In the first of a three part series on the student movement in Australia since the 1970s, AFRODITY GIANNAKIS asked VAL EDWARDS about the history of the Australian Union of Students. Edwards was 1977 president of Kelvin Grove CAE Student Union (now part of Queensland University), the AUS regional trainee teacher organiser for Queensland, and AUS women's officer.
Question: What was AUS like when it was strongest?
The final annual council of AUS was held in January 1979, and it died with a whimper a few years later. But it was a viable, vibrant organisation before that, formed out of the anti-Vietnam war sentiment in the early '70s.
It was a much stronger student union than the National Union of Students is at the moment. Almost all tertiary campuses were affiliated. Each campus affiliated its full student body, at $2 per student, which in those days was a considerable annual budget. It was the largest union in Australia, far bigger than any of the trade unions.
Members got good service for their money: representation and political service. And campuses demanded that.
AUS was supported by both the right and left; by the right because of the services and career paths it offered (AUS was an opening to positions in the ALP or in other unions); and by the left because of its policies and campaigns. The left was usually stronger.
Question: How was AUS structured?
It was an activist organisation based around its members. I have the impression that NUS doesn't encourage participation of its members as much as AUS.
It had a headquarters in Melbourne that was a drop-in house for members. It wasn't like an office just for the officials. There were always people talking and working on different campaigns. It was big, at least three floors of an old terrace house.
It had a large full-time apparatus: a president, secretary, treasurer, assistant secretary, and vice presidents for each area of work in education (trainee teachers, overseas students, part-time students, mature age students). It also had a national newspaper, "National U", with editorial and printing staff for this and other publications.
AUS also had regular contact with trade unions and with the ACTU. It was considered an important organisation by unions, other political groups and the media.
Question: How was AUS policy decided?
AUS had an annual council that debated policy for about 10 days a year. Officials were also elected there. Delegations from affiliated campuses had votes according to the size of their campus.
Some campuses directly elected their delegates. Others appointed them. AUS preferred direct elections, but generally it was wise enough to allow affiliates independence. Affiliated campuses were expected to adhere to AUS policy on all issues and to actively implement campaigns.
Council was open to all members, but if you weren't a delegate you couldn't vote. There would be major caucusing before, during and after. Decision making was by majority vote. Women got a lot of support from the women's caucus. Women in AUS were very assertive at a time when that wasn't easy.
AUS officials would travel around and hold votes and meetings to decide on policies between councils. Thousands of members would come to vote. It wasn't a case of just the AUS executive deciding.
AUS had reps on each campus, elected by the students. If the reps were on the left, they would actively rally the student body to assist its campaigns. If they were on the right, they were pushed to support AUS policy. People who didn't could be recalled.
Question: What campaigns was AUS involved in?
AUS took up fights where no one else would, fights that trade union leaders should have been leading but weren't. It campaigned around independence for East Timor and for women's rights. It played a leading role in the anti-uranium movement and the anti-Vietnam war movement.
AUS was one of the first Australian organisations to acknowledge the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. That was the cause of many fights and debates, but AUS had a firm policy.
It also campaigned around gay and lesbian rights. We organised a very effective campaign against the Bjelke-Petersen government on behalf of one of the members of my campus who was refused employment as a teacher because he was a gay activist.
Probably its most impressive campaigns were around the Tertiary Education Assistance Scheme (TEAS). The Fraser Liberal government wanted to introduce student fees but couldn't because of the role that AUS played.
It organised national days of action and student strikes. Staff associations participated, and other trade unions wouldn't deliver to campus. It could close campuses around the country.
The campaigns were really well orchestrated. On campuses we had seminars and question-and-answer sessions to really educate students about why each campaign was important. We published broadsheets, information bulletins and "National U". AUS used to produce striking posters, well in advance of the demos, that would cover the campuses.
Question: Who was active in AUS?
Some of the main activists were members of the Socialist Youth Alliance (SYA), now called Resistance. The ALP were active, but they never had the numbers. Both the right and the left of Labor were as bad as each other. You couldn't depend on the left of the ALP to support left issues (like abortion) automatically.
The Communist Party of Australia was there, and the CPA Marxist-Leninist, who were Maoists and quite difficult to work with. Also, there were the Liberals and Right-to-Lifers. It was very broad.
Question: What happened to AUS?
In 1977-78, AUS's travel service, AUS Travel, was caught up on a technicality relating to rules governing the institution of travel companies. Hundreds of AUS travellers were stranded in different countries because airlines wouldn't honour their tickets. This debacle was organised by the government because of the success of the TEAS campaign.
AUS died soon after because it thought it couldn't do without its services arm. Instead of cutting its losses, it bankrupted itself trying to bail out the travel company. SYA argued strongly against this at a special conference that year.
The SYA had always argued that the real reason you're a member of any union is because you expect it to support your rights politically. If you also get cheap travel and discounts on goods, that's kind of a sideline.
The ALP let AUS go down because it was gearing up for a term in federal office and didn't want a left-controlled union which would present any block to the massive economic restructuring it planned to carry out in the interests of capital.
Question: What lessons should a national student union learn from the AUS experience?
All unions need to be clear that the strength of the union shouldn't depend on its ability to give cheap services.
Student unionism which is compulsory, on the basis that unions are organisations to fight for the rights of all students (not just to represent them in the abstract), is the only sort of student union that will survive the current onslaught by the Liberals against student unionism, and education generally.