Controversial legislation that will abolish compulsory student union membership took another step to becoming law when it passed its second reading in Parliament tonight on a vote of 64 to 54.The Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill is sponso
Controversial legislation that will abolish compulsory student union membership took another step to becoming law when it passed its second reading in Parliament tonight on a vote of 64 to 54.
The Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill is sponsored by ACT's Heather Roy and was given the green light by a select committee in September.
National and ACT are using their majority in Parliament to push it through, against fierce opposition from the Labour Party.
Supporters say student unions are the only ones left that have compulsory membership and end up being controlled by political activists who run partisan campaigns and who don't represent the members.
Opponents argue it will destroy valuable associations which provide services at universities and polytechs because most students are hard up and won't voluntarily pay fees.
During the remaining few minutes of the second reading debate in Parliament tonight ACT MP Hilary Calvert said students around the country were at present forced to join associations and pay fees.
"They are the only group forced to join what are essentially unions, their freedom is being violated," she said.
"This bill will finally see students have the same freedom the rest of us enjoy."
Most of the second reading debate took place last month, when Labour's Grant Robertson said 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."
The Greens are also fighting the bill and MP Gareth Hughes said it was designed to deliberately weaken student associations.
"We're going to see a slashing of services across the country, like legal advice," he said.
Student unions are still campaigning against the bill and the select committee which handled it received 4837 submissions -- 98 percent of them, including those from tertiary institutions themselves, opposed it.
Mrs Roy said she wasn't giving the submissions much credence because most of them were organised by student associations.
The bill now has to pass its committee and third reading stages before becoming law.
It might not make it before the summer recess because Parliament is running out of sitting days and member's bills can only be debated every second Wednesday.
Opposition parties are going to do all they can to delay it by dragging out debates during its next two stages.
