and Paul Fletcher. The Cup was initiated by then Vice President Alex Dore. Winning teams of the competition have been:
Controversy
In 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the club had become more conservative after a former member of the club proposed a resolution to reintroduce the death penalty for "heinous crimes", and to strip non-Christians of the Christmas and Easter holidays. This prompted allegations of 'strong conservatism', and claims that it risked the Liberal Party's reputation as "a broad church", even though these motions failed to pass or to attract any significant support.
In 2009, the club drew controversy in The Australian after a hostile takeover attempt by the "far-right" was quashed at an Annual General Meeting chaired by David Clarke MLC, and attended by Marie Ficarra MLC and Dominic Perrottet MP. An investigation by the Liberal Party ensued after allegations of threatening behaviour towards young members of the club. police were also called to the incident.
In May 2011, this same "far-right" group again drew controversy in the Sydney Morning Herald after the Vice President and Secretary noticed the addition of over 60 international students to the club membership list just hours before a scheduled Ordinary Meeting. The Ordinary Meeting was subsequently disbanded by security, and a scheduled Annual General Meeting was postponed until September by the University of Sydney Union (USU). The stacking was instigated by then club President Adrian Pryke after his defection to the hard-right.
The club has also been a major contributor to the "Make Education Fair" campaign, headed by the Young Liberals. This campaign was created with the stated purpose of exposing and reducing political bias throughout all levels of education. A Senate enquiry conducted to examine this potential bias, saw many club members provide evidence.
In 2016 the club had a split in membership. The then president William Dawes saw support begin split away from him as himself, and vice-president Dom Bondar were noted moving with prejudice against members that held intellectual disabilities and those of non-anglo decent. This split was heavily reported in the student Newspaper Honi Soit, and the Union Publication Pulp.
On September 23, 2012, SULC hosted its annual President's Dinner with a keynote address by Sydney radio presenter Alan Jones. In his address Mr Jones was cited as saying, "The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame. To think that he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for parliament" in reference to Prime Minister, Julia Gillard's recently deceased father. At the same event the Club auctioned off a jacket made of chaff bags, a reference to his previous comments on radio that Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, Julia Gillard and Bob Brown should be "put into a chaff bag, thrown out to sea and made to swim back". These comments drew strong criticism from mass and social media commentators. Both the Liberal Club and Alan Jones issued an apology in relation to the matter.