New Zealand Union of Students' Associations

NZUSA Lobby Gains

• 1988 allowances were themselves the result of 1985-1988 lobbying with officials
• In 1992 alone NZUSA achieved $10 million in benefits for students by getting Community Service Cards for all students in face of Ministerial opposition
• Prevented student loan repayments being applied to all jobs attracting secondary tax
• 2000: Freeze on fees
• 2010: Restrictions on increases in CSSFs
• 2012: Collaborative partnership for utilizing the Student Voice

Gains though engagement

• 2000: Review of loan scheme massively improves student experience and efficiency of delivery
• 1929 - 2013: Constant involvement with government over regulations and procedures
• 1996-2000: Students added to CUAP (committee of university academic programmes), AAU (academic audit unit), TEC Board and Learners' Advisory Committee
• Expansion of the categories covered by the Ministerial Direction in 2011 and defending that in December 2012
• 2012: enthusiastic support for learner panels and best practice Student Voice principles project

Gains though elections

• 1999: Education number two issue; change of government
• 2005: Interest-free loans policy assists re-election of Labour Government
• 2008: Interest-free loans adopted as National Party policy
• 2011: Labour Party commits to universal allowance policy (joining Greens)

Held VSM off for 15 years

Activists from other associations assisted in all of these campaigns.

• 1996: Michael Laws VSM Bill is defeated in the Select Committee process
• 1998: VSM Bill converted from imposing individual membership to requiring referendums
• 2000: WSU returns to universal membership through a student vote
• 2001: AuSM, WITSA and SAWIT return to universal membership
• 2006: USU returns to universal membership

Wins for the tertiary sector

• 1989: prevented a privatised loan-scheme by scaring off the banks
• 1994: Todd Taskforce plan for increasing fees from $1500 to $7000 per year defeated
• 1999: White Paper proposing privatization dropped by National Government after massive student protests
• 2003: Introduction of fee maxima
• 2009: National Party also adopts fee maxima policy
• 2011: 120 of 121 MPs from parties supporting interest-free student loan policy

A protest against Voluntary Student Membership in Wellington in December 2010

Since the introduction of voluntary student membership (VSM) in 2012, NZUSA has faced significant challenges. VSM led to the organisation no longer being guaranteed a revenue stream from member associations, and by 2012 its funding had decreased by a third as members cut their contributions due to financial hardship.[3]

In August 2013, Waikato Students' Union announced that it would "temporarily withdraw" from NZUSA.[4] In response, Auckland University Students' Association (AUSA), Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA) Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) put out a press release calling for significant reforms of NZUSA.[5]

Subsequently referendums were held at OUSA and VUWSA as to whether they should stay members of the national union.[6] The membership of both unions voted to stay part of the organisation, but the presidents at the respective organisations have promised substantial reforms.

In September 2014, VUWSA President Sonya Clark announced that after a unanimous vote by the executive, VUWSA would be withdrawing from the organisation (and had given its obligatory one-year notice of withdrawal).[7] President Clark said:

Students gave us the mandate to stay if there were significant reforms. There haven’t been. Now what’s important is having the conversation to make sure there’s a strong national voice on student issues, in a more effective use of $45,000 student dollars. We take our fiduciary responsibility with students’ money seriously.[3]

In response, NZUSA President Daniel Haines said he was

disappointed but not surprised ... I think it reflects the extreme financial hardship that students’ associations are now facing. I also think it’s important that organisations review themselves and are critical of their performance, and that’s what this is....VUWSA is one of our founding members, and hopefully we can continue to work with them going forward.[3]

In November 2014, OUSA announced that it would also be withdrawing from NZUSA. Postgraduate Officer Kurt Purdon said NZUSA missed the opportunity to prove themselves in 2014, but instead of proving themselves, OUSA President Ruby Sycamore-Smith had single handedly done more for Otago students than NZUSA. He further said: "We lose credibility by being a part of them. Even if membership were free, I’d have serious questions about being a member."[8]

NZUSA President Daniel Haines criticised OUSA for a lack of communication over their concerns, and responded to the withdrawal by saying:

it concerns me that this decision will diminish the collective power of NZUSA ... It will be harder to do things without a united front. I am concerned how we will look to politicians if we approach them as separate parties. No one wants to talk to twelve different people when they could talk to one.[8]

In January 2015, former-VUWSA President Rory McCourt was elected President of NZUSA. He planned to focus on original research and "one central campaign" in his term.[9]

A student elections banner at VUW in September 2015. The banner asks voters to vote in the upcoming referendum to stay in NZUSA.

In June 2015, after refusing for a number of months to pay its NZUSA membership fees, VUWSA agreed to pay its outstanding fees. (NZUSA argued that membership fees were still payable because VUWSA was in the 12-months-long withdrawal period.) The reversal came after NZUSA President Rory McCourt had waged a public campaign to get VUWSA to both reconsider its withdrawal from NZUSA and also to pay the fees outstanding.[10]

Victoria University students voted in late 2015 in a referendum to have VUWSA rejoin the national union.

Tertiary Women New Zealand (TWNZ) is a sub-group of NZUSA, dedicated to advocacy on behalf of women in tertiary education across the country. It comes from a position that acknowledges the systematic oppression of women and also considers how this intersects with class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and ability. TWNZ is composed of women's associations at tertiary institutions across the country [12] and the current sitting NWRO is Izzy O'Neill.[12]