Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 13. June 11 1979
[Introduction]
It has been the trend in recent years that whenever there is an increase in the level or a significant change to the bursary system it will be announced in the Budget. Consequently students should be looking to the 1979 Budget which will be announced by Mr Muldoon on Thursday 21 June.
In the first term considerable concern and agitation was expressed by thousands of university and technical institute students. The fuel for this was provided by a confidential document written by the Department of Labour which stated that in order to restore the value of the Standard Tertiary Bursary (STB) to its 1976 level (the year of its introduction) to take into account inflation and tax changes it would have to be increased by $9 per week for 1980.
This document was 'leaked' to Wellington's Evening Post and the call for an immediate $9 increase was taken up by the New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA). As a result a campaign was launched which led to thousands of university and technical institute students throughout the country participating in organised protests in appalling weather conditions on 11 April.