Draft Student Amenities Fee Guidelines Announced

The Federal Government has initiated a consultation process for the development of Guidelines for Student Services, Amenities, Representation and Advocacy, and for the administration of the Student Services and Amenities Fee proposed as part of the Student Services and Amenities Bill recently introduced in the Federal Parliament.

“The draft guidelines seem to take into account the aim of sustaining quality student services and representation in our universities, which is something I think we all want to see,” CAPA President, Nigel Palmer said.

“We will be making the point to the Minister, and to the Senate Inquiry currently underway, that we believe student representation and academic advocacy can only be effective where it is truly independent, and that it cannot be truly independent where the university has discretionary control over 100% of student money under this fee. It simply won’t work.

“We have other reservations which we will be making known to the Minister. The Government has obviously invested a lot of thought into this, and they want to get it right. We look forward to working with Minister Ellis on fine-tuning how the Guidelines fit with the legislation currently before Federal Parliament,” CAPA President, Nigel Palmer concluded.