Moroney Sue: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Moroney Sue: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:670;Page:16874] 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 The purpose of the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill is completely incorrect in terms of what its outcomes will be. It states: “The purpose of this Act is to uphold students’ rights to freedom of association by removing any requirement for students to join students associations.” In other words the bill makes it compulsory for students to have voluntary student membership of their students associations. 
I look forward to debating the purpose of this bill not only here in this Chamber but also out on the streets during the general election in Hamilton. I will be contesting the seat for Hamilton West against Tim Macindoe and I know that the students at Wintec will be very concerned about the passage of this bill. They will know that Tim Macindoe voted to take away their freedom to decide whether they have a students association on their campus. They will know that Tim Macindoe has said that students cannot make this decision for themselves and that the Government will dictate to them that they cannot have a vibrant students association on their campus. 
On the other side of the river Sehai Orgad Labour’s candidate for Hamilton East will be thrilled to debate with David Bennett the purpose of this bill because the students at Waikato University know what it means to have a voluntary union. They know that the purpose stated in this bill does not match what the outcome will be. When the Waikato Student Union went voluntary—voluntarily—in 1996 it was asset-stripped and it had no infrastructure left at the end of that process. 
Iain Lees-Galloway 
: That sounds familiar. 
SUE MORONEY 
: It does sound familiar; it sounds like John Key’s plan for the entire country. It happened at Waikato University. I will go through a few of the facts because a very very fine submission was put forward by the Waikato Student Union. It told us that in 1996 it had membership levy revenue of $730593. That is what it was collecting in student levies which meant it could have a very robust organisation. In 1997 that revenue fell to $593000 and that was before it even went to voluntary student membership. In 1998 the first year of voluntary membership for the Waikato Student Union its membership levy revenue fell to $23253. 
One can see the immediate impact that this bill will have on the voice of students right throughout this land. It will be forced on them; it will not be voluntary. The students of Waikato volunteered to make that decision and they realised after 3 or 4 years that they had got it badly wrong. They had a vote and decided to become compulsory again because they knew what the impact had been. They lost their student representation on the university council at Waikato University. They lost all of the assets that many generations of students had saved up for including student radio campus movies and a whole range of other things which they will never ever get back. The radio station they had and the frequency they broadcast on have been sold for ever and they will never get that frequency back. The Waikato Student Union also made all of its staff redundant so it had no one in a paid position who could provide professional advocacy for students on the issues they faced. 
In the second year of voluntary membership the union’s membership levy revenue fell to just $3442. For goodness’ sake the local bridge club would operate on more money than that every year and any other club— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: The stamp collectors. 
SUE MORONEY 
: It would cost the stamp collectors more than that to operate their club. The entire student membership levy revenue fell to $3442 and I think at that stage students realised that they had made a bad mistake. The final year of voluntary student membership was in 2000. They returned to universal membership in 2001. They voluntarily and collectively made a decision because they could.