The NUSA rally!

On May 11th, 1999, the compulsorily-funded University of Newcastle Student's Association (NUSA) held an anti-VSU rally. They promoted the rally heavily with large posters about the campus, and "free" buses provided. The rally would march down Hunter Street in Newcastle, to the office of Liberal Senator John Tierney.

Of course, that was the week of the Federal Budget, and no Federal politician in Australia was anywhere but Canberra!

Not only that, but NUSA barely attracted 50 students and staff members to their rally (NUSA insist they had 100 people - but still, out of 15,000 students and 3,000 staff this is clearly a very poor turnout).

Further, the proposed legislation was already under investigation by the Senate. Although rallies and protests may at times have effect, the NUSA rally was far too late in the year to have any effect or bearing on the passage of the legislation.

I issued the following press release:

MEDIA RELEASE
May 11th 1999

David Williams, President of the University of Newcastle Liberal Club, spoke out today against the planned 'day of action' by the Newcastle University Students Association (NUSA).

"NUSA believe they are going to be demonstrating that people do not want Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) introduced," David Williams said, "but they are simply giving more reason why students deserve it."

"One really must question just what NUSA are seeking to achieve by marching on Senator Tierney's office when he - and all parliamentarians - are clearly in Canberra for the budget sittings."

"What NUSA are really organising is a day out for themselves and a handful of interested others. They have advertised extensively that free buses are provided. Yet, the buses are not free," said David Williams, "they come at a cost which every single student - whether part-time or full-time, must pay under compulsion or not be able to enrol at University."

"This is just another example of the flagrant disregard of student funds that NUSA exhibit," Mr. Williams said. "Why should 14,000 students subsidise the excesses and political tirades of but a handful who wish to go about joyriding in Newcastle under the guise of a protest march to the office of a Senator who is obviously not in town?"

"NUSA insist that VSU is an attack by the Coalition Government to weaken student rights, but this is hardly the case," said David Williams. "Rather, Voluntary Student Unionism is clearly the way forward to force student associations to act responsibly and to provide real services and representation instead of wasteful squandering."

"The fact that NUSA recognise they will lose funding if VSU is introduced means that they realise they simply do not provide a quality of service that the majority of students would pay for, if given the choice."

"Rather than attack the basic democratic right of freedom of association, NUSA would be better advised providing real services such that people would join their organisation of their own volition," said David Williams. "VSU is good for students. It's only the student politicians who are opposed to it."

This received some good publicity - especially because the main regional television station, NBN, was similarly unimpressed by the lack of attendance at the rally and the non-appearance of Senator Tierney. I was asked to provide comments for NBN news, and also by radio stations ABC 2NC and 2NUR FM.

To my pleasure, the last sentence of my media release was quoted by Senator Tierney in a speech to the Senate on May 25th, 1999, as recorded in the Senate Hansard for that day.

The Newcastle Herald ignored the uneventful rally, but I called to put the following "Phone Your Say" into the letters page:

Today's protest march by the University's students association NUSA seems a curious affair given that Senator Tierney is in Canberra for the budget sittings.

Rather than protest against voluntary student unionism, NUSA have again demonstrated frivilous disregard for student fees by organising little more than a joyride for but a handful of students.

Three members of the University of Newcastle Liberal Club attended the NUSA rally as interested observers. NUSA then tried to save face by suggesting that we held a pro-VSU rally and attracted merely three people. Yet, this is entirely fallacious - we held no rally; we did not march; we did not have posters; we did not wave banners; we did not speak.

Ultimately the NUSA rally demonstrated two things:

• Student associations do waste their compulsorily-acquired funds.
• The vast majority of students simply do not have the regard for student union services such that they care to participate in any anti-VSU rallies to "save" them.

At a later date, the Federal ALP member for Newcastle - Allan Morris - spoke against VSU in a speech to the House of Representatives. I wrote to him, referring to the NUSA rally. Yet, extracting a reply proved to be an effort - and extracting an intelligent reply looks as if it may be an impossible task. That story is over here ...

NUSA made a report about their rally in the student newspaper, Opus, to which I had a bit to say ...