Mackey Moana: Education Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mackey Moana: Education Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 16 August 2011. Volume:675;Page:20918. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I will take a short call on Part 2 “Transitional arrangements and amendments to other enactments”. The transitional arrangements particularly when we come to the student levy are particularly important. As we know there is another bill going through this Parliament in relation to students associations which has been referred to on numerous occasions. The transitional arrangements in the Education Amendment Bill (No 4) will very much need to keep in consideration that legislation which brings massive changes to students associations at the beginning of next year. The reason that this is important and the reason it needs to be provided for under transitional arrangements—Mr Quinn has his translation earpiece in but I am actually speaking in English; I do not know whether it is breaking down the debate into simpler language for him. I was not aware that service was provided here at Parliament but that is good to know.  
The reason that the transitional arrangements need to take into account the early implementation of the voluntary student membership legislation is that as we discussed in Part 1 numerous parts of this legislation relate to transparency around the setting of the student levy—Mr Quinn is listening to his iPad; that is why he has his earpiece in; he just did not want to purchase his own earphones—and the transparency around any increases in that levy why they might be needed and what that levy can be used for. As we know given the reductions in funding for our tertiary institutions under this Government institutions have been using some of the student levy to pay for staffing costs not to pay for what the levy was originally intended to pay for. In that respect the transitional provisions in this bill should take into account the fact that there will not be the organisations to consult that Part 1 has legislated for.  
Part 1 is quite clear that there must be consultation around those aspects of the student levy that I referred to. The student body itself needs to be part of that process. The student body itself needs to be consulted around that levy. We saw at Canterbury University I think it was that the levy shot up 600 percent in one year; 600 percent. Well obviously that is unacceptable and obviously that is part of the reason why this legislation is being brought in. It gives the Minister the power to cap that levy.  
I come back to the important part of the transitional arrangements which is the requirement to consult students. The question was asked and it was not answered—who will they consult once students associations have been destroyed by another bill currently going through this Parliament? How will that consultation be carried out? Because at the moment it is actually very clear-cut. The reason why this relates so closely to the transitional arrangements is that that legislation which we are told the Government will make sure is passed before the election—even though the Government promised they would not support it and promised that it would not be passed—will come into force at the beginning of next year right in the middle of the transitional arrangements period.  
The bill as it stands says the consultation will take place and the transparency needs to occur and that is quite clear at the moment. At the moment we have democratically elected students associations. If someone wants to consult the student body of Victoria University the student body of Auckland University or the student body of Waikato University—whose students association membership went voluntary and then came back to being compulsory—it is quite clear what that body is. But if this voluntary student membership legislation goes through it will not be clear. In fact it could be very unclear who exactly is meant to be consulted under the transitional provisions in this legislation. For our provincial polytechnics and private training establishments it will be even less clear. Although some of the big universities might hold out for a bit longer with their students associations just because of the critical mass they have our provincial polytechnics such as Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne where I live will certainly be saying goodbye to their students associations.  
Under Part l who will the Minister consult? This should be part of the transitional provisions of this legislation. We cannot simply pass legislation in a vacuum. We certainly cannot pretend that the voluntary student membership legislation will not have an impact on this bill. It appears to me that the Government has ignored it. The Government is pretending that voluntary student membership will not go through. The question that was asked in Part 1 which was not answered is: who will be consulted? Who will be the representatives of the students associations that Part 1 says will be consulted? This should be in the transitional provisions in Part 2. I look forward to a response from the Minister.