Hon Heather Roy Third Reading Speech; Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill; Parliament; Wednesday, September 28 2011.

Mr Speaker,

It gives me great pleasure to lead the debate on this third reading of the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill.  Voluntary Student Membership has been a test of patience and many thought this day might not come at all in this Parliamentary term.

Others hoped it would not and around 0.1 percent of New Zealand's 400,000 or so tertiary students protested against the bill earlier this week, along with a handful today on Parliament’s lawn.  I encourage Kiwis to be actively involved in their democracy because freedom of speech and freedom of action are important rights that should not be denied.  There is a certain irony that these rights have been used to oppose another fundamental civil right - freedom of association for students but none-the-less I staunchly defend these students’ right to do so.

Opposition to issues is frequently noisy, while support is often silent.  This post of support from a Canterbury University student appeared on my Facebook page yesterday: "I feel strongly about the freedom to choose and I know many others that feel the same.  Please also remember to hear the silent voices of those of us who do support you.  We don't need to make a huge ruckus out of it because we're sensible people supporting a sensible bill".

Voluntary Student Membership means students, from 1 January 2012, will no longer be compelled to join a Student Union before they are allowed to study at a tertiary education institution.  They will instead be free to choose whether or not they join an organization that as an Incorporated Society has the same legal status as the Automobile Association or the SPCA.  We don't force motorists to join the AA before they can own a car or force pet owners to join the SPCA.

Student Unions were originally voluntary organisations and this bill returns student unionism to its roots.  Over recent decades they have become increasingly politicised when their core functions are meant to be representation of their student body - not just a select few, advocacy and the provision of some services.  The University and Polytechnic councils provide other services such as health and welfare services.

There has been much talk during the course of debate surrounding VSM about huge opposition from students with the figure of 98 percent frequently quoted by the Bill’s opponents.  Let's be very clear about this figure.  It refers to submissions opposing the Bill at Select Committee.  This was essentially a copy and paste campaign, like a petition, conducted by student politicians en masse.  By comparison a Stuff poll last October had almost 5,000 votes and showed 72 percent were in favour of voluntary membership.

Misappropriation of Students’ Association funds has become a significant problem in the past few decades.  The fraud has ranged from the farcical $6,000 spent by a VUWSA executive member phoning a psychic hotline through to the large scale embezzlement on several occasions at Whitireia Polytechnic totalling around $750,000.  These all too regular examples of fraud proved the need for action.  Compulsory membership has created an environment conducive to financial mismanagement.  Student Unions are governed and managed by young people who often lack the necessary management skills and experience to run a multi-million dollar business and a captive market of students who cannot vote with their feet if their funds are mismanaged.

Voluntary membership means associations will have to attract membership to gain funds then provide the representation and services students want in order to keep them.

There has been much talk in this debate about Australia’s experience of voluntary membership, or VSU as it’s known across the Tasman.  Those opposing the Bill have conveniently ignored the Student Unions that have not only survived but thrived under Voluntary membership.  The University of West Australia stands out as an example for the rest.  Amid the doomsday predictions promulgated by the left, they retained 60 percent of their members under VSU and have continued to provide valued services to their members.

Looking to the future in New Zealand 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.  I hope to see Students’ Associations actively promote the benefits of membership by:

• Using quality communication with students to find out what they want, preferably using 21st century communications, as students do;

• Conducting quality market research on what services students actually value and are prepared to join to access;

• Affordable membership fees;

• Innovative incentives to join, such as discounts for members at student association bookshops and cafes and negotiated discounts with local retailers;

• Focussing advocacy on those issues which almost all students agree on such as increasing the quality of education and increasing accountability of tertiary institutions to students.

When students see an organisation providing representation and services they value they are much more likely to join.

There are many people to thank and acknowledge in this journey which spans at least 20 years.  The battle started with the Freedom on Campus Network and has progressively been carried forward by Prebble's Rebels, ACT on Campus, the Young Nats, Student Choice and my ACT Party colleagues present and past.  I would like to also thank the Select Committee members so ably chaired by Allan Peachy and the Select Committee staff who dealt with the large number of submissions and submitters.  Thanks also to all submitters - both those supporting and those opposed to the bill.  As a result of your contributions several changes were made to the Bill that have made it much better.  To the officials from the Ministry of Education and PCO, my grateful thanks for your expertise, sage advice and most notably your cheerful patience to a process that ended up being much longer than was intended.

To Sir Roger Douglas, thanks for your Midas touch - I don't know anyone luckier at having bills drawn from the ballot and for shepherding VSM through the Select Committee process.  And my grateful and sincere thanks to the staff in my office who have researched, advised, written, agonised and become very good at understanding parliamentary process because of their absolute belief in and commitment to freedom.

It is harder to say it any better than Andrew Little in his final address as President to the EPMU:

“I believe voluntary unionism - true freedom of association - gives the union movement much greater strength and a much greater moral authority.”

My final thanks to the National Party Caucus and United Future for their support of Voluntary Student Membership.  Freedoms are hard won and so easily eroded.  Parliament’s gift to students tonight is freedom of association.  Please be sure to use it wisely.

Theatre Of The Mind

The Boat that Rocked is a great film about taking the authorities on, breaking a government monopoly and introducing the population to rock music. It is inspirational and the radio rockers didn’t take themselves too seriously. It is the story of Radio Caroline, a UK radio station set up in 1964  who had to transmit from a former Danish ferry that was renamed MV Caroline in order escape the land based authorities.

New Zealand has its own Boat that Rocked story – that of Radio Hauraki. Like Radio Caroline that battle was with the government monopoly and the stories have become legendary. Radio Hauraki broadcast illegally from 1966 – 1970 and had to do so outside NZ waters from the Tiri.

The story that best describes the lengths those involved in setting up Radio Hauraki went to is this:

“On 28 January 1968 disaster struck as the Tiri attempted to negotiate its way into Whangaparapara Harbour on Great Barrier Island in foul weather. The ship ran aground on rocks, with Radio Hauraki disc jockey Derek King keeping listeners up-to-date with running commentary. The final broadcast from the Tiri was "Hauraki News: Hauraki crew is abandoning ship. This is Paul Lineham aboard the 'Tiri'. Good Night." followed by a station jingle, and then the sound of the ship's hull striking the rocks.”

In 1970 the government monopoly of broadcast frequencies was finally broken when the New Zealand Broadcast Authority allowed Radio Hauraki a broadcast license, after 1,111 days at sea.  The Tiri II, the original Tiri being unrepairable after running aground at Great Barrier Island, then sailed back to Auckland broadcasting Born Free.

The pioneering attitude of Hauraki’s Pirate Radio contrasts markedly with the tantrum throwing we have seen from the Otago University Students’ Association’s Radio One over the past week.  In April OUSA contracted Deloitte to provide financial advice.  This advice was sought because OUSA was, laudably, interested in ‘getting the transition to a voluntary association right’.

I have often said that this sort of responsible management is exactly the type of change that Voluntary Student Membership (VSM) should bring about.  When student politicians realise that they cannot indefinitely rely on a stream on non-contestable funding they will reassess which of their services they need to provide and how to provide them.

Not all of the recipients of funding have responded to these home truths so charitably.  As part of their advice Deloitte told OUSA that Radio One was of ‘little commercial value’ to the students’ association.  OUSA has admitted that Radio One is among the least valued of its assets and has since stated that disestablishing Radio One is on the cards.  Radio One manager Sean Norling has, rather than assessing how to make his station more viable, decided to commence a ‘week of silence’.  Radio One has been purposely taken off the air to protest its potential closure.

Labour has attempted to wade, or stumble, into the issue by claiming that they could save Radio One by watering down the VSM Bill.  In fact, what student services really need is certainty.  Labour’s practice of filibustering an unrelated Bill that has bi-partisan support in order to delay the VSM Bill gives student associations no certainty whatsoever and makes it difficult to plan for the future.

Of course, students don’t have to be forced to own a radio station for student radio to exist.  Radio Active used to be owned by the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association but had to be sold as, like many groups receiving free money, it became inefficient.  Over 20 years later Radio Active has not disappeared off the airwaves, it has thrived with volunteer and non-commercial support.  Similarly students are not forced to join the Auckland University Students’ Association, yet the Association manages to fund bFM quite successfully.

Whereas the Hauraki pioneers risked all to fight against the government’s stranglehold on broadcasting, Radio One’s management is throwing a tantrum because their government mandated stranglehold on student funds is being threatened.  The broadcasters on the Tiri, like their counterparts on the MV Caroline fought for the right to compete freely and openly with other broadcasters.  Radio One is fighting not to have to.  Their conduct during the past week is an embarrassment to New Zealand’s broadcasting legacy.  However, they still have time to redeem themselves.  Just as Radio Active has functioned for two decades since having their student association apron strings cut, and just as bFM in Auckland has managed to survive without compulsory student funding, Radio One now has an opportunity to make themselves relevant to their target audience – students.

Lest We Forget – Homosexual Law Reform Act – 9 July 1986

Perhaps the most controversial law ever to be debated in the New Zealand parliament, the Homosexual Law Reform Bill which decriminalized male homosexuality, was passed on 9 July 1986. The bill was a members bill introduced by Labour MP Fran Wilde in 1985 and after substantial debate and fierce opposition from some quarters passed narrowly (49 ayes to 44 noes).

An initial vote originally set down for 2 July was delayed by George Gair who was concerned it may have failed as several supporters were unable to be in Wellington due to bad weather. A second part to the bill – to provide anti-discrimination law protections for lesbians and gay men - was defeated but later incorporated in to the New Zealand Human Rights Act 1993.

ENDS

ACT New Zealand Tertiary Education Spokesman Hon Heather Roy today welcomed the comments made by Andrew Little, in his final speech as National Secretary to the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union, that voluntary unionism strengthened the union movement.

These comments come as the Labour Party are planning to tonight further delay the passage of Mrs Roy’s Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill that will make membership of student associations voluntary.

“There was absolutely no equivocation in Andrew Little’s remarks; he said ‘I believe voluntary unionism - true freedom of association - gives the union movement much greater strength and a much greater moral authority.’  This is completely at odds with actions of the Labour Party who are tripping over themselves trying to keep membership of student associations compulsory,” Mrs Roy said.

“No wonder Andrew Little is touted as a future Labour leader; unlike Phil Goff he has woken up to the reality that freedom of association is not only desirable but actually gives legitimacy to organisations that voluntarily attract members.

“Membership of trade unions has been voluntary since 1991 and New Zealand has not looked back since.  It is an embarrassment that students still do not have the same rights as other members of society.

“ACT has long believed that when students enrol at University they should be given the choice as to whether or not they join a student association, which is why we submitted our Bill to give students that choice.  Sadly Labour has been desperate to protect the student politicians who often push their political barrow and has been delaying the Bill for two years.

“If Labour wants to remain at all relevant to the constituents it claims to represent it should immediately stop filibustering my voluntary membership Bill and agree to give students the very same freedom of association that their future leader today endorsed for workers,” Mrs Roy said.

ENDS
 

ACT New Zealand Tertiary Education Spokesman Hon Heather Roy today condemned the Labour Party's filibustering of her Education (Freedom Of Association) Amendment Bill, saying it denies backbench MPs the right to have their issues debated and is costing taxpayers over $453,000 – the same cost as a Hone Harawira Te Tai Tokerau by-election – every hour that Parliament sits.

“My Bill, known by most as the VSM Bill, reached the Committee stage of the whole House on 8 December last year.  Since that time Labour MPs have wasted Parliament’s time, and taxpayers’ money, by engaging delaying tactics such as proposing spurious amendments to non-controversial Bills,” Mrs Roy said.

“Hone Harawira has been rightly condemned for costing the taxpayer half a million dollars by forcing the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, yet Labour’s filibustering is costing taxpayers the equivalent of one such by-election every hour.

“Delaying my Private Member’s Bill also denies backbench MPs on both sides of the House the chance to have their Bills debated.  Member’s Bills are the only mechanism backbench MPs have to raise issues they feel strongly about.

“I'm not opposed to any party delaying a Bill they strongly disagree with but Labour MPs are delaying Bills they already support.  If Labour continue to debate each of the Royal Society Bill’s 23 clauses – which they openly support – in their entirety this could take 23 hours of the House’s time and cost taxpayers over $10 million.  It is this sort of churlish behaviour that demeans our nation’s Parliament.

“Labour should realise that the writing is on the wall, the VSM Bill has the numbers to pass, it has been debated at length for over 18 months and by delaying it they only make themselves more irrelevant to the voters they claim to represent,” Mrs Roy said.

ENDS