***MEDIA RELEASE*** NUS CONDEMNS ABBOTT GOVERNMENTS DIRECTION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 24 September 2013 For immediate release

The National Union of Students (NUS), the peak representative body for university students in Australia, condemns the Coalition Governments announcements yesterday that it plans to remove crucial funding to student services and remove equity targets for university participation. Education Minister Christopher Pyne has stated one of his key aims is to remove the Student Services and Amenities Fee, which was introduced by the Labor Government in 2011 to restore crucial funding to student services. To talk of removing the SSAF is to propose removing campus life and campus culture from our universities. This move would be devastating for university students across Australia, said National Union of Students President, Jade Tyrrell. The funding provided through the SSAF has created important services that students rely on for their own health, wellbeing, enjoyment and welfare. Through proposing a removal of this fee, this government plans to rob students of their campus life. This funding is directed towards legal and advocacy services, sporting activities, food and beverage facilities, campus clubs, student media and a host of other absolutely crucial student services at university. This government is using scare tactics to brand the SSAF as ''compulsory student unionism by the back door'', as if unionism is something to shy away from in the first place. If the new Minister thinks this is compulsory student unionism he needs to read the legislation and guidelines more carefully. He would find that the funding goes first to the universities and secondly, that this fee is very restricted and there is no mandate to direct the funds to student unions at all. This Government is relying on its own assumptions about the fee and needs to consider the benefits it has generated for students from all types of campuses, particularly for rural and regional students who have noticed changes to their campus culture since 2012. The National Union of Students was pleased to take part in review of the Student Services, Amenities, Representation and Advocacy Guidelines associated with the SSAF earlier this year, and supports its recommendations. We want to ensure students money is going back to students and is being used to improve campus life and services at the behest of students, and the previous government and NUS had been working to achieve this. One important question to ask is whether the current government will simply ignore the changes put forward by the SSAF Review Panel to improve the administration and transparency of the fee, for the benefit of students.

NUS will be releasing its Implementation of the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) in 2013 Report later this month, which contains information regarding how the SSAF is playing out across the country. The report, which was compiled throughout 2013, contains an audit of student services and the results of questions put to student organisation presidents regarding the consultation and negotiation processes around the SSAF and the funding for student-run services. In the 2012 NUS report, 13 out of 23 university student organisations reported receiving improved funding compared to previous years, which has reinvigorated these organisations, student clubs and independent services. "The SSAF was a welcome change from the era of Voluntary Student Unionism introduced under the Howard Government, which stripped campus student organisations of funds and gutted over $900 million nationally from student services and representation. NUS supports retaining a fee for student services, and is in favour of stronger student consultation requirements, more clarity in the guidelines and measures that ensure greater independence of student organisations and services in the implementation of the SSAF," Ms Tyrrell said. For further comment: Jade Tyrrell 0411 606 808 pres@nus.asn.au