Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU)

One cause I have been passionate about is making membership of student unions a voluntary matter, promoting freedom of association.

Many students do not realise that student union membership is compulsory, and this is what every student's up-front general service charge (GSC) is for.

For instance, at the University of Newcastle in 1999, students paid $297 for their general service charge. One cannot enrol without paying this charge. Of this, $153 goes to the Union building, $96 to the Sports Union, and $48 to NUSA, the student's association. Not many students realise that not one single cent of their up-front compulsory fee goes to the University administration, and that the general service charge is not a fee related to one's course at all.

Further, there is no distinction between part-time or full-time students, or coursework or research students. Indeed, a part-time research student still pays full student union membership despite the fact they may not even set foot on campus during the year!

Whilst running the University of Newcastle Liberal Club I was able to be active and vocal in promoting this cause in the Newcastle region. I also successfully moved a motion at the Liberal Party's NSW Division State Conference of 1999 that the division endorse and promote a VSU agenda.

You can read letters to local media by members of the University of Newcastle Liberal Club.

I also wrote to Kelly Hoare, the ALP member for Charlton for her perspective on VSU.

In May, the compulsory-funded Student's Association at the University of Newcastle made a protest rally on Liberal Senator John Tierney's office in Newcastle. You can read my account, followed by correspondence with Allan Morris, the ALP member for Newcastle, and my comments to Opus, the student newspaper.

More to come! I have had letters and an article published in the University student newspaper on this matter. I have had interviews in local media, and even got a direct mention in the Federal Senate Hansard for May 25th!