When I was at Uni, I had nothing to do with the student union and I can't think of one useful thing they provided except for the student bar with cheap beer.

If I had my student hat on and thought the student bar was disappearing I would have being persuaded to join the union as the social aspect of Uni was as important as the study in terms of learning lesson in lefe it.

I support the bill. Get the unions to market their usefulness to the students each year, not just put their hand out for the union fee. Good unions will see decent memberships. Poorly run unions will disappear

I paid Student Association fees for myself and later my wife for about twelve years. I recall thinking the cost greatly exceeded the benefits.

I am a student at the University of Otago, OUSA provides so many awesome events, facilities and support systems for students and without the compulsory membership many of these will now be unavailable or come with extra costs to students. I don't see why the government has decided to pass this bill which A) does not affect them directly B) there was nothing wrong in the first place C) the students - the ones who it affected - didn't want D) that has cost taxpayers thousands if not millions of dollars already and will cost students more in the future as we have to pay more for services. Isn't the government meant to listen to the people? Our student associations listened to us and protested the bill.

As far as I recall, students were able to cover the cost of union membership with student loans when they were compulsory.

Once they became voluntary (eg at Auckland) students had to pay out of pocket, meaning the poorer students were less likely / able to sign up and did not have access to the same services as those who could afford it.

Given that student unions typically provide welfare and advocacy services this is more important than if it only affected social clubs etc as is often thought.

As for your comment that it "not something that affects people's lives" - students are actually people too. In fact many of us were students once.

I'm not agreeing with Labour but why be so dismissive of students lives if you're also going to blog on it? The quality of life at university has an effect on educational outcomes, not to mention values, sometimes lifelong friendships etc.

I am not sure if this will have a huge impact or not. The University of Auckland has for many years had a voluntary membership to student unions however at the same time, the University provides a large amount of funding every year to student unions and support services to ensure that along with the "parties and cheap drinks" which student unions are generally associated with, there has been continuing provision of services such as independant advocacy and welfare support services for students as well as funding for student clubs and groups and the opportunity to students to elect representatives to sit on boards and enable students to have a voice in policy matters.

Without funding, these services to support students will dwindle and the money has to come from somewhere. If not a mandatory student levy, will the institutions stump up to fill the void of costs?

It is a total waste of money, the Student Union is mostly made up of those with Left wing veiws and goes about supporting things like neo-feminism in Universties.

The day-to-day realities that students need looked at by the Students Union are well down the 'things to do' list.

And besides - if the Students Union is so bloody wonderful - then voluntary Unionsism wouldn't be a problem !

I am in full support of the law change! I have only ever studied part time (supporting myself financially seemed more important than socialising) and every year the $150 fee would P*SS me off. I worked hard to avoid getting a student loan, I had nothing to do with the university aside from study and I didn't really want to subsidise O week Toga Parties.

Seems archaic that they even had the option for compulsary membership anyways.

No membership to any association should be compulsory.

I do think however that many people may actually underestimate what most student associations provide to members and what services may now disappear.

Time for the associations to get out there and start touting their wares.....

I am a student at the University of Auckland and we already have a voluntary union of which I join every year. I think its great that students have a choice as the benefits one can get from these unions solely depends on the individual so they should have the right to choose not to join. I disagree with the protesting that occured here earlier this week and I know more students that think it was a silly demonstration than those who actually thought there was any point to it. It's a good bill, well done for passing it and David Do can go get a real job.

The student union here offers advocacy, learning support services including the class rep system, food banks, cheaper health care, referrals to cheaper dental care, an early learning centre for students with children, almost all of the events on campus aimed at students and financial and practical support for those run by students (as well as financially and administratively supporting all the clubs and societies on campus), hardship grants, and it bankrolls almost all of the cafes on campus. The unions are an intrinsic part of the university's makeup and I'm not sure how the cost for me exceeds the benefits - in fact, this is only going to make life at university and on campus far more expensive. Oh, that's right, ours doesn't charge fees and you can opt out if you like. Tell me how this legislation is going to help me?