Male student identifies himself as a woman, wins 12k dollar executive position at school

A male staffer for a Liberal MP attempted to identify himself as a woman as part of a sneaky factional deal to win a $12,000 executive position in a student election.



Alex Fitton, who works for New South Wales state MP Mark Taylor, vowed he was not a cisgender male in order to become joint general secretary of the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council on Wednesday night.



A cisgender male is a man whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. The SRC's affirmative action policy stipulates the coveted council position can be shared by two people, but only if one of them identifies as a woman or a non-cisgender male.



The 11th-hour deal saw Mr Fitton defect from a rival factional grouping to run on a joint ticket with another student, Dylan Williams, who works for NSW Labor. In a controversial move, Labor factions had already teamed up with moderate Liberals to oppose a left-wing bloc.



The SRC's electoral officer Paulene Graham, formerly an administrator at the University of Technology, accepted Mr Fitton's nomination but said he would be required to sign a statutory declaration regarding his gender identity.



"I have now been told that one of those two people will provide a stat dec to say that they do not identify as a man," she told the students. "That is something that your standing legal [committee] is going to have to deal with.



"But under the rules as they currently exist if that person is willing to put that in writing for the public record for the rest of their life then I will accept it and we will proceed."



Mr Fitton and Mr Williams were elected by a margin of one vote, and if confirmed, each stands to pocket a $12,000 salary. Members of the crowd were heard to shout "yeah the boys" when the winners were announced.



A senior Liberal Party source familiar with Mr Fitton said the move, whether or not it ultimately succeeded, reflected an "immature culture" within the Young Liberals and "desperation" in the ailing centre-right faction of NSW.