Final Plenary

This is the grand finale of Councils. The entire Council goes through all the policy passed and tosses out motions that somehow slipped through commissions without anybody noticing. These can last anything up to 12 hours at a single sitting being only interrupted by cups of coffee and fish and chips from the shop over the road.

On this particular occasion the final plenary barely lasted 4 hours — an indication that the entire Council had gone very smoothly. Policy was amended, lapsed and adopted no end.

At this stage, AUSA put forward their motion to alter the balance of power of the National Executive. It consisted of raising the voting power of the constituent Presidents to two votes and retaining one vote for each of the four political officers What was the reason for the motion?

Mr Gulley doesn't really think much of the National Officers — or so it seemed. There seems to be this mysterious distrust of anyone or anything that comes from Wellington present in AUSA which infects even the most progressive student politicians up there. The distrust is based on the presumption on the part of AUSA that they could get along quite okay without the burden of the rest of NZUSA.

What Mr Gulley failed to realise in his ploy to attack National Office hegemony was that the National Executive is a management committee for the Association. It is unable to make policy of any sort. That can only be done at Council and SGMs. AUSA's motion eventually failed to find a seconder and lapsed after a small amount of discussion.

It was also at the final plenary that the International Vice-President announced that he was resigning from the position. Next to nothing was said about the affair (yet) and the resignation was received without fuss.

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After grinding through the National and Women's Commission remits the fireworks began proper. It seemed as if the resignation of Paul Watson had crystalised the mistrust and antagonism between National office and some of the constituent Presidents. Yet again the AUSA President led the attack by moving:

"That the Education VP, General VP and President be reminded that the National Office should work together co-operatively and when differences arise these should be referred to National Executive."

Speaking to the motion he proceeded to hack the entire National Office to pieces, saying that the axing of the IVP was in his own words "a set up." The only one he did not attack were Peter Franks and the secretarial and accounting staff. He reminded David Tripe (GVP) and Mike Shaskey (EVP) especially that they were "not God's gift to constituents," and accused others of rudeness and making snide remarks about Mr Watson.

On top of all this, he reiterated his time-old threat of pulling out of NZUSA.

The following speakers paled in comparison perhaps lacking the killer instinct which Gulley Seemingly possesses. Speaking for National Office, Lisa Sacksen, Peter MacLeod and Peter Franks defended their actions and pointed out that they were placed in a very difficult position regarding the International Vice President. At this point, Gulley began to fade slightly and placed a large part of his argument on the details of a meeting which had apparently taken place after the Council dinner between the national officers which the IVP had, according to Gulley's sources, not been invited to.

This was a major tactical error on the part of the AUSA President, because Paul Watson had attended the meeting — therefore acquitting the national office of this serious charge. At this stage of the meeting, Peter MacLeod (NZUSA Accountant), being an astute man, launched a counter-attack at Gulley. Obviously, many of the constituent Presidents were getting worried at the prospect of having to vote on the motion.

Gulley then announced that he would rather lapse the motion but then turned around and said that the motion was just a warning to the National Office to behave themselves in future. Sighs of relief echoed round the room, methinks mainly from constituent Presidents, who did not want to commit themselves to the vote.

The affair, although having the positive effect of getting things out in the open, left a slightly nasty taste in everyone's mouth. Although it will give National Office something to think about when they sit at their desks at 32 Blair St, it certainly did nothing to resolve the alienation from the student masses that the National Office must feel.

The "Us and Them" syndrome was bandied around a lot at Council. Certainly there is a healthy tension between the National Office and constituents, but the main point which came out of May Council is that the constituents must elect officers who they have full confidence in and then get behind them 100%. It is unrealistic to suggest that National Office should transmute details of all problems which arise in the course of their work.

In relation to National Office; the campus profile is needed now more than ever. The campaigns NZUSA are waging now are more vital than they ever have been. More than that, they are close to home -fighting the assault on civil liberties and educating New Zealanders about fascism.

In order for the political officers to have good student meetings and get and backing of New Zealand students, campus organisation is essential. This should be a directive to constituents of NZUSA. Democratise decision making in student affairs and above all "Get Organised."