Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

I think people should not be forced to do these things. If people really believe that the student unions give them value for money they will make the decision to be involved and they will pay their money. I imagine you, Senator Hanson-Young, were active in student organisations when you were on campus and I imagine you got some benefits from your student union membership, as did I, but I did not ask people to fund my activities because I chose to get involved in those sorts of activities and I do not think the Australian government should do so today either.

This legislation is quite repugnant to the concept of a free society where individuals make decisions about what they do, what they belong to, how they spend their money and how they lead their lives. We have moved away comprehensively from the kind of society which, a few generations back, used to demand compulsory membership of unions in certain occupation areas, from 100 per cent union membership requirements in certain work places, and we allow people to make decisions in respect of every other area of the workplace. To the extent that student unions are analogous to workplace organisations, we make an exception in the case of students and student organisations and there is no compelling case for that to be so. I urge the Senate to reconsider this dreadful piece of legislation.