Page last updated 8/9/2023.
The Melbourne University Student Union Incorporated (MUSUi) was the predecessor of the contemporary University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU). By the early 2000s, MUSUi with an annual budget of around $12 million was a powerful body providing both service provision and political representation for the students of the University of Melbourne. MUSUi’s final years were embroiled in controversy around a deal, worth well over $40 million at the time, with Optima Property Development Group to develop student accomodation. This deal was spearheaded by MUSU Labor Right Presidents Darren Ray (2002) and Scott Crawford (2003) and threatened to send MUSU bankrupt. The 2003 election to elect new MUSU officers was representative of how dirty MUSU student politics became, and was the subject of Gary Newman documentary The State of the Union. Accusations of financial mismanagement and corruption throughout this period eventually led to the liquidation of MUSUi by order of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2004. Darren Ray was later jailed for falsifying business statements and bank accounts.
Voluntary student unionism was legislated in 2005.