A controversial bill to abolish compulsory student union membership has moved closer to becoming law.National and Act are using their majority in Parliament to push the bill through and it was within minutes of passing its second reading when Parliament a
A controversial bill to abolish compulsory student union membership has moved closer to becoming law.
National and Act are using their majority in Parliament to push the bill through and it was within minutes of passing its second reading when Parliament adjourned last night.
The bill is sponsored by Act's Heather Roy and was given the green light by a select committee last month.
Supporters say student unions are the only ones left that have compulsory membership and end up being run by political activists who run partisan campaigns and who don't represent the members.
Labour and the Greens, who fiercely oppose it, argue that it will destroy valuable associations which provide services at universities and polytechs because most students are hard up and won't voluntarily pay fees.
Labour's Grant Robertson said during the second reading debate the bill would kill off student associations and their advocacy role would be lost.
"This is a straight out ideological bill," he said.
"The tertiary institutions won't provide those lost services themselves."
His colleague David Shearer said the "odious" bill would tear the heart out of the associations and would have a severely detrimental impact on campus life.
Green Party MP Gareth Hughes said the bill was designed to weaken student associations.
"It's a smokescreen to cover other changes in tertiary education, like cutting funding, and it's going to reduce student ability to criticise government policy," he said.
"We're going to see a slashing of services across the country, like legal advice."
The Maori Party's Rahui Katene said there were compelling reasons for opposing the bill.
"There is a need for student associations...we value the role they play and the services they provide," she said.
"If this bill goes through it will kill those associations."
Student unions are fighting the bill and have flooded MPs with thousands of emails.
The select committee which handled the bill received 4837 submissions and 98 percent -- including those from the tertiary institutions -- opposed it.
Mrs Roy says she isn't giving much credence to the huge number of negative submissions because nearly all of them were organised by the student unions.
"It's difficult to say whether the form submissions actually came from those they were supposed to have," she said.
The bill has to complete its second reading and pass two more stages -- committee and third reading -- before it becomes law.
It will progress slowly because member's bills can only be debated every second Wednesday when Parliament is sitting.
