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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 5. March 26 1979

Wellington at National Executive

Wellington at National Executive

One expected highlight of the National Exec was the presence of the Minister of Education (Merv Wellington) for about an hour. Many people had hoped that this would be an opportuntiy to press firmly home in the mind of the Minister, student concerns about the whole bursaries issue. Sadly it was not to be.

Before Wellington arrived Gourlie had expounded his theory that NZUSA should try and grease up to the Minister, make him believe that NZUSA was on his side. As Research Officer Ian Powell pointed out at the time ".....when you try to grease up someone, there is a tendancy to slip over". That is certainly what happened on Saturday.

For his part, Wellington was unwilling to step outside official government line. Yes he has an absolute committment to education, likewise to continuing review of the level of the STB. He was unwilling to state however what the nature of this committment was, for example he would not say on what basis reviews of the level of the STB were undertaken. The only definite thing he did say was that he could not give an assurance that no decision would be taken on Student Teacher Allowances untill the report of the Commission set up to study it, had been released. By saying this he added fresh speculation that indeed the allowances are intended to be cut, possibly to finance any increases that do take place in the STB.

Fundamentally however the blame for the profitless exchange must rest with the National Executive. Wellington was plagued with some of the most idiotic questions. Tees asked about library facilities at Vic, something the Minister has no real control over whatsoever. But it was Tony Stuart who took the cake. He explained, in tedious detail, the situation at Canterbury where Union regulations were threateneing some of the catering operations down there. What he thought the Minister of Education could do about this is a good question indeed.