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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 11. May 28 1979

An Injury to One, An Injury to all — Emergency NOSAC Meeting

page 7

[unclear: An] Injury to One, An Injury to all

[unclear: Emergency] NOSAC Meeting

[unclear: C] last Tuesday night an emergency [unclear: age] of the Victoria University branch SAC (National Overseas Students [unclear: Act-mmittee]) was held. The meeting, [unclear: call-liscuss] the news of the discriminatory [unclear: ing] imposed on overseas students, [unclear: ed] over 80 students, most of them [unclear: nans].

[unclear: about] any consultation or discuss-common feature of this [unclear: Govern-ment] announcements on overseas student overseas students learnt that from next ear all new entrants from overseas to [unclear: caland] universities will have to pay in tuition fees. After some confus-was found that students from the would not have to pay these fees, [unclear: st] overseas students are from Malaysia [unclear: w] policy means that the majority of as students will have to pay these [unclear: dis-atory] fees.

[unclear: I] announcement of the new fees came [unclear: rprise] to all sections of the [unclear: govern-hat] deal with overseas students. [unclear: Nei-ie] Labour Department, the Ministry of [unclear: n] Affairs or the Education [unclear: Depart-new] that the fees were being [unclear: consider-ithout] taking the advice of people in [unclear: lepartments], who whatever their own [unclear: n] overseas students, do at least have [unclear: xperience] in matters relating to ed-for non-New Zealand citizens, the [unclear: lment] in its typically highhanded [unclear: man-ided] to go it alone.

[unclear: It] was emphasised at the meeting, [unclear: com-to] the suffering that the new fees will the monetary benefit for the [unclear: Govern-s] paltry. The new fees are expected [unclear: g] another $800,000 in revenue in [unclear: rising] to about $2 million in 1982[unclear: w] fees do not affect students [unclear: current-Ued] at university). The universities [unclear: Ives] cost more than $100,000,000 to [unclear: d] Muldoon has admitted that the total internal deficit is now $1.5 billion. In this situation $800,000 is not even a drop in the bucket.

THAT'S THE WAY, ROB, MY FRIEND OVER SEATS STUDENTS COST US TWO MUCH — NZ. GOVT

Chris Gosling, the President of NZUSA, pointed out that bearing this in mind, it was more than likely, that if the new fees were accepted without too much fuss, they would be imposed across the board to all students at universities, overseas and kiwi alike.

Gosling also said that countries like New Zealand, which has a fair measure of industrialisation, have an obligation to assist third world countries, and that the educational aid that New Zealand provides, while it had been restricted by previous Government action, was a very valuable way of doing this.

The meeting was informed that this kind of discriminatory action was not confined to New Zealand. Both the Australian and the British Governments have already attempted to do the same thing. Mr Low, the Coordinator of the National Overseas Student Service of Australia, told the meeting that Australian students had managed to effectively mobilise together against the governments actions, and urged overseas students to show the greatest possible unity in the face of this common threat.

It is not surprising that the Government should have excluded Pacific students from the fees, as that will have the effect of splitting the unity of overseas students, a ploy that the Government is fond of using.

Unity among other section of overseas students, should however be strong, and both the President of MSSA and MSA plegded themselves to supporting activities against the new fees.

Various forms of protest action were then planned at the meeting, and a call was made for funds and workers to make the campaign a success. Salient will publish details of the campaign as they come to hand.

All students have to wake up to the fact that unless they get organised to fight-back against the Government's actions, further abuses to the University system and to education as a whole will occur, and with these economic measures will come further attacks on freedom and civil liberty. There is an old trade union saying that is very appropriate for for the current situation. "An injury to one is an injury to all."