Stonewalls, Alleged Corruption and Bullying - An Initial Investigation

So, there's a lot to work with this week.

The information below has been coming to us from different people at different times. We feel a sense of urgency to release it in full, with its full context and for students to make up their own minds. There is no ill will towards Scott - we just wanted to clear the air on some important things that have come forward.


We got these DM's earlier in the week. After a lot of consideration, we have decided to release them.

Positions on the AUU board are decided each year from the student elections we have on campus. The terms elected board members serve are 2 years from December to the end of November.

Board members run the affairs of the Adelaide University Union, a company worth over $2 million. They are its legal custodians, and have to work in the interests of students. The union itself receives funding from a fee students pay called the Student Services and Amenities Fee (S.S.A.F), distributed by the university. Only the president receives a paid position on the board.

One board member, Iran Sanadzadeh resigned at the start of 2017. The position would have to go to the person with the most votes, which was SRC president Mark Pace who headed the Labor Left faction Activate.

Scott, then AUU board president, the Vice President and an executive member of the Right coalition at the time were in contact with each other about what to do next...

Everyone needed to be on the same page about why Mark wouldn't get the board position...

And from there, Mark was denied the board position. The board has the ability to keep a casual vacancy open within a certain limit, but not if the reasons for the vacancy are politically motivated.

At the time we had a mixed opinion about what happened, but one of us maintains the position that what happened to Mark Pace was not justified. Needless to say, this presents a lot of problems with the board they should have to come to terms with.

This was provided to us by Zerui Li, the Social Justice officer in the SRC, as we were looking into a Clubs Committee funding arrangement for the Adelaide University Chinese Associations Mid-Autumn Festival, with the meeting occurring before the elections in August last year.

At this point we don't know if the funding went ahead at all, and can't verify the claim or find an answer to the question. We've only been told by anonymous sources Scott made this promise to committee members of AUCSA and did not declare a conflict of interest (despite other members of the committee doing so). Other instances of sweetheart deals and favoritism with his role as AUU president are alleged to have occurred as well. 

Our attempts to even go to a Clubs Committee meeting have been blocked by staff, and we have been told we need to be a board or committee member to access minutes from the meeting that occurred in June.

We can confirm from multiple people Scott did have a role to play in AUCSA internal elections last year. Progress depends on Chinese students as its base of support, which has allowed it to achieve higher turnouts than other factions during student elections. Ensuring the club was compliant with this was a concern, but we know Scott looked more broadly to mobilise Chinese students to stack club AGM's in order to garner even greater support during elections.

Needless to say, there has been continuing resentment for the way Chinese students have been thought of and treated since last election.


This is the full statement we have from Zerui so far regarding the treatment of Jennifer Li. We are still waiting for Scott's and are in the process of reaching out to Jennifer Li. Bear with us, we'll follow this up and release other details when we get them.

We also need to declare our own conflicts of interest, and will have a full statement out by Sunday regarding the future of our show on Student Radio. Nothing serious though.

"I live with Jennifer Li and I have seen the impact Brodie Scott has had on her. Jennifer was forced to resign from the AUU Board because of mental stress and a depression she fell into. She is not OK and this is very concerning. Jennifer spoke much about how Brodie made an effort to bully her on the AUU Board and overrule her decisions. He spoke over her in board meetings and she felt like she did not have the ability to fulfil her duties. He often comments about her poor English. Outside of meetings Brodie constantly messaged and called her. It was the constant stress by Brodie that forced her to resign from the AUU Board all together. Zerui Li Student Representative Council Social Justice Officer Former AUSCA Committee Member"