National Party tertiary education spokesman Paul Hutchison said students should be able to decide for themselves whether they wanted compulsory membership of student associations.
“I’m aware there are concerns by some that say there isn’t strong accountability for the money they get,” he said.
“All the time, I hear murmurings of there being inappropriate usage of student levies by the unions.”
It was important that accounts were “absolutely transparent” to show that each student dollar was being spent well on students, he said.
Dr Hutchison has stated three times this year that he wants to see Students’ Associations become voluntary. Yet it is not a National Party Policy.
For the record Dr Hutchison and National:
Students’ Associations are incorporated.
They are required to be externally audited.
They are required to be registered with the companies office
They are required to hold AGMs and keep their books open.
So where is this inappropriate use and mismanagement? The reality is there isn’t any. If there was there would be lots more cases of fraud. Which there isn’t.
If your annual income is over $14,000, your tax will decrease by $12 to $28 a week from Wednesday. That’s a reduction of up to 26% on the income tax you pay. By 2011, people will be paying up to 31% less income tax. With boosts to Working for Families, many people with children will be paying no net tax (already the average tax paid by a single earner family with two kids is only 2%).
Funny, then that the actual amount of cash seems a little underwhelming to those on comfortable middle-class incomes. Funny because we’ve had nearly a decade of National basing its entire political argument around the need for tax cuts. Yet, now we have tax cuts, no-one seriously thinks they will be the panacea that National has made them out to be. National’s argument, of course, is that we just need to cut more, specifically for the wealthy (they have ruled out cutting the bottom rate any further). But if $1.7 billion worth of tax cuts this year, rising to over $3 billion a year by 2011, isn’t the cure to all our woes why would more make all the difference? It wouldn’t, of course. Tax cuts are not a solution to low wages, they are not the difference between people leaving NZ and staying, they are not compensation for inflation, and they never can be. And every dollar spent on tax cuts is a dollar that can’t go on health or education or, in the case of National’s cuts, a dollar that has to be borrowed on the turbulent international credit market.
If there was one mundane thing I could change in this world it would have to be Daylight Saving.
I would abolish it.
Quite basically it is the most silly idea out there. We have a fixed day of 24 hours. We have a fixed ammount of sunlight. Just because we mess about with our clocks does not save the sunlight or extend the period of sun. All it does is mess with us.
Why can’t people get up earlier. If the evening is so important to us why can’t we just change our work day and start earlier. I personally love the mornings. So why are the night owls insisting on upsetting the early birds.
Parachute have done it again! They have secured one of the best Christian rock bands in the world. Last time it was Switchfoot, before that it was Thousand Foot Krutch, Delirious?, Audio Adrenaline, Falling Up…
And now Kutless!!! Yeah!!!
Parachute 09 is coming, and the line up has been announced…
Family Force Five, The David Crowder Band, Kutless, Casting Crowns and Dave Dobbyn are confirmed as headline acts! Also Some of your favorite kiwis; Parachute Band, Rapture Ruckus, Mumsdollar, Nathan King, Kingston, All Left Out, Magnify, Late 80’s Mercedes, Juliagrace, Shooting Stars, The Ember Days, Zero T, Primal Band and heaps more…
Get ready for the summer of peace, justice and rock ’n roll. Celebrating its 19th year, Parachute 09 is set to be the hottest spot on the summer calendar. From 23-26 January, Hamilton’s Mystery Creek’s Events Centre will resound with hits of home and abroad as 150 artists grace 6 stages over the long weekend.
