UWA to remain affiliated to NUS
By Justin Randell
PERTH — A referendum at the University of Western Australia April 14-16 has resulted in the UWA Student Guild remaining affiliated to the National Union of Students. The resounding"yes" vote, 1300 to 800, was a big defeat for the Liberals, who would have used victory as impetus for further disaffiliation campaigns around the country.
The Liberals spared no expense during the campaign, flying people in from interstate and using scandal-sheets, banners, thousands of leaflets, sausage-sizzles, T-shirts and over 100 metres of repeating plastic banner saying "Vote NO to NUS".
NUS also flew in people from interstate, and plastered the campus with leaflets and posters.
Despite this, the issue failed to touch many students. Sean Martin-Iverson, a Resistance activist at UWA, told Green Left Weekly: "Most students remained indifferent to the question, and many walked past the polling places refusing to take fliers or vote. This reflects the history of NUS here failing to be relevant to students, and the apolitical nature of the campaign. There was very little debate about the role of NUS or how it needs to be changed."
Anti-Liberal sentiment was decisive in carrying the day. Much pro-affiliation material discredited the "no" camp by pointing out that they were Liberals and were behind the attacks on education.
NUS propaganda claiming that it was and is campaigning for students rights in WA failed to gain much resonance, however, given the reality of NUS West's recent history.
Alistair Duncan, a UWA Resistance activist, said, "The gap between NUS's rhetoric and the reality was stark. Resistance, which supported continued affiliation, was the only group to use the referendum to build the campaign against government attacks, and one of the few groups critical of NUS's bureaucratic, ALP-dominated structure.
"The NUS West leadership's cynical dumping of the education campaign until after the referendum is further evidence of why they need to be replaced by activists who are genuinely interested in turning NUS into a campaigning student union."