Venal policy driven by the one percent rump

Venal policy driven by the one percent rump

National’s decision to support ACTs voluntary student membership bill is an outrageous example of the venal policy tail wagging the dog, according to Liz Gordon, National Chairperson of QPEC.

“This policy goes back to the 1990s when students’ associations all over the country mobilised in protest over steeply rising tertiary fees”, said Dr Gordon.

“There was a small rump of students who did not want to be associated with such protests, and began to push for voluntary student membership to hobble the voice of students”, she said.

While a ‘compulsory voluntary’ law was passed, the Labour Alliance Government later repealed that in favour of what became known as the ‘voluntary compulsory’ rule, which meant that students at particular institutions could decide for themselves via a referendum whether to maintain compulsory membership.

“That law has worked effectively for nearly a decade. As fees have been capped there has been little protest, and most students’ associations have gone about their business providing services for their students and giving them a voice.

“But what remained in ACT was a small and venal group from the 1990s who were determined to force voluntary membership using a ‘scorched earth’ policy, which would extinguish the voice of students as well as a wide range of services offered on campuses”.

At the select committee hearing on the bill, Dr Gordon told National Party MPs that they had no policy and no mandate to support the bill, and that the current legislation was working well. “The one question I got was about individual X who might not want to join, and also objected to the alternative – paying the fees to charity. For the sake of poor individual X, National seems willing to pull down the whole structure of student voice and support within NZ tertiary institutions. It is ludicrous and very disappointing”.

ENDS

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