tedsta.com >> tedy

at 5 pm today, the Senate has passed the dreadful VSU bill despite Howard conceding earlier that the bill will only be voted upon next year. Senator Fielding (the sell out Senator) has sold out all students and was not even present in the chamber when the bill was voted upon. the bill was passed with 29-27 and Senator Joyce remained opposed to the bill without amendment. The 4 amendments that were offered by the Oposition and Senator Joyce were not even debated.

is this the end of student union? i doubt it would be. instead, this is the start of long concerted campaign towards regaining back the lost grounds due to complacency in student movement in the past years.

international students will be heavily affected. not only they have to now pay the compulsory and unregulated fee on student services that were imposed by the Government through University based on ESOS Amendment that has been passed earlier, they also have to pay the Union fee on top of that if they want to enjoy the Union services.

let’s be clear. the Government’s ideologically driven agenda to end Student Unionism has been countered by NLC in its campaign to let them know that VSU hurt international students - a major export for Australia. they think that the band-aid solution by introducing the amendment to the ESOS Act will fix it.

its just so sad… but its true.