Cunliffe David: Education (Restoration of Democracy to University Councils) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Education (Restoration of Democracy to University Councils) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 02 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8502. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): In this short summing up may I touch on some of the arguments that have been raised around the House. The Government noted that seven out of eight universities have one student rep and that seven out of eight have two staff reps. What then is the problem about writing that into law as of right? Although I think it is obvious that two student reps elected as of right with democratic rights is the way to go. That does Mr Bishop support the critic and conscious role of universities.There are arguments raised by the Government that universities should have small boards but then in a very puzzling contribution Mr Foster-Bell quoted a number of overseas universities that although they are reputable institutions have boards of 20 30 or 40 members. I am not quite sure what point he was trying to make because that flew in the exact opposite direction of the law change that this bill seeks to reverse.The Government then took refuge in the argument that small boards with no student reps are better contradicting the earlier point that most of the unis have at least one student rep. So we looked through the list of institutions that have no student reps. Guess which ones popped up? Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre had no student representation. It did have National MP Barbara Kuriger on the board but that did not stop 5 years of systematic rorting resulting in a payback of $6.25 million. I think an independent student voice would have spotted that rort because the board was asleep.And if that is not enough what about Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi? It had no student on the board either but it also ripped the taxpayer off so badly that the Warriors football team was awarded a 3-month diploma for turning up for 1 day. Do you think a student rep on the board might have stood up and said: “That’s just a little bit suspicious.”? And if the National Government was so OK with students on the board it would not have told the Waiariki Institute of Technology student representatives to shut up about the merger or they would no longer get funding for the student association. That is the kind of as I said earlier jackboot tactics that this bill seeks to outlaw. And if it was not happening we would not need to enshrine in law what admittedly in some cases happens in practice.That is the principled argument. But I think the Government missed the message at the start which is that Opposition parties are seeking to find a workable new way forward. Actually this bill is designed to get the debate to a select committee. What we want to do is work across the House and with stakeholders across the sector to find a new way. Perhaps it will not involve taking the boards back to the size that they once were even if—thank you Mr Foster-Bell—those of Oxford University and Cambridge University and a whole lot of others are much bigger. But maybe there is room for compromise on that.Maybe the compromise here is something about ensuring that there is a proper right for student representation and staff representation rather than it happening by accident or by dint of perseverance in the face of an ideological approach from a Government that actually Mr Foster-Bell and Mr Williamson exhibited when they said: “University students associations are just a hotbed for political apparatchik.” I wonder if they said that to the former president of the University of Canterbury Students’ Association the Hon Peter Dunne who is in a position to influence this bill—and I hope that he will reflect his experience as a former student union president and cast his vote for the voice of students to be heard as of right in institutions across the country.This bill represents a genuine attempt by the sector working across the House to find a new way forward a consensus way forward and a compromise forward. It will allow the whole sector to engage systematically properly and with protection of their independent rights to get a win-win outcome for institutions that understand joint value creation and that are going for shared value. I see Jian Yang there—an experienced academic. He would normally involve his students. He would want to see staff represented. He must be deeply uncomfortable sitting on that side of the fence where those rights are currently not enshrined in law. This is a genuine attempt by the sector and Opposition parties to provide a win-win future one that underpins the democratic rights of students and staff to have a voice in the institutions that are there to serve them and all New Zealanders. Thank you.