National student leaders are welcoming the Government's intention to correct problems with student association
membership legislation, and restore democracy to campuses around New Zealand.
The Minister of Education Trevor Mallard has announced that the Labour/Alliance Coalition Government would introduce
new student association membership legislation into Parliament this year.
"At last, we have the chance to have a reasonable piece of legislation put in place that will respect the rights of
students to decide the membership status of their association, and allows associations to effectively represent and
support students," said New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA) Co-President Sam Huggard.
"The current legislation tilts the playing field against associations with universal membership, is full of draconian
clauses, and creates a wide range of bizarre compliance costs for students and institutions," said Aotearoa
Post-compulsory Student Union (APSU) National President David Penney.
"We hope that the new legislation will remove the unnecessary distractions and troubles of the past few years, and
allow us to get on with our core business of serving and defending students," said David Penney.
"We have been in discussions with the Labour and Alliance parties for a long time regarding the problems with the
current legislation and we are pleased that they are going to tidy them up now they are in government," said Sam
Huggard.
ENDS
For more comment contact:
David Penney
President
APSU
04 498 2501
025 756 526