Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 2. March 5 1979
Pitfalls on the Way
Pitfalls on the Way
The most significant pitfall we could encounter would be an incompetent Education Officer. More than ever before we must try and ensure that we select an EO who will be capable of carrying out a major, effective and thus hopefully successful campaign. We must ensure that there are sufficent funds allocated, both in VUWSA and NZUSA to allow such a campaign to be properly run.
On different level there are other problems we must watch out for. As I said earlier, Treasury are only likely to support this proposal if they can find an alternate course of funding, two likely sources have been suggested. The first is from Student Teacher Allowances, which have been under threat for some time.
The other proposal is a much newer one, and much more serious. Last summer vacation the Student Community Service Programme operated, and cost the Government around $5 million. It has been surmised that part of the funding for any increase (the $9 increase would cost an estimated $10 million) might be found by ceasing the SCSP on the grounds that, with the improved Bursary, students are not so dependent on holiday earnings.
Students must ensure that any hint of this proposal be thrown out. Unless the Bursary receives much more than a $9 increase and is payable year round, most students will still require holiday employment to sustain them through the year. This is particularly so for students on the abated bursary. As an aside it is interesting to note that there were no suggestions in the proposal to remove the abatement as students have been requesting ever since the introduction of the STB.
So the struggle is two-fold. Firstly to ensure that the proposal goes through and no less important to make sure that the Government isn't giving with one hand what it's taking away with the other, as happened with the bursary increase and the Tax changes in the 1978 Budget.
Peter Beach.