Mathew Chuk

Mathew Chuk (born 19 June 1984) is an Australian former student politician. He was the General Secretary of the National Union of Students for the 2007 academic year and is only the second independent to occupy the position in the organisation's history. His election to the position, backed by a coalition of left-wing factions and Liberal supporters, brought to an end a seventeen-year long period of control of the key position Labor affiliated students. Chuk previously served as the 93rd president of the University of Western Australia Student Guild.
NUS General Secretary
In late 2006, Chuk was elected to the position of General Secretary of the National Union of Students. Mathew Chuk's election heralded the first time in sixteen years a non-Labor affiliated candidate was elected to this position. His achievement is all the more remarkable considering he was an independent, and as such not aligned with any political party, relying on the votes of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation to win election.
This result came about due to several unique circumstances apparent during the 2006 NUS conference. In previous years, a deal between the two Labor-aligned factions (Labor Left and Right) saw them share President and National General Secretary. However, at the 2006 conference, the two Labor factions no longer controlled the majority of the votes.
Independents and all other Left factions pledged their votes to Chuk, with the two Labor factions supporting the Labor candidate, leaving the with the casting votes. The elected Chuk. Despite Liberals being responsible for his election, Chuk named the defeat of the Howard Government as one of his major goals as General Secretary. Mathew Chuk currently lives in Melbourne and works for Slater and Gordon as a project litigation lawyer. In 2011 Chuk was admitted to the High Court of Australia.

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