Latest Fraud a Wake-up Call for Students

The latest case of fraud committed within a students association is a wake-up call for students to be active in holding their associations to account says Young Nats President Alex Mitchell.

The fraud, committed by a former office manager at the Christchurch Polytechnic Students Association, is the latest in a string of examples of students’ money disappearing into a big black hole. Of the $175,000 stolen in this recent example, $125,000 is unrecoverable.

“The issue that underlies this latest fraud is that student associations are often very badly managed”

“Underlying this bad management is the fact that student associations are simply are not accountable to students.”

“As membership of student associations is compulsory, every student is forced to join and pay up, despite the very large majority of students having no interest in student politics or the activities of their student association”.

“Student associations are essentially able to get away with making poor decisions and having poor processes in place like no other union in New Zealand – simply because they do not have the accountability that they would have under voluntary membership”

“This latest example of fraud is a wake-up call for students to keep an eye on their student associations and vote out student association executives that are not keeping their ship in order”

ENDS

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