By Zanny Begg
BRISBANE — Activists registered a victory at the University of Queensland last week when students voted to affiliate the union to the National Union of Students. Of the 3402 students who voted in the referendum, 73% voted for affiliation.
UQ was covered in posters supporting affiliation, and stalls were held every day over the week of voting.
Resistance activist Kathy Newnam explained, "The vote is a significant victory. It shows the degree of support amongst students for a fight against the Liberal government and their desire to see a strong national union leading that fight.
"This week has been really intense. There have been lots of people out campaigning for a yes vote. Resistance has been having daily stalls, and we've distributed thousands of leaflets urging students to vote yes."
The Young Liberals ran a weak campaign against affiliation. They tried to scare students, claiming that NUS promoted violence on a leaflet which showed shadowy photos of what appeared to be the August 19 demonstration at Parliament House.
Another Liberal leaflet listed the attacks on education since the formation of NUS, urging students to vote no on the basis that NUS did not defeat cuts to Austudy or up-front fees.
"Given that the Liberal government cut $2.3 billion from tertiary education funding in last year's budget and is continuing these attacks", Newnam said "this line of argument stinks of hypocrisy".
UQ's affiliation will strengthen the hand of the left within the national union and particularly in Queensland. Newnam explained, "We've been very critical of the leadership of the NUS Queensland branch. It's been dominated by Labor Right members, who have tried to sabotage the education campaign every step of the way.
"Now, with UQ affiliated, it will mean the election of more left delegates and will change the balance of forces in NUSQ. This would be a real step forward for the education campaign in this state."
National Organisation of Labor Students (NOLS) members have been very sensitive to criticism of Labor's leadership within the union and have tried to argue that any criticism of the ALP leadership amounts to a criticism of NUS as an organisation.
Newnam rejected this assertion: "It is obvious to anyone concerned about free education that the leadership of NUSQ needs to change, that Labor is running the union into the ground. There's no point in us trying to whitewash that fact — that would just strengthen the Liberals' arguments against NUS.
"The best way to convince students to vote for affiliation is to explain the facts. That means also explaining that they have to see affiliation as only the first step in turning NUS to the left, taking it out of the hands of conservative pro-Labor forces and making it a real, fighting union.
"We're very pleased with the referendum result, and it bodes well for the left's attempts to make NUS more responsive in future."