VSU laws through the Senate.

[Matilda]

No link yet, it's just come through on ABC.

This time, Barnaby Joyce crossed the floor, but Steve Fielding voted with the government.

Goodbye to all student services and clubs - housing assistance, creche, sports teams, debating
teams, drama societies, etc. etc. Just to stop political activism - that could have been
legislated for without compromisng everything else.

[Matilda]

1. Link

I think I will just spit on the next conservative voter I meet. Why waste time with words?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1527974.htm

[no safe haven]

2. Why waste good spit

What’s left of our traditional institutions? Let’s see – Medicare, pharmaceutical benefits, ABC. How long do you think before the Lib slimebags will dismantle those? They haven’t left us with much.

God, I’m too livid for words. A pox on Howard and his toadies – and I mean that sincerely.

[PinkUnicorn]

3. Already done

The ABC has more or less been neutered by Jackboot. Half the programs which used to be interesting have turned into vapid 'feel good' pieces, the science unit disbanded, constant mindless repeats, and about the only stuff worth watching is from the BBC anyway. The ABC is pretty much lost, and I'm more concerned about SBS at this point.

PBS is already in the firing line, with the 'free trade agreement'.

Jackboot has always despised medicare and has constantly tried to sink it, but its very nature makes it a voter hot spot and a dangerous political thing to play with, especially now with private health care premiums going through the roof. As such I think he'll try and kill it in small chunks - an amendment here (forced through), another here (forced through) and then the brainless morons who voted for him will wonder what happened. But the other day after seeing yet another sell out, I had a look at Aus's economic performance which is about the only reason the drones don't lynch Howard.

Aust had 43 monthly trade deficits in a row, a current account deficit of $57 billion and a net foreign debt of $450 billion. Considering our GDP is about $600 billion, that is horrendous. (net debt 75% deficit 9%). The country is living in a fools dream and racking up everything on the credit card while selling the furniture. The Keating comment of the banana republic is almost coming true...

Though in reality it would be a 'banana colony' because people are too scared to ditch an irrelevant foreign monarch.

As for the comment in the article 'I'll make it absolutely clear Family First did no deals' - horseshit. The whole conscience vote on RU-486 would be a strong point for the assemblies of God....sorry 'Family First'....I would almost lay money a 'deal' has been made.

[no safe haven]

4. You're right about Oz being a ‘banana colony’.

I don’t think we’ve ever NOT been one. We’ve been selling our ‘furniture’, our resources, manufacturing capabilities, to overseas interests forever. For what? A few lousy jobs here and there. Wow, lucky us. We’re just a small subsidiary in the broader corporate world. It’s what we were in 1788 and what we are now. Gough was the only leader to try and break the cycle, and look what happened to him. (I guess worse could have happened, like disappearing in the surf whilst taking a swim Holt style.)

Big Pharma will more than likely have another crack at PBS, I'll wager. They seemed to slink off into the shadows a little too quietly. They’ll be back, and pusbag Howard will more than likely hand it over on a silver platter. Just like he’s handed over everything else. He does what he’s told.

And now Oz troops in Iraq indefinitely? On the request of Japan? We send our SAS teams to protect Japanese engineers? Give me a break! I thought the magnificent democratic government of Iraq got to decide who stayed, anyway. I guess not. Silly me.

And yes, call it what it is – Assemblies of God, aka Family First. Moral religious conservatives infiltrating our government. Sometimes I miss Pauline Hanson – at least she was clueless!

[Matilda]

7. A friend of mine who's in retail and has a good understanding

of what's really happening in the business world agrees with you. He says we're fast approaching
the point where there will be massive credit card defaults (after christmas perhaps?) and the
country will be moving into recession. He reasons that Howard wants the new IR laws in place
to make sure that his business friends will only have to pay the lowest possible wages when the
shit hits the fan.

It will be almost worth the pain to get rid of Howard, but was it avoidable?

[PinkUnicorn]

8. Avoidable?

Sadly I don't think so. On the surface a credit card seems like easy money - whether it be a real credit card in someones wallet, or a 'metaphorical one' such as the account deficit.

Banks are falling over themselves handing them out with obscene credit limits because they know they will make a killing. With real wages remaining stagnant as the CPI increases, combined with massive outsourcing people need more money (to even consider owning a home in a metropolitan area you need at least two incomes), and the seductive lure of a card is all to strong. Of course the repayments seem small - $50 a month, maybe a $100, so you clock up a bit more on the card, and little more until shortly you're up to your eyeballs - and you never see it coming. So you take out a loan to service the debt, putting up your possessions as collateral...

I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if there is massive card defaulting after the Christmas period. More than ever before its become the 'festival of spending' as opposed to the 'festival of giving'. But I am uncertain as to how long it will com back to bite us. It's in Jackboots interest to delay any fallout until he retires so I suspect it will be racked up on the 'national credit card', a few more assets flogged off to keep the books looking good, and left for someone else to worry about. Thats was how he did it when he was 'treasurer Johnny', juggle the books until he's out and leave the bag in the next guys hands.

It's at this point I do miss Keating. True he had his faults, but at least he was brutally honest about the economy, and he had half a clue how it worked. Johnny and Costello are prancing around having a wonderful party without any thought about what happens when the bills come due.

[Matilda]

10. It's bothered me for a long time (since 1996, I guess)

that Howard has done nothing to encourage businesses to actually MAKE something or build on
existing infrastucture. He's been perfectly happy to encourage the mindset that greater profits
are available to shareholders simply by cutting the workforce and paying the remainder as little
as possible, or by outsourcing jobs to the third world. Up go the share prices, and everything's
rosy.

There's never been a word from him about the inadvisability of continued mass sackings. He's never
worried that fewer taxpayers means less in the kitty for government infrastructure. It bothers me
that if the country isn't actually producing more, that soon there'll be nothing left to sell.
The booming economy is all built on bits of paper that are worthless in themselves, and the illusion
can't last forever. If a financial dummy like me knows that, why don't Howard and Costello know it?

But these are the people who are selling off viable government holdings for short-term boosts to
their coffers. I never could understand why anyone would want to get rid of assets that bring in
a tidy profit every year. I know why they're doing it - so they have enough in their election
war-chests to promise more tax cuts every election. But why are Australians falling for this -
have they all gone ga-ga? How can anybody believe that this is sound economic management?

[PinkUnicorn]

11. Instant Money Syndrome

I think its because these days people want everything NOW and everything for ME! ME! ME!.

People want a large payout of cash right now instead of slow but constant lesser flow. Instead of investing in the future with things like Medicare, Telstra and so on, the lure of instant money (whether real money or a tax cut promise) means their precognitive abilities drop to about three seconds, not realising that the quick fix of cash has consequences which will bite them hard in later years as they have to have that 47 inch plasma TV now. This is readily indicated by household savings figures which are well and truly in the red, and since the effect doesn't come back to haunt until years afterwards its ever so easy to think there are no effects. The broken ecenomy doesnt help either with prices being so hugely inflated so you never seem to make ground with savings (yes I am house shopping ;) ).

In many ways its almost like a drug fix - you'll do anything to have a hit, sell everything you own, steal and rob to get that fix. And if a dealer offers that fix, you don't pay any attention to the fact he cut your does with borax and destroy yourself.

[velvet]

5. Gaaaah

IR, anti-terra, VSU - and all of them gagged debates - what a ghastly week it's been. Oh how I want to wake up tomorrow and find it's all a bad dream. :grr:

[Esra Star]

6. I was particularly amused when Mr Fielding couldn't remember the

deal he had just cut with John W Howard not a half hour before.
Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when two blokes can decide that
RU486 will not be available in OZ.
On the other hand shit features will say anything that suits him
in order to impose his paternalistic values on us.

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Selfish question: how does this affect me?

I pay fees at the beginning of each year. They give me library membership, membership of the student union, and all that other stuff. Does this mean I don't have to pay my $220 anymore if I don't want to? Being a mature-age student, I don't get involved in student politics and kind of have a bit of a condescending attitude about it, but just like when Howard tried to destroy the CPSU by banning payroll deductions, I'll make sure I do a voluntary payment in future just to voice my protest....

Violet...

[Josh]

12. Yes, it means you no longer have to pay

I'm on the Board of Directors at the UNSW Union so we've been on the frontlines of this and we were all listening to ABC Radio in the president's office when it happened.

The law comes into effect on July 1 next year, so you will still be asked to pay your fees when session 1 begins, but after that they'll be voluntary.

I expect the fee structure and schedules will change from all organisations (the Union at UNSW is planning something completely unexpected and somewhat revolutionary in nature - I'll be able to tell you soon).

It's true often student politics are silly and petty and corrupt, but I don't think removing their funding is a way to fix the problem. And because this law bans "all non-academic" fees you won't get the services that the unions provide such as cheaper food and retail with much longer opening hours - places that are willing to change their menus when students come up with suggestions, and places where ANY profit goes back into student development. Can't say that about commercial providers on campuses.

The Guild will also likely not have enough money to pay for their two full-time solicitors (free for students) for advocacy and legal advice. The Universities might foot the bill for those, or they might dissolve all together.

Same goes for subsidised child care, which at my uni is provided for three-ways between the Union, Guild, and University.

The Union in particular does a lot because we provide all the on-campus entertainment that's free, such as Oktoberfest, O-Week, and many, many development and leadership programmes. Things that many people take for granted (or, unfortunately, don't know about) such as free pottery classes, music rooms, places you can sit and congregate without having to buy something on the menu, places to hold meetings, etc. These will be hard to maintain in a VSU environment. Barnaby Joyce's amendment would have protected fees for services of this nature.

I have no idea where Sports Associations are going to get their money, and since MANY Australian sporting heroes (Geoff Lawson got his start at my uni) made their way up the ranks through their university sporting associations, I wonder what's going to happen to sport in the future, too.

The whole point of VSU for those who understand the community nature of it is that it is, in my opinion, our duty to pay for these services even if we do not use them - just like taxes. My taxes pay for the commission of bridges that I'll never cross, for tourist centres I'll never visit (and don't receive profits from), and for post offices I don't use, but we have to pay them.

Similarly, I don't have kids, I'm not poor to the extent that I *need* subsidised food and entertainment, and I've never been raped or needed legal advice such that I'd have to use Counseling or Advocacy programmes, but I recognise that *other* do have these issues, and if it is a user-pays system, they simply will not be able to afford these programmes.

You're a mature age student. I went through my media degree with a mature age student. She was 31 and had come back to uni after her husband left her with her two year old son. The only reason she could come back to uni was because she secured a place at UNSW's HoneyPot Child Care service, which was subsidised by money paid for by our Student Activity Fees. She wound up having to pay money to the tune of something like $13-21 PER DAY to have her child there.

There are more people like her out there. Many, many more.

The problem is that VSU presents an attractive short-term money-saving solution. What people don't realise, however, is that it hurts students *significantly* in the long term - both financially and socially. And I subscribe to the view that universities are *not* supposed to be degree-factories. They are supposed to be places of higher learning, places where we bridge the gap between leaving the awkward social and cultural environment of school and learn to live in the real world. And without that bridge, we're in a far worse position for the rest of our lives.

It was a very ghastly week indeed.

[Matilda]

13. All politics are stupid, petty and corrupt,

thanks largely to the kind of people who get elected.

I don't want my taxes to pay for an invasion of another country that I don't think is justified,
nor do I want to pay for John and Janette's first-class junkets around the world, but I have no
choice.

To me, these laws are utter stupidity - if they want to ban spending the fees on political
activities, that should be easy enough via a legislative amendment. But I can't see how the
government gains by cutting off funds to all the other services currently provided.

Nor is it good enough to suggest that the government could provide funding to the universities for
these activities, as it's very clear that pressure would be brought on both unis and the students
to toe an accepted political line in return.

Is it just the bad word "union" that gets Howard all steamed up? Or is it his revenge because he
only just managed to scrape through his law exams all those years ago?

[Josh]

14. The thing is, Student Unions *aren't* Unions -

they've just been called that for fifty years because it was a good word back in those days. They are, in fact, service providers.

As for why there's a blanket ban, Dr. David Kemp, Education Minister in 1999, said quite plainly that VSU was designed to end organised opposition to the Federal government's policies, particularly in the areas of Education and Foreign Affairs, from tertiary institutions - that is where some of the most vocal opposition to government policies comes from. The protests against Australian involvement in Vietnam were, for example, absolutely massive.

Without money these student organisations have no voice. That's why this legislation was invented. It's not about "fairness."

Australia is now one of only TWO countries whose Universities are FORBIDDEN BY LAW to charge compulsory amenities fees for services.

The other one is China. Go Aussie Go.

[Josh]

15. Also -

it's revenge, not for Howard, as it was after his time, but for Costello, Abbot, Nelson, ALL those guys were on the losing end of student politics at one time or another during their time at university.

They all got to play sport based on compulsory activities fees.

AND - and this is the bit that makes me so mad, as it's so ultra-hypocritical - these guys all went to uni FOR FREE.

[Matilda]

16. And how many other Coalition pollies got their uni education free

courtesy of the Whitlam Government?

Hypocrites indeed - as is Mr Families First Steve Fielding - who can't remember if he did a deal
with Howard or not!

[Josh]

17. Yeah, I'm sure he can't remember.

(Unfortunately, Barnaby's great goal, too, is to eliminate legal abortions, but he was with us on this...)

The idea that Fielding can't remember if a deal was struck or even if RU 486 (already legal in the US and UK for years) was EVEN DISCUSSED is just lunacy.

As a friend of mine said when he heard Fielding "couldn't recall" if a deal had been discussed, "he's either a liar, or a fucking idiot."