George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

At the time the VSU legislation was debated in this parliament, we heard all sorts of extraordinary claims. Senator Nettle, for example, in this place on 9  December 2005 said that students are ‘having their throats and voices ripped out’. Other senators opposite predicted that the experience of university life would be single-handedly destroyed. Notwithstanding those hysterical claims, today voluntary student activity is flourishing on campuses across the country, as I discovered last week when I visited O Week at the University of Melbourne.

One of the reasons why the introduction of VSU has proceeded so smoothly is the transitional funding provided by the government. Yesterday the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Ms Bishop, announced $58.2 million in funding for 37 projects under the Voluntary Student Unionism Transition Fund and the Support for Small Businesses on Regional University Campuses Program. Thirty-four of these projects are located on regional campuses. The projects supported by these grants provide students all around Australia with improved services and facilities which promote social interaction and good health. For instance, James Cook University will receive over $4.6 million for a new fitness facility at its Townsville campus, the University of New England will receive $5 million for a new multipurpose hall and to upgrade their gymnasium and swimming pool, Wollongong university will receive over $5 million for a multipurpose sports facility and a medical facility and the University of Southern Queensland will receive $5 million for sports facilities at its Wide Bay, Springfield and Toowoomba campuses. VSU has put $160 million into the pockets of Australian university students, who can now make choices about what services they support. Even more importantly, it has enabled them to live their student lives in conditions of freedom, not extortion—of choice, not compulsion.