Another reason why we needed VSM

The Herald reported:

An unlikely partnership has formed to fight the Government’s partial asset sales, with Grey Power and the New Zealand University Students Association launching a petition aimed at getting a referendum on the issue. …

Association Vice-President Arena Williams said it was her generation that would have to mop up the consequences of the sales and they deserved a say on it.

This is unbelievable. NZUSA (actually now the NZ Union of Student Associations) has no mandate on this issue. It is not an issue that student have a common view on. It is not an issue in any way to do with tertiary education. This just reinforces that all too often, NZUSA is the student wing of the Labour Party.

I understand that NZUSA did not even consult its member student associations on this issue of supporting the referendum. Both VUWSA and MAWSA Presidents have said that if they had been asked, they would have said that the issue is out of scope for NZUSA.

If I was a member of a students association that was a member of NZUSA, I’d be demanding to know why NZUSA is throwing away any chance it has of being seen as a professional advocacy body for students.

UPDATE: I understand LUSA is also aghast that NZUSA has decided to campaign on the issue of asset sales.