Hipkins Chris: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Hipkins Chris: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:17585] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I have uncovered a bit of an issue and I would like to ask the member in charge of the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill some questions about clause 4A and the fact that it amends section 171(2) of the existing Education Act. I think we need to be clear about what we are talking about here. I know that the member in charge of the bill is one to do her homework and I am sure she will be in a position to answer the questions I am about to ask her. 
The issue I have is that this bill amends only the constitutions of university councils. An earlier amendment passed by this National Government early in its term amended the constitutions of polytechnic councils so that they no longer have guaranteed student representation at all. Polytechnic councils were previously subject to the same provisions of the Education Act that this bill amends but the Government changed it so that polytechnics are no longer covered by those clauses. Polytechnic councils now have four representatives appointed by the Government and four representatives appointed by the tertiary institutions. That has effectively given all the power to make up the composition of a polytechnic council to the Government and to the institution. Students are no longer guaranteed representation on a polytechnic council notwithstanding any changes that may or may not be made in this bill. So what we are talking about here relates to universities and I believe to wananga. I believe that these provisions still apply to wananga. 
The question I have for the member in charge of the bill—who I am sure has done her homework on this—is how students and staff have fared at the polytechnics where the councils already have the power to determine the nature of student representation. This bill will hand universities and wananga the power to determine the manner in which student representatives are selected. I welcome the fact that this provision guarantees that at least one of the representatives on a university or wananga council will be a student. I welcome that because that guarantee is not currently afforded to polytechnic students or institutes of technology students due to the change the National Government made that removed their right to have a representative on their council. 
But the real question I have for the member—and I am sure she has done her homework on it and I am sure she is looking it up right now and will respond to it—is how students have fared. Have the institutions the polytechnics continued to afford students that ability to be represented on their councils even though they are no longer guaranteed that right? If they have not what confidence can university and wananga students have that they will not be treated in exactly the same way if this bill is passed in its present form? In other words they could lose their student representation on the councils of their institutions. It is actually a very important point because ultimately students are the largest body of stakeholders in an institution. It could be argued that alumni are the largest body of stakeholders in an institution but I would say that the current students probably have the most current interest in the affairs of the institution and have provided a very significant contribution to the governance of those institutions. 
I have been on a university council. I served on the Victoria University of Wellington Council here in Wellington for 2 years. It was a really interesting experience and I think the two student representatives that Victoria University’s current constitution allows for provide very very valuable input into that institution’s governance process. In the case of Victoria University the president of the students association—which was me at the time—is automatically one of those student representatives. The other is elected by an election of the student population at large. The students association determined how that was done because under the existing law the filling of those positions is delegated to the students association. The students association is therefore guaranteed one student representative; it could have up to three. Massey University where Mr Lees-Galloway was has three student representatives. We argued at Victoria University for three student representatives. 
Grant Robertson 
: Your two were as good as three. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: We got only two. But as my colleague Mr Robertson just pointed out two student representatives from Victoria are definitely worth three from Massey. I think our quality meant that we managed to get by with only two whereas Massey University unfortunately needed to have three in order to provide the same value to the council’s governance processes.