By Lloyd Burr
The bill that makes student association membership voluntary has passed its third reading in Parliament tonight despite a last-ditch bid by protesters to convince National to withdrawal its support.
Students from around the country arrived at Parliament this afternoon for a final protest against ACT’s Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill.
But the protest had no effect and the bill passed with support from National, ACT and United Future.
The woman behind the bill, ACT’s Heather Roy, says students around New Zealand are “free at last”.
“Parliament’s gift to students tonight is freedom of association. Please be sure to use it wisely.
“My intention was never to destroy students’ associations, but to give students free choice of belonging or not. I hope that associations will put as much effort into planning for the future as they have put into planning their protests,” Ms Roy says.
National Party MP Michael Woodhouse, who was speaking to the bill for the first time, was passionately in favour of the bill despite, he says, reports from Labour and the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) that he may be against it.
“There isn’t a hop in Hades of me crossing the floor and voting for this bill. I support this bill completely – no whipping, no shoehorning into voting for it,” he says.
“I support this bill and no amount of clever video editing by Labour apparatchiks or ranty press releases from NZUSA will change that.”
Earlier today, MPs from Labour, the Green Party, Mana and the Maori Party, who voted against the bill, joined students on the steps of Parliament in protest.
Click on the video tab to watch extended footage from the protest
New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) co-president David Do brought 98 balloons along to the protest to signify the 98 percent of select committee submissions that were against the bill.
He says only two percent of submissions were in favour of ACT’s proposal.
In all New Zealand universities, apart from Auckland, membership of student associations is automatic and students have membership fees added to their student loans.
The bill means membership will not be automatic and students will have to join the associations on their own accord.
Associations around the country have been vehemently against the idea because it means their membership numbers, and their income, will drop.
Fellow NZUSA co-president Max Hardy says voluntary student membership is “one of the biggest threats to a strong independent student voice for many years”.
“It will splinter and undermine the collective voice and contribution of students to the tertiary community.
“National still has an opportunity to drop its support for this extreme and inflexible Bill and instead work with students on fairer alternatives for improving student services and representation, rather than gutting them,” Mr Hardy says.
The bill, drafted by ACT MP Roger Douglas but now in Heather Roy’s name, was drawn from the ballot in 2009 and will come into force next year.
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